Before these Long Islanders were stars: Alec Baldwin's soap, Jerry Seinfeld's sitcom, five more

As they say, ya gotta start somewhere ... .

Many of Long Island's biggest stars made inauspicious debuts before moving on to bigger and better things. Here's a look at how seven launched their careers:

ALEC BALDWIN The Massapequa-raised actor made his television debut in 1980 on "The Doctors," a mostly forgotten NBC soap opera, playing the philandering Billy Aldrich. In true soap fashion, his character met an improbable demise: “I was shot by two men simultaneously, who were unaware of each other’s presence,” Baldwin later told “Showbiz Tonight.” In 1993, Baldwin gamely spoofed his old role on “Saturday Night Live,” playing the arrogant but dimwitted star of a soap titled “Doctors, Nurses and Patients.”

WILLIAM BALDWIN The third-born Baldwin brother landed his first starring role in "The Preppie Murder," a 1989 made-for-TV drama. He played Robert Chambers, the handsome, well-educated man accused of strangling an 18-year-old woman in Central Park in 1986. (Chambers, who pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the case, became a tabloid sensation known as “The Preppy Killer.”) Other stars in the cast: Lara Flynn Boyle as the victim and Danny Aiello as a police detective.

BILLY CRYSTAL In 1976, Long Beach-raised Crystal made his television acting debut on "All in the Family" as Al Bender, an old friend of Rob Reiner’s Mike “Meathead” Stivic. Crystal makes quite an entrance, striding into the Bunker home and immediately jumping into Stivic’s arms like a bride. It was the beginning of a long partnership: As a director, Reiner cast Crystal as a mime in 1984’s “This Is Spinal Tap” and, of course, 1989’s “When Harry Met Sally … .”

EDIE FALCO Well before her starring role as the wife of a mob boss in HBO’s “The Sopranos,” Northport-raised Falco made her film debut in "Sweet Lorraine," a 1987 comedy set in a fading Catskills resort. Critics weren’t overly impressed; The New York Times called it “agreeably aimless.” Nevertheless, Falco found an admirer in Lindenhurst director Hal Hartley, who cast her in 1989’s “The Unbelievable Truth” and 1990’s “Trust.”

ANDY KAUFMAN No film debut would be too odd for the unclassifiable comedian from Great Neck, who died in 1984 and is buried in Elmont. But the 1976 horror cheapie "God Told Me To" (directed by Larry Cohen, of “It’s Alive” fame) is still a surprise. The plot centers on a New York police detective (Tony Lo Bianco) investigating a series of eerie murders. Kaufman’s character, wearing a cop uniform, joins a parade and then shoots several people before he’s finally subdued. His dying words, if you can’t guess: “God told me to.”

RALPH MACCHIO The star of “The Karate Kid” and its streaming spinoff “Cobra Kai” made his film debut in the 1980 comedy, "Mad Magazine Presents Up the Academy," released in the wake of “National Lampoon’s Animal House.” The Huntington native played Chooch Bambalazi, one of four young troublemakers sent to a military academy. The film was less than a hit but developed a minor cult following. Its director, however, Robert Downey Sr., later called it “one of the worst ... things in history.”

JERRY SEINFELD

The Massapequa-raised comic made his acting debut in 1980 on “Benson,” the ABC sitcom starring Robert Guillaume. Seinfeld played Frankie, a delivery boy and aspiring joke writer. “Didja hear about the rabbi who bought himself a ranch?” went one. “Called it the Bar-Mitzvah!” Seinfeld reportedly showed up to set one day, found no script waiting for him and realized he’d been fired after three episodes.

By Rafer Guzmán

rafer.guzman@newsday.com