Sarah Jessica Parker
Sarah Jessica Parker (born March 25, 1965) is an American actress. She is most recently known for her portrayal of Manhattan sex-columnist Carrie Bradshaw in the HBO series Sex and the City, which completed its sixth and last season in 2004 in which she received the Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series award at the emmys.
She was born in Nelsonville, Ohio, the fourth of eight children. She was raised in Cincinnati and took up ballet when she was eight. She studied and performed with the Cincinnati Ballet. As an eight-year-old 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 took over the title role of that production within a year.
She first came to national attention in the 1982 situation comedy 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 which foreshadowed her comedic talent. She had roles in Hocus Pocus, Striking Distance (opposite Bruce Willis and Johnny DeppEd Wood (1994). A big Woody Allen fan, she starred opposite the renowned filmmaker in the TV movie The Sunshine Boys (1995), and that same year, she landed a starring role in 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.
Recent stage roles
While continuing to act in movies, Parker continued her career on stage, with a lead role as a dog in the off-Broadway 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.
Other information
Parker has been married to fellow actor Matthew Broderick since May 1997. 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.
