Sarah Jessica Parker

Synopsis

Sarah Jessica Parker is an American actress and producer. Parker grew up in relative poverty and made her own way to stardom. She began acting at the age of eight. In 1982, she became known to audiences as the endearing geek in the sitcom Square Pegs. Today, she is best known for her leading role as Carrie Bradshaw on the HBO series Sex and the City (1998-2004), and its movie sequels.

Profile

Actor, producer. Born March 25, 1965 in Nelsonville, Ohio. The fourth of eight siblings, Parker grew up in relative poverty.

After her parents divorced, she was raised by her mother, a school teacher, and her often out-of-work stepfather. She helped support the family at a young age, bringing home paychecks from early dancing and singing gigs.

In 1976, after winning her first Broadway role in The Innocents, her family moved to New Jersey to encourage her career. Alongside four of her siblings, Sarah Jessica Parker toured for the next few years with The Sound of Music. She received her first major break when she was chosen to take over the title role of Annie on Broadway, from 1979 to 1980.

Schooled at the American Ballet Theater and the New York Professional Children's School along the way, Parker started to gain national attention in the early 1980s. She made her film debut in 1979 with Rich Kids, co-starring John Lithgow, Trini Alvarado and Olympia Dukakis.

In 1982, she became known to TV audiences as the endearing geek in her starring role in the sitcom Square Pegs. Shortly after, she received further celebrity with her supporting role in the 1984 hit Footloose. The following year, she starred alongside a very young Helen Hunt in Girls Just Want to Have Fun. The actor's success in both films paved the way for steady work, both on the big screen and on TV with such shows as Equal Justice, through the rest of the decade.

 

In the early 1990s, Parker made the challenging segue from teen to adult roles, appearing alongside Steve Martin in L.A. Story (1991), then earning both critical and cult credibility as Nicholas Cage's fiancée in Honeymoon in Vegas (1992). She also played the wife of schlockmeister Ed Wood in Tim Burton's celebrated 1994 film.

The mid-1990s saw Parker in a handful of middle-of-the-road supporting roles, including Miami Rhapsody (1995), The First Wives Club and Mars Attacks! (both 1996). Her work on stage was better received, including Sylvia, for which she earned a Drama Desk Award nomination.

In 1998, Parker landed the starring role of New York sex columnist Carrie Bradshaw on the new HBO series Sex and the City. The Manhattancentric show chronicled the lives of four friends and became a huge hit among both critics and viewers. Parker won a Golden Globe award for her work on the show in 2000, 2001 2002 and 2004, earning her both steady employment and an unimpeachably chic image. The series was made into an original theatrical film in 2008. The films success led to a sequel in 2010.

Offscreen, Parker garnered notice as well. Following high-profile relationships with Robert Downey Jr. and John F. Kennedy Jr., she married actor Matthew Broderick in 1997. Their son James Wilke Broderick, named after Matthew's late fater, was born in October 2002.

source:biography.com