Sarah Jessica Parker is an American actress, model, singer and producer. She is known for
her leading role as Carrie Bradshaw on the HBO television series Sex and the City. She
was also an executive producer on the show, and won two Emmy Awards, for Outstanding Comedy
Series in 2001 and Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series in 2004.
Parker made her Broadway debut in 1976 aged 11, in the revival of The Innocents, before
going on to star in the title role of the Broadway musical Annie in 1979. She then appeared
in the 1984 films Footloose and Firstborn. She returned to Broadway in the 1989 play
The Heidi Chronicles. Her other film roles include L.A. Story, Honeymoon in Vegas, Ed
Wood, The First Wives Club, The Family Stone and Failure to Launch. In addition to her
two Emmy wins, she also won four Golden Globe Awards and three Screen Actors Guild Awards
for Sex and the City. She reprised her role of Carrie Bradshaw in the films Sex and the
City: The Movie and Sex and the City 2.
Early life Sarah Jessica Parker was born in Nelsonville,
Ohio, the daughter of Barbara Parker, a nursery school operator and teacher, and Stephen Parker,
an entrepreneur and journalist. She was one of a total of eight children from her parents'
marriage and her mother's second marriage. After her parents' divorce, her mother married
Paul Forste, a truck driver and account executive who was a part of Parker's life from an early
age. Parker's father, a native of Brooklyn, was of Eastern European Jewish background;
his family's original surname was "Bar-Kahn". Parker's mother was of English and German
descent; through her mother, Parker is descended from Esther Elwell, one of the accused during
the Salem witch trials. Parker has identified culturally and ethnically with her father's
religion, Judaism, although she has had no religious training. She has said that even
while her family lived in Cincinnati, her mother emulated a New York lifestyle.
As a young girl, Parker trained in singing and ballet, and was soon cast in the Broadway
revival of William Archibald's The Innocents. Her family moved to Cincinnati and then to
Dobbs Ferry, New York, near New York City, so that she could get specialized training.
There, her mother and stepfather helped Parker develop her career as a child actress. In
1977, the family moved to the newly opened planned community on Roosevelt Island, in
the East River between Manhattan and Queens, and later to Manhattan. The family later moved
to Englewood, New Jersey, where Parker attended Dwight Morrow High School.
Parker attended the School of American Ballet in New York City, the New York Professional
Children's School, the School for Creative and Performing Arts in Cincinnati, and Hollywood
High School in Los Angeles, California. Career
Early acting career Parker and four siblings appeared in a production
of The Sound of Music at the outdoor Municipal Theatre in St. Louis, Missouri. She was selected
for a role in 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 Depression-era
orphan, beginning March 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 just one season, but Parker's
performance, as a shy teen who showed hidden depths, was critically well received. In the
three years that followed, she was cast in four films: the most significant 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.
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 a 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 the 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, was a romantic comedy in which she had 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. Sex and the City
The script for an HBO drama/comedy series titled Sex and the City was sent to Parker.
The show's creator, Darren Star, wanted her for his project. Despite some doubts about
being cast in a long-term television series, Parker agreed to star. After five nominations,
in 2004, Parker won an Emmy Award for her lead role. Parker said 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. It was revealed that a script had been completed for such
a project. At the time, Parker said such a film would likely never be made. Two years
later, preparations were resumed, and the film was released on May 30, 2008. A sequel
to the movie, Sex and the City 2, was released in 2010.
Later work In addition to work in film and television,
Parker has gained respect as a stage actor, having appeared in well-reviewed lead roles
in the off-Broadway play Sylvia, alongside future husband Matthew Broderick in How to
Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, and the Tony Award-nominated Once Upon a Mattress.
In December 2005, Parker appeared in her first film in several years, The Family Stone; she
received a Golden Globe nomination as Best Actress — Comedy for the role. Her next
film, the romantic comedy Failure to Launch, co-starring Matthew McConaughey, was released
on March 10, 2006, and opened at #1 in the North American box office, grossing slightly
over $24 million on its opening weekend, despite mediocre reviews. Parker's work as a producer
continued with the independent film Spinning Into Butter, based on the Rebecca Gilman play.
On July 20, 2006, U.S. cable network Bravo announced it had picked up a reality show
produced by Parker under the working title American Artist. Parker participated in the
United States version of the hit U.K. television series Who Do You Think You Are? for NBC,
in which celebrities were helped to trace their family trees. The executive producer
was Lisa Kudrow, and the series featured Parker, husband Matthew Broderick, Kudrow and others.
