Sarah Jessica Parker (born March 25,
1965) is an
American film, television and theatre actress, and producer. She is best known for her leading role as
Carrie Bradshaw on the
HBO television series
Sex and the City, for which she won four
Golden Globe Awards, two
Screen Actors Guild Awards and two
Emmy Awards. She played the same role in the 2008 feature film version of the show, Sex and the City:
The Movie and its sequel, which is scheduled to open in
2010.
Parker is also known as a film actress, in addition to television and theatre, has appeared in films like
Honeymoon in Vegas (
1992),
Hocus Pocus (
1993), along with co-star
Bette Midler,
Mars Attacks! (
1996),
State and Main (
2000). More recently, Parker starred in
The Family Stone (
2005) and
Smart People (2008).
Parker attended the
School for
Creative and Performing Arts in
Cincinnati, the
School of American Ballet,
Dwight Morrow High School and the
Professional Children's School,
Hollywood High School in
Los Angeles, California.
Parker and four siblings appeared in a staging of
The Sound of Music at the Muny in
St. Louis, MO, and Parker went on to the new 1977-81
Broadway musical Annie — first in the small role of "July" and then succeeding
Andrea McArdle and
Shelley Bruce in the lead role of the plucky Depression-era orphan, beginning March 6,
1979. Parker held the role for a year.
In
1982, Parker was cast as the co-lead of the
CBS sitcom
Square Pegs. The show lasted one season before being cancelled by the network, but Parker's performance, as a shy, misfit teen who showed hidden depths, was critically well-received
. In the three years that followed, she was cast in four films — the most significant of those being
Footloose in
1984 and 1984's
Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, co-starring
Helen Hunt. In
1986, Parker appeared in the cult classic
Flight of the Navigator, a
Disney science fiction film about a boy,
David, who is relativistically transported in time by an alien spacecraft eight years into the future without aging.
By the early
1990s, Parker's career was gaining momentum. In
1991, she appeared in
a supporting role in the romantic comedy,
L.A. Story; both the movie and her performance garnered positive reviews.
The following year, she landed an important starring role in the well-received film Honeymoon in Vegas, co-starring
Nicolas Cage. Her 1993 role in the film Hocus Pocus was a higher grosser at the box office but received negative reviews. Also in 1993, she starred as a police diver opposite
Bruce Willis in film
Striking Distance. The following year, she appeared opposite
Johnny Depp in the critically acclaimed movie
Ed Wood as
Wood's girlfriend
Dolores Fuller.
The film
Miami Rhapsody, in
1995, saw her back on familiar territory with more romantic comedy material and a leading role. In 1996, she appeared in another Tim Burton-directed movie, Mars Attacks!, as well as in
The First Wives Club and
The Substance of Fire, in which she reprised her 1991 stage role. In
1997, she appeared as Francesca Lanfield, a washed-up former child actress, in the comedy
Till There Was You.
The script for an HBO drama/comedy series titled Sex and the City was sent to Parker. The show's creator,
Darren Star, was determined that she be cast in his project.
Despite some early doubts about being cast in a long-term television series, Parker agreed to star.
The show proved to be an instant success, raising Parker's profile considerably. It is credited with turning Parker from simply an actress into a star and icon. Despite the show's increasingly risqué storylines, Parker retained the strict no-nudity clause in her contract throughout the show's six-season run. Parker became a producer for the show starting with its third season. In 2004, Parker won an
Emmy Award for her lead role (after five consecutive losses). Parker stated in
2006 that she "will never do a television show again"
After Sex and the
City ended in 2004, rumors of a film version circulated and it was revealed that a script had been completed for such a project. However, at the time, Parker stated that it would likely never be made. Two years later, however, preparations were resumed, and the film was released on May 30, 2008.
- published: 23 Dec 2009
- views: 13504