Sarah Jessica Parker

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Sarah Jessica Parker circa 2001

Sarah Jessica Parker (born March 25, 1965) is an internationally recognized Emmy-winning American Actress with an extensive portfolio of both television and movie work. She may be best known for her role as Carrie Bradshaw on the television series Sex and the City.

Early life

Parker was born in Nelsonville, Ohio on March 25th, 1965 to Stephen Parker, a Jewish American businessman, and Barbara. Her parents divorced early on in Parker's life and her mother remarried Paul Forste, a truck driver. Parker grew up with her mother, step-father and seven siblings (although she only has one full sibling, a sister). As a young girl, she trained in singing and ballet, soon being cast in the Broadway production of The Innocents. Her family moved to New Jersey at this time to better support her dreams of becoming a star. After a run of promising performances in several increasingly important films and television shows, she met actor Robert Downey Jr., with whom she lived for seven years (between 1984 and 1991).

Career

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Publicity Still from the late 1980's

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With co-stars of Honeymoon in Vegas

Parker got her first big break as an actress in 1982, when she was cast in the CBS sitcom Square Pegs. The short lived show lasted only one season before being cancelled by the network, but Parker's performance was critically well received. In the two years that followed, she was cast in four films - the most significant of those being Footloose in 1984. In the remainder of the 1980s, Parker had steady work, appearing in TV Specials and mostly unsuccessful films. She also appeared several times on "Shalom Sesame", the Israeli version of Sesame Street.

By the early 1990s, her career was gaining momentum. In 1991, Parker appeared in a supporting role in the romantic comedy, L.A. Story; both the movie and her performance garnered some positive reviews. The following year she landed an important starring role in the well-received film, Honeymoon in Vegas co-starring Nicholas Cage. Her 1993 starring role in the film Hocus Pocus, was a higher grosser at the box office but received negative reviews. She next appeared opposite Johnny Depp in the critically acclaimed movie Ed Wood. The film Miami Rhapsody, in 1995, saw her back on familiar territory with more Romantic Comedy material and a leading role. She appeared in another Tim Burton-directed movie, Mars Attacks!, which was one of her five film appearances in 1997.

After a quiet 1997, the script for an HBO Drama/Comedy series titled Sex and the City had been sent to Parker and the show's creator Darren Star was determined that she be the star of his project; Parker adored the script, despite some early doubts about being cast in a long-term project, and agreed to star.

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GAP Print Ad from Spring 2005

The first season of the show proved to be an almost instant success, elevating Parker to a higher status, possibly because of the writing's refreshingly honest approach to sex, although Parker had a strict No Nudity clause in her contract.

Parker is also very influential in the world of fashion; she is considered one of the more stylish celebrities and has been recognized as "Best Dressed" in certain magazines. In addition to work in movie and television, she is also a very highly respected Stage Actress, having appeared in well-reviewed lead roles in the off-Broadway play Sylvia, alongside husband Matthew Broderick in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and the Tony Award-nominated Once Upon a Mattress as Princess Winifred the Woebegone. She hosted the MTV Movie Awards in 2000, and changed into 15 different costumes throughout the show. In August of 2003, Parker re-negotiated her contract with Nutrisse Hair Products to appear in Print and Television adverts, for a rumoured seven-figure sum.

After the Sex and the City's six-season run ended in 2004, Parker won an Emmy award for her lead role (after five consecutive losses). Many gambling and betting establishments stopped taking bets on her Emmy victory, because it was so widely predicted that she would win. In the Spring of 2005, the American fashion giant GAP dropped her from their advertising campaign. According to FemaleFirst.co.uk friend of the actress says, "Sarah's spring campaign for Gap has only just started and she feels the announcement of her replacement in the same week that the new ads are appearing is a bit of a snub."

In December of 2005, Parker appeared in her first theatrical film in several years, The Family Stone, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination as Best Actress - Comedy.

She was mocked on an episode of Family Guy about censorship. Peter Griffin says "they let Sarah Jessica Parker's face on TV and she looks like a foot".

Private life

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Parker and Son, James

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Parker and Broderick - Dublin, 2004

As her career continued to blossom into the 1990s, she met John Kennedy Jr. and dated him for several months. In May 1997, she married actor Matthew Broderick (to whom she was introduced by her brother), just as she was becoming a bigger star due to the success of Sex and the City. The couple married in a civil ceremony in a historic synagogue that is no longer used as a house of worship. Parker and Broderick's first child, James Wilkie Broderick, was born five years later on October 28th, 2002. Parker is a prominent member of the Hollywood's Women's Political Committee and is Unicef's Representative for the Performing Arts. Currently, she lives in New York City with her husband and son.

Quotes

"You can't do four movies and be good to everybody and be flying all night and shooting all day with a different wig and then be going to sing on Broadway without feeling a little tired. You endlessly feel you're letting somebody down."
"Derek Jeter is off the disabled list and Chuck Knoblauch is not throwing the ball away. All is right with the world."
"I don't judge others. I say if you feel good with what you're doing, let your freak flag fly."
"I'm very, very concerned about the Bush presidency. I'm worried about the kinds of cuts in domestic programs that mean something to a lot of people, including members of my family, who depend on certain things from the government."
"I know that he (Matthew Broderick) doesn't have his laundry done, and that he hasn't had a hot meal in days. That stuff weighs on my mind."

Awards

1999: Golden Globe - Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical Series - Sex and the City
2000: Golden Globe - Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical Series - Sex and the City
2005: Emmy - Best Lead Actress in a Comedy Series - Sex and the City

Selected filmography

Year	Title	Role	Other notes
2005	The Family Stone	Meredith Morton
2001	Life Without Dick	Colleen Gibson
2000	State and Main	Claire Wellesley
1999	Dudley Do-Right	Nell Fenwick
1996	Mars Attacks!	Nathalie Lake
1996	If Lucy Fell	Lucy Ackerman
1995	Miami Rhapsody	Gwyn Marcus
1994	Ed Wood	Dolores Fuller
1993	Striking Distance	Jo Christman/Det. Emily Harper
1993	Hocus Pocus	Sarah Sanderson
1992	Honeymoon in Vegas	Betsy/Donna
1991	L.A. Story	SanDeE*
1985	Girls Just Want to Have Fun	Janey Glenn