Australian actor and director Simon Baker has pleaded guilty to drink driving in a New South Wales (NSW) court.

Baker was caught intoxicated behind the wheel on a road near his home in the Byron Bay region in the early hours of 20 July.

He was excused from appearing at Mullumbimby Court House on Wednesday, but court documents show the 55-year-old admitted to a single charge of driving under the influence of alcohol, his first such offence.

Baker has starred in Home and Away, the Devil Wears Prada and earned Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for his lead role in the US-crime drama series The Mentalist.

He grew up in northern NSW and cut his teeth on classic Australian shows like Heartbreak High and A Country Practice.

He won Best New Talent at the Logies - Australia's top television awards - in 1993, but soon made the move to the US, where he landed a role in the Academy Award winning film L.A. Confidential.

After two decades in Hollywood, for which he received a star on the city's Walk of Fame, Baker returned to Australian film and TV, branching into directing as well as acting.

He was most recently nominated for Best Lead Actor at the Logies for his role in the hit Netflix show Boy Swallows Universe.

He is listed to appear in Mullumbimby Court House again on September 11 where he is due to face sentencing.