For now, Parker guest stars on Glee as Isabelle Wright, a Vogue executive who takes Kurt Hummel
under her wing after he graduates and moves to New York.
Parker runs her own production company, Pretty Matches, which has been creating content for
HBO and other channels since 2009. The company is currently running a web series called "City.Ballet"
that takes viewers behind the scenes with dancers of the New York City Ballet.
Fashion industry Endorsements
In 2000, Parker hosted the MTV Movie Awards, appearing in fourteen different outfits during
the show. She has also become the face of many of the
world's biggest fashion brands through her work in a variety of advertising campaigns.
In August 2003, Parker signed a lucrative deal with Garnier to appear in TV and print
advertising promoting their Nutrisse hair products.
In early 2004, shortly after the last season of Sex and the City wrapped up, Parker signed
a $38 million contract with the Gap. It was the first multi-season contract in the clothing
company’s history, in which Parker was to appear in their upcoming fall ads, and continue
until the Spring of 2005. The endorsement sparked many levels of criticism from the
public; the glamorous, urban-chic fashionista that her character Carrie Bradshaw has branded
her with, was ironic considering the Gap maintains an image that does not promote high-end fashion.
Wendy Liebmann, president of WSL strategic retail, suggested that the Gap “felt the
need for an iconic but contemporary face to represent [themselves]. . . . they were perhaps
feeling a little insecure, a little in need of some high luster around the brand". However,
the ad campaigns were a success, and Parker had given the Gap a new, fresh face that appeared
in many commercials, online and print ads, and other promotions.
In March 2005, Parker’s contract with the Gap ended, and was replaced with then 17-year
old British soul singer Joss Stone. A rising star at the time, Stone’s replacing of Parker
was a puzzling move to the public. The company then stated that “While Gap will always
seek partnerships with celebrities, musicians and rising stars, we don’t have any future
plans to sign a single person to a multi-season deal like the unique and special relationship
we enjoyed with Sarah Jessica”. Parker released her own perfume in 2005, called
"Lovely". In March 2007, Parker announced the launch of her own fashion line, "Bitten",
in partnership with discount clothing chain Steve & Barry's. The line, featuring clothing
items and accessories under $20, launched on June 7, 2007, exclusively at Steve and
Barry's. In July 2007, following the success of "Lovely,"
Parker released her second fragrance "Covet." In 2007, Parker was a guest on Project Runway
for the second challenge. In 2008, Covet Pure Bloom was released as continuous series of
Covet. In February 2009, as part of the "Lovely" collection, Parker launched a series of three
new fragrances called "Dawn", "Endless", and "Twilight".
On 28 February 2014, Parker started the SJP Collection, a footwear line, at Nordstrom.
Personal life Parker was romantically involved with actor
Robert Downey, Jr. from 1984 until 1991. They met on the set of Firstborn. Downey had a
drug problem, which affected their relationship. Parker has said, "I believed I was the person
holding him together."
On May 19, 1997, she married actor Matthew Broderick, to whom she was introduced by one
of her brothers at the Naked Angels theater company, where they both performed. The couple
married in a civil ceremony in a historic synagogue on the Lower East Side in Manhattan.
The couple's son, James Wilkie Broderick, was born in 2002. He was named after Broderick's
father, the actor James Joseph Broderick, and writer Wilkie Collins. Parker and Broderick's
twin daughters, Marion Loretta Elwell and Tabitha Hodge, were delivered via surrogate
in June 2009. Their middle names of "Elwell" and "Hodge" are from Parker's mother's family.
As of 2009, she lives in New York City with her husband, son, and daughters. They also
spend considerable time at their second home near Kilcar, a village in County Donegal,
Ireland, where Broderick spent summers as a child.
According to a March 2013 interview with the Net-a-Porter online magazine The Edit: "Parker
runs her own production company, is on the board of The New York City Ballet, is a UNICEF
Ambassador and fund­raises for New York schools." Parker appeared in the premiere episode of
the U.S. version of Who Do You Think You Are? on March 5, 2010, where she discovered she
had ancestors involved in the California Gold Rush of 1849–50 and in the Salem Witch Trials
of 1692. Awards and nominations
Filmography
References
External links Sarah Jessica Parker: Biography - The Biography
Channel Sarah Jessica Parker at the Internet Movie
Database Sarah Jessica Parker at the Internet Off-Broadway
Database Official Website: Sarah Jessica Parker Fragrances