The birth date listed on the Raymond Reddington wanted posters is the real birth date of actor James Spader (February 7, 1960).
Baz, who plays Red's (James Spader) chief of security, Baz, is a veteran US marine and a former member of CIA's Special Operations Group. He is the founder of the Association for the Recovery of Children (ARC), which rescues abducted children. In 1991-2012, they had conducted 56 successful rescues.
Writer John Eisendrath said the casting process was difficult. In February 2013, NBC offered Kiefer Sutherland the lead role of Raymond Reddington. After considering other actors for the role, Eisendrath and Jon Bokenkamp called James Spader to see if he would be interested in it. Feeling confident in Spader's understanding of the character, they cast him three days before filming began. Spader had never met either of them in person prior to his first day of work on the show.
In 2013 The Blacklist was NBC's highest-testing drama in 10 years.