Fast Facts

Birth date: March 25, 1965
Birth State: Ohio
Birth City: Nelsonville
Birth Country: United States
Best Known For: ‘Sex and the City’ which catapulted her to stardom.
Astrological Sign: Aries

An actress with uncommon depth and effortless style, Sarah Jessica Parker continues to build upon a versatile career in film, television and on stage, which has remarkably spanned over twenty years.

Parker received recognition for her role as Carrie Bradshaw when she was awarded a Golden Globe® Award for Best Actress in 2000, 2001, and 2002 as well as a Screen Actors Guild Award in 2001. Parker has also been honored with four Emmy® nominations. The show which received the Golden Globe Award for Outstanding Comedy Series three years in a row in 2000, 2001, and 2002 was also honored with an Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series in 2001. In addition to her starring role, Parker is also an executive producer on the show.

Parker was last seen in David Mamet’s satirical comedy, “State and Main.” Starring with Alec Baldwin, William H. Macy, Charles Durning and Patti LuPone, the film follows the experiences of a film crew making a movie in rural New England. To the cast and crew’s surprise, the townspeople prove to be unusually movie savvy or get that way very quickly. Parker plays the lead actress opposed to baring her body in the critically acclaimed film.

Some of Parker’s latest screen ventures include Hugh Wilson’s live action version of Jay Ward’s 1960’s classic cartoon, “Dudley Do-Right” opposite Brendan Fraser and Alfred Molina; Paramount’s “Til There Was You” opposite Dylan Mc Dermott and Jeanne Tripplehorn, directed by Scott Winant; Alongside Jack Nicholson, Glenn Close and Danny De Vito in Warner Brothers’ “Mars Attacks,” directed by Tim Burton; Simian Films “Extreme Measures,” directed by Michael Apted with Hugh Grant and Gene Hackman; TriStar’s “If Lucy Fell,” directed by and co-starring Eric Shaeffer along with Ben Stiller and Elle Macpherson; Paramount’s “The First Wives Club”, directed by Hugh Wilson with Bette Midler, Diane Keaton and Goldie Hawn; Miramax’s “Substance of Fire,” directed by Daniel J. Sullivan, in which she recreated her off-Broadway role from the Jon Robin Baitz play; and Disney’s hit comedy “Miami Rhapsody,” directed by David Frankel with Antonio Banderas and Mia Farrow.

Other starring roles include her portrayal of the actress of dubious talent, Delores Fuller in Touchstone’s “Ed Wood,” directed by Tim Burton and co-starring Johnny Depp; Disney’s “Hocus Pocus,” directed by Kenny Ortega with Bette Midler and Kathy Najimy; and Columbia Pictures “Striking Distance,” directed by Rowdy Herrington, opposite Bruce Willis. She starred opposite Nicholas Cage in New Line’s hit comedy “Honeymoon in Vegas,” directed by Andrew Bergman, but Parker’s breakthrough role was SanDeE* in TriStar’s “LA Story” opposite Steve Martin. Parker’s early motion picture roles include “Flight of the Navigator”, “Girls Just Want To Have Fun,” “Footloose,” directed by Herb Ross with Kevin Bacon; Paramount’s “First Born,” directed by Michael Apted with Teri Garr and Peter Weller; “Somewhere Tomorrow,” directed by Robert Wiemer and United Artists’ “Rich Kids,” directed by Robert M. Young with John Lithgow.

Parker first gained recognition in the popular CBS series “Square Pegs,” which still runs in syndication. Her other television credits include the NBC movie of the week “In the Interest of the Children,” “The Ryan White Story,” “Dadah is Death”; NBC’s critically acclaimed “A Year in the Life” series and mini-series; “Twist of Fate” and the Hallmark Hall of Fame production of “The Room Upstairs.”

Parker has had a successful career on stage as well. Parker starred in David Lindsay-Abaire’s sold out run of the quirky comedy “Wonder of the World” at New York’s Manhattan Theater Club for which she received a Drama Desk nomination. She also performed in a successful six month run in the Tony nominated Broadway production of “Once Upon a Mattress.” This followed her critically acclaimed performance with Matthew Broderick in “How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.” Prior to these productions, she dazzled audiences in A.R. Gurney’s “Sylvia,” which also had a sold out run in New York’s Manhattan Theater Club. She appeared in “The Innocents” on Broadway, directed by Harold Pinter, co-starring Claire Bloom. She also appeared in the Off-Broadway play “By Strouse,” which garnered her the role of Annie where she starred on Broadway for two years.

Additional stage productions include rave reviews for her work in the Off-Broadway production of “The Heidi Chronicles,” a Wendy Wasserstein play; “Wrestlers,” directed by Burt Reynolds; and the Ensemble Studio Theater’s One Act Marathon of “April Snow,” with Harris Yulin and Lois Smith.

Born in Nelsonville, Ohio and raised in Cincinnati, she appeared in her first television special, “The Little Match Girl,” at age eight. She studied ballet with the Cincinnati Ballet and American Ballet Theater and singing with the Metropolitan Opera.

In December 2005, Parker appeared in her first theatrical film in several years, “The Family Stone”; she received a Golden Globe nomination as Best Actress – Comedy for the role. Her next film, the romantic comedy “Failure to Launch”, co-starring Matthew McConaughey, was released on March 10, 2006 and opened at #1 in the North American box office, grossing slightly over $24 million in its opening weekend, despite mediocre reviews. Parker’s work as a producer continues with the independent film Spinning Into Butter, based on the Rebecca Gilman play scheduled for a 2006 release, which she will also star in. Sarah was initially set to star in “Vacancy”, along with her co-star from “The Family Stone”, Luke Wilson, but she dropped out in favor of other projects. Kate Beckinsale later won the role.

In May 2008 Sarah reprised her role as Carrie Bradshaw in the much anticipated “Sex and the City” movie. The film was released on May 30, 2008. A sequel to the movie, Sex and the City 2, was released in 2010.

Parker teamed up with Hugh Grant for the romantic comedy Did You Hear About the Morgans?, playing a recently separated New York power couple on the verge of divorce until they witness the murder of a man. While the film was a moderate commercial success. This is the wrong screenplay”. In 2011, Parker starred in I Don’t Know How She Does It, and also made part of a large ensemble cast in Garry Marshall’s romantic comedy New Year’s Eve (2011), which made US $142 million worldwide.

Parker guest-starred on season 4 of FOX musical comedy series Glee as Isabelle Wright, a Vogue executive who takes Kurt Hummel under her wing after he graduates and moves to New York. Vulture, on one of its recaps of Glee, remarked: “Characters who are big-eyed but a little broken inside and desperately in love with New York are what Sarah Jessica Parker does best. I don’t think her stint on Glee will revolutionize the show or her career or anything, but she’s absolutely an asset, and I’m glad she’s onboard”. In 2013, Parker provided her voice for one of the characters of the animated film Escape from Planet Earth, and played Gloria Steinem in deleted scenes of the biographical drama Lovelace. In 2015, she starred in the independent romantic comedy All Roads Lead to Rome, as an American journalist revisiting Italy with her rebellious daughter.

Beginning in late-2016, Parker executive produced and starred in the HBO dramedy series Divorce, as Frances Dufresne, a married woman who has an affair which precipitates her divorce. Drawn to the “complexity and promise” of the story she was also intrigued by the doubtful likability of her character, remarking: “I like that Frances is very real to me. She’s both honorable and messy. She’s both exacting and untethered, but I think she’s a very real person.” The series ran for three seasons and earned acclaim from critics; The A.V. Club noted: “Parker’s gift, even on Sex and the City, has always been a well-timed comeback or a reaction shot. Her character is not a reboot of Carrie Bradshaw, but she doesn’t exactly force the actor to stray from her comfort zone, either. That’s not necessarily a bad thing: It’s a pleasure to see her back, shaking her head at just the right moment”. For her role, she earned a Golden Globe nomination.

In 2018, Parker headlined and produced the independent drama Here and Now, playing a New York City singer who gets a life-changing medical diagnosis.

In February 2020, Parker and her husband, Broderick, starred in a revival of Neil Simon’s Plaza Suite at Boston’s Colonial Theatre for two weeks. Previews at the Hudson Theatre had been set for March 2020 and its official debut was scheduled for April 2020, but this was later postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. After several delays, the previews are now expected to begin on February 28, 2022, with its official debut set for March 28, 2022.

And Just Like That…, the Sex and the City reboot, was confirmed by HBO Max in January 2021. The first series premiered on December 9, 2021. It was later renewed for season 2.

Currently, she is the National Ambassador for the U.S. Fund for UNICEF, and was awarded the 1995 American Civil Liberties Union Award.

Parker currently resides in New York with her husband, actor Matthew Broderick.

Biography Written by HBO.com/Wikipedia | Updated and revised by SarahJessicaParker.net