Sarah Jessica Parker biography
Sarah Jessica Parker (born March 25, 1965) is an United States actress and producer, with a portfolio of television, film, and theater performances. She is best known for her role as Carrie Bradshaw, a columnist, 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 feature film version of the show, which was released on May 30, 2008. She also has three fragrances out, Lovely, Covet and Covet Full Bloom.
Biography
Early life
Parker was born in Nelsonville, Ohio, the daughter of Barbara, a nursery school operator and teacher, and Steven Parker, an entrepreneur and journalist. Her father, a native of Brooklyn, was Jewish, the original family surname being "Bar-Kahn" ("son of Kohen"); Parker has said of herself, "I always just considered myself a Jew". Parker's parents divorced early on in Parker's life and her mother remarried Paul Forste. Parker grew up with her mother, stepfather, and seven siblings (three from her parents' marriage, and four from her mother's second marriage).
As a young girl, she trained in singing and ballet, soon being cast in the Broadway theatre production of
The Innocents. Her family moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, and then to Dobbs Ferry, New York, near New York City, where Parker was developing 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 proper; her parents later moved to Englewood, New Jersey where she attended Dwight Morrow High School.
Parker attended the School for Creative and Performing Arts in Cincinnati, the School of American Ballet and the Professional Children's School, Hollywood High School in Los Angeles, California, and later Dwight Morrow High School.
Acting career
She and four siblings appeared in a revival of
The Sound of Music, 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 Great 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 Columbia Broadcasting System sitcom
Square Pegs. The show lasted only one season before being cancelled by the television 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 in film and
Girls Just Want to Have Fun (film), co-starring Helen Hunt, in 1985.
In 1986, Parker appeared in the cult classic
Flight of the Navigator, a Disney science fiction film about a boy, David, who is Time dilation 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 in film role in the film
Hocus Pocus (film) was a higher grosser at the box office but received negative reviews. The following year, she appeared opposite Johnny Depp in the critically acclaimed movie
Ed Wood (film).
The film
Miami Rhapsody, in 1995 in film, 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!, as well as
The First Wives Club and
The Substance of Fire, in which she reprised her 1991 stage role, in 1996 in film. In 1997, she appeared as Francesca Lanfield, a washed-up former child actress, in the comedy
Til There Was You.
Sex and the City
Later that year, 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. 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). Many gambling and betting establishments stopped taking bets on her Emmy victory, because it was so widely predicted that she would win. Parker stated in 2006 that she "will never do a television show again", although she will co-executive produce a new HBO series based on Washingtonienne, but will not star in it.
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, Parker commented that it would likely never be made. Two years later, however, preparations were resumed, and the film was released throughout the world on May 30, 2008. A sequel is also in early talks for 2009.
Later theater, film work and reality production
In addition to work in movies and television, Parker is also a respected stage actor, having appeared in well-reviewed lead roles in the off-Broadway play
Sylvia (play), 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.
In December 2005, Parker appeared in her first theatrical 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 in its opening weekend, despite mediocre reviews. Parker's work as a producer continues with the independent film
Spinning Into Butter, based on the Rebecca Gilman play, which she will also star in. Parker was initially set to star in
Vacancy (film), along with her co-star from
The Family Stone, Luke Wilson, but she dropped out in favor of other projects. Kate Beckinsale later won the role.
On July 20, Bravo announced it had picked up a reality show produced by Parker under the working title "American Artist."
Fashion industry
Parker is a fashion icon and has become very influential in the world of fashion. In 2000, she hosted the MTV Movie Awards and appeared in no fewer than 15 different costumes throughout 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 highly lucrative deal with Garnier to appear in television and print advertising promoting their Nutrisse hair products. In 2004, she fronted an international campaign by Gap (clothing retailer), but her contract with the clothing giant was abruptly terminated in spring 2005 in favor of United Kingdom soul singer Joss Stone. A friend of Parker's commented to the press that, "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 addition to her advertising work, Parker released her own fragrance 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, which features hundreds of clothing items and accessories under $20, launched on June 7, 2007, exclusively at Steve and Barry's. In July 2007, following the enormous success of "Lovely," Parker released her second fragrance "Covet." In 2007 Parker was a guest on
Project Runway for the second challenge.
Personal life
Parker was romantically involved with actor Robert Downey Jr from 1984 until 1991. They met on the set of
Firstborn (film). Downey had a drug problem and this had a significant effect on their relationship; referring to that time in her life, Parker has said: "I believed I was the person holding him together". As her career continued to blossom into the 1990s, she met journalist John Kennedy Jr and dated him for several months. She was also romantically linked to singer-songwriter Joshua Kadison in the early 1990s, who described their tumultuous relationship and their cat Moses in the song "Jessie (song)" on the album
Painted Desert Serenade.
On May 19, 1997, she married actor Matthew Broderick, to whom she was introduced by her brother> at the Naked Angels theater company where they both performed. The couple married in a civil marriage in a historic synagogue on the Lower East Side, Manhattan of Manhattan that is no longer used as a house of worship; both Parker and Broderick (who each have one Jewish parent) consider themselves to be "culturally Jewish." Parker has also defended the state of Israel. "I feel defensive when people say, 'How can Israel go in with tanks?'," she says, "What are they supposed to do? Children are being killed by people willing to strap bombs to their bodies and walk into the public market. So Israel's response to this is to protect its people." She is currently a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador for the United States.
As of 2008, she lives in New York City with her husband and son.
E! News confirms that prior to her appearance at the 2008 Major League Baseball All-Star, she had her signature mole removed. Despite photographic evidence, she denies it had been removed.
Sarah Jessica Parker in the news
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