Sarah Jessica Parker

Date of Birth: 3/25/1965

Occupation: Actress
Sarah Jessica Parker - born 25 March, 1965

Sarah Jessica Parker also sometimes referred to by her initials SJP, is an American film, television and theatre actress and producer. She is best known for her leading role as Carrie Bradshaw in the TV 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 and its sequel, which opens in 2010.

She was born in Nelsonville, Ohio, her father, a native of Brooklyn, was Jewish, the original family surname being "Bar-Kahn" ("son of Kohen"); Sarah has said of herself, "I always just considered myself a Jew". She was one of eight children from her parents’ marriage and her mother’s second marriage after her parents’ divorce.

As a young girl, she trained in singing and ballet, soon being cast in the Broadway revival of William Archibald’s The Innocents. Sarah 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.

Sarah and four siblings appeared in a staging of The Sound of Music in St. Louis, MO, and she 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. She held the role for a year.

In 1982, Sarah was cast as the co-lead of the CBS sitcom Square Pegs. 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 1992, she starred in the well-received film Honeymoon in Vegas, co-starring Nicolas Cage. Followed in 1993 by the film Hocus Pocus. Also in 1993, she appeared opposite Bruce Willis in the film Striking Distance. The following year, she starred opposite Johnny Depp in the critically acclaimed movie Ed Wood. 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.

The script for the TV drama/comedy series titled Sex and the City was sent to Sarah. 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, Sarah agreed to star.

The show aired in 1998 and proved to be an instant success, raising Sarah’s profile considerably. It is credited with turning her from simply an actress into a star and icon. Despite the show’s increasingly risqué storylines, Sarah retained the strict no-nudity clause in her contract throughout the show’s six-season run. Sarah became a producer for the show starting with its third season. In 2004, she won an Emmy Award for her lead role (after five consecutive losses). Sarah stated in 2006 that she "will never do a television show again". The Sex and the City TV series ended in 2004; the film was released in May 2008.

Sarah is also a respected stage actress, 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, as Princess Winifred the Woebegone.

Sarah 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, Sarah signed a highly lucrative deal with Garnier to appear in television and print advertising. In 2004, she fronted an international campaign by Gap, but her contract with the clothing giant was terminated in spring 2005 in favor of British soul singer Joss Stone.

In addition to her advertising work, Sarah released her own perfume in 2005, called "Lovely". In March 2007, Sarah 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," Sarah released her second fragrance "Covet."

In February 2009, as part of the "Lovely" collection, Sarah launched a series of three new fragrances called "Dawn", "Endless" and "Twilight".

On May 19, 1997, she married actor Matthew Broderick, to whom she was introduced by one of her brothers at the Naked Angels theatre company, where they both performed. The couple married in a civil ceremony in an historic synagogue; both Sarah and Matthew (who each have one Jewish parent) consider themselves to be "culturally Jewish." The couple’s son James Wilke Broderick was born on October 28, 2002.

Sarah is a prominent member of the Hollywood’s Women’s Political Committee and is UNICEF’s Representative for the Performing Arts; in 2006, she traveled to Liberia as a UNICEF celebrity ambassador, and has commented that, "It’s a place that gets little or no attention, so we’re going to try and bring some attention to it". She is currently a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador for the United States.

E! News confirms that prior to her appearance at the 2008 Major League Baseball All-Star game, she had her signature mole removed.

It was confirmed by their representatives in April 2009 that Sarah and Matthew were expecting twin girls through surrogacy. Sarah and Matthew’s surrogate delivered their twin daughters, Marion Loretta Elwell and Tabitha Hodge, on June 22, 2009.