Sarah Jessica Parker

Sarah Jessica Parker is an American actress.

She is best known for her portrayal of Manhattan sex-columnist Carrie Bradshaw on the HBO series Sex and the City, which completed its sixth and final season in 2004 and is now seen in reruns on TNT. The series focused on the lives and sexual escapades of four Manhattan career women. In the second season, Parker became an executive producer of the series. She received both Emmy and Golden Globe awards as Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series for her performance.

She was born on March 25, 1965 in Nelsonville, Ohio, the fourth of eight children. She was raised in Cincinnati and began to study and perform with the Cincinnati Ballet when she was eight, at which age she also appeared on television in a local broadcast of The Little Match Girl.

In 1977, her family moved to Englewood, New Jersey. She continued her ballet studies at the American Ballet Theatre, which gave her the opportunity to appear in works such as The Nutcracker and La Sylphide, the latter of which was a production starring Mikhail Baryshnikov and Gelsey Kirkland.

Early Roles

Parker was cast in a Broadway production of The Innocents, directed by Harold Pinter and starring Claire Bloom. In 1978, she was cast as an orphan in Annie, and within a year she took over the title role.

She first came to national attention in the 1982 sitcom Square Pegs, garnering critical acclaim in a show which lasted a single season.

Film Roles

She followed that role with appearances in films such as Footloose, Girls Just Want to Have Fun and L.A. Story.

More substantial film roles soon followed, including a role opposite Nicolas Cage in Honeymoon in Vegas, in which she had an opportunity to display her comedic talent. She had roles in Hocus Pocus, Striking Distance (opposite Bruce Willis), and Ed Wood (1994), with Johnny Depp. A big Woody Allen fan, she starred opposite the renowned filmmaker in the TV movie The Sunshine Boys in 1995, and in that same year, she landed a starring role in the big screen Miami Rhapsody.

The year 1996 saw roles in The First Wives Club, If Lucy Fell, and Mars Attacks!. In 1999, she starred in Dudley-Do-Right, opposite Brendan Fraser, and in 2000, she had a role in David Mamet's State and Main.

Stage Roles

While performing in movies, Parker continued her career on stage, with a lead role as a dog in the critically acclaimed off-Broadway play Sylvia, and Broadway roles in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (with Matthew Broderick), and the Tony Award-nominated Once Upon a Mattress in the role originated by Carol Burnett.

Parker has been married to fellow actor Matthew Broderick since May 1997. The two have one son. Before the marriage, she dated Robert Downey Jr. and John F. Kennedy, Jr..

Parker is a National Ambassador for the U.S. Fund for UNICEF.

As Carrie Bradshaw on Sex and the City, Parker was influential in starting a multitude of fashion trends. Her sense of style carries over into her private life as well, and she is often cited as one of the best dressed at red-carpet events. Not surprisingly, she is now featured in ad campaigns for the Gap.