Kristin Davis
About
Biography
Filmography
Family & Companions
Biography
A high-energy actress with girl-next-door appeal, Kristin Davis evoked both innocent and evil to great affect in her numerous film and television roles. Her breakthrough arrived in the form of the scheming, rich brat Brooke Armstrong on "Melrose Place" (Fox, 1992-99), a character so universally reviled that writers whipped up a shocking death for her after one season to appease angry fans: drowning in the famous pool after a drunken monologue where she verbally decimated the other apartment dwellers. Ironically, Davis actually became a bonafide star by playing a character who was the polar opposite of Brooke - the sweet, uptight Charlotte York on "Sex and the City" (HBO, 1998-2004). As the youngest and most naïve of the famous foursome, Davis had the chance to play both comedy and drama during her run on the immensely popular show, as well as in the 2008 film version. After a few unchallenging roles in family films and comedies like "Couples Retreat" (2009), Davis returned to her most famous role with the worldwide smash "Sex and the City 2" (2010). With the security of her success, Davis continued to choose projects selectively, showing a strong preference for family-friendly fare.
Born Kristin Landen Davis on Feb. 24, 1965, she spent her infancy in Colorado, where her parents divorced shortly after her birth. Her mother remarried soon afterwards and she was adopted by her stepfather, a psychology professor who brought his new family to South Carolina, where he served as provost and taught at the University of South Carolina. Her interest in acting was sparked by frequent trips to New York City, where her family took her to see Broadway shows. At age 10, she became involved in community theatre, earning her first stage credit in a production of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves." After graduating high school in 1983, Davis relocated to New Jersey, where she earned her BFA in Theater from Rutgers University in 1987. Like so many acting hopefuls before her, she moved to Manhattan in hopes of earning her big break, spending several years working at various jobs while logging experience in various theatre productions. Her first movie role arrived in 1987, with a supporting part in the low-budget horror film "Doom Asylum."
Davis' perseverance paid off in the early 1990s, with a small recurring role on the venerable daytime soap "General Hospital" (ABC, 1963- ). She soon graduated to primetime with guest shots on "The Larry Sanders Show" (HBO, 1992-98), "ER" (NBC, 1994-2009) and in the TV movie "Alien Nation: Body and Soul" (1995), which required her to don a very un-Charlotte-like spotted bald cap in her portrayal of an extraterrestrial. By 1995, she was tapped by the producers of "Melrose Place" for a recurring role as wealthy Brooke Armstrong Campbell, whose obsessive hold on Billy Campbell (Andrew Shue) put her at odds with her romantic and business rival, Alison Parker (Courtney Thorne-Smith). Davis' turn was so impressively evil that she was made a regular cast member for the 1995-96 season, but audiences eventually found Brooke so loathsome that she was slated for an untimely (if well-deserved) demise in the Melrose Place pool after discovering that her stepfather (Perry King) had married Alison.
Davis did not want for work, even long after the end of her "Melrose" stint; she was soon appearing in several TV movies and logging time on various series, most notably in two episodes of "Seinfeld" (NBC, 1989-1998) as Jenna, a potential girlfriend of Jerry's who becomes persona non grata after her toothbrush falls into a toilet, unbeknownst to her. When she uses the toothbrush, the germaphobic Jerry spends the whole episode trying to figure out how to dump her. "Seinfeld" creator Larry David was suitably impressed with her skills to later tap her for a role in his little-seen and roundly disliked feature comedy, "Sour Grapes" (1998).
In 1998, Davis was cast as Charlotte in "Melrose Place" creator Darren Star's comedy-drama "Sex and the City," based on the column and book by writer Candace Bushnell. The series - about the lives and loves of a New York writer and her three closest friends - quickly became appointment television for cable audiences (especially female and gay viewers) with its blend of risqué humor and genuinely affecting romance. At first blush, Davis' character seemed to be the least well-drawn of the four leads; a former homecoming queen and teen model, Charlotte was impossibly sunny but exuded a deeply conservative and old-fashioned attitude about sex and relationships that occasionally put her at odds with her more adventurous friends. Eventually, the writers mined some terrific comic moments by involving her in some outlandish romantic scenarios, including a man whom she believes to be gay and a shoe salesman (James Urbaniak) with a foot fetish who buys her expensive footwear.
By the show's third season, Charlotte appeared to find her much-desired "knight in shining armor" in the form of successful doctor Trey McDougal (Kyle MacLachlan), but the fairy tale veneer was peeled away by their struggles - including his impotency issues and their inability to conceive, which were among the show's most emotionally resonant and realistic storylines. Trey divorced Charlotte in the show's fifth season, and his replacement came in the unlikely form of bald, crude lawyer Harry Goldenblatt (Evan Handler). Initially repulsed by him, she slowly acquiesced to his advances by pursuing a purely sexual relationship with him. Goldenblatt's unwavering love and fidelity soon persuaded Charlotte that he was the man for her, and she embarked on the long and arduous route of converting to Judaism in order to marry him. Due to her inability to conceive, the couple adopted a daughter from China in the show's final season.
For her efforts, Davis shared two Screen Actors Guild Awards with her co-stars, but went away empty-handed at the Emmys and Golden Globes in 2004, which was surprising, given her heartfelt performances in the Trey and Goldenblatt storylines. If the losses affected Davis, she never showed it. Instead, she kept busy between seasons, assisting screen husband Rob Lowe in slowing an out-of-control train carrying a radioactive payload in the 1999 TV movie "Atomic Train," and playing singer John Denver's wife Annie in "Take Me Home: The John Denver Story" in 2000. Other TV features soon followed, but Davis' focus remained with "Sex" until its highly publicized and widely viewed finale in 2004.
After "Sex," Davis remained remarkably active on television and in film. She shot "Soccer Moms" (2005), a comedy pilot for ABC about suburban housewives who also solve crime, and logged time in the innocuous but popular kids' features "The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D" (2005), in which she starred as the mother of the boy who creates the title superheroes, as well as a remake of "The Shaggy Dog" (2006) with Tim Allen in the title role. She later appeared with her "Sex" co-star Sarah Jessica Parker's real-life husband, Matthew Broderick, as his long-suffering wife in the limp holiday comedy, "Deck the Halls" (2006). On television, she was seen as the fictional love interest for baseball legend Honus Wagner (Matthew Modine) in TNT's "The Winning Season" (2004), and provided the voice of the caring Miss Spider in the Annie-nominated animated series "Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends" (Nickelodeon, 2004-06). She also appeared frequently as a commercial spokesperson for Maybelline cosmetics and Head and Shoulders shampoo.
None of this, however, could top the excitement generated by the announcement that Davis and her "Sex and the City" co-stars would reunite (after numerous delays) for the film version of the hit show in 2008. That same year, Davis' image - or rather, her image as Charlotte - took an unsavory hit after photos alleging to show her in sexually explicit acts were released on the Internet. Davis's swiftly denied her participation. Ironically, Davis, who played the commitment-obsessed Charlotte, was the only one of her three "Sex" co-stars to remain steadfastly single during and after the show's run. In prior years, however, she was linked to such high-profile suitors as Alec Baldwin, Jeff Goldblum and Steve Martin. In a rare move, Davis branched out from her post-"Sex" role selection of softer fare to play Jon Favreau's disillusioned wife in the raunchy Vince Vaughn comedy "Couples Retreat" (2009), which was successful at the box office but not so much with critics. Davis returned to surer ground in the global smash "Sex and the City 2" (2010), where she plumbed the continued growth of Charlotte, arguably the character who had traveled the greatest emotional distance throughout the years.
Filmography
Cast (Feature Film)
Producer (Feature Film)
Music (Feature Film)
Cast (Special)
Cast (TV Mini-Series)
Life Events
1987
Made film debut in the low-budget feature "Doom Asylum"
1991
Made TV-movie debut in "N.Y.P.D. Mounted" (CBS)
1991
Had early TV series guest role on the ABC crime drama "Pros & Cons"
1991
Played recurring role on daytime soap "General Hospital" (ABC)
1993
Appeared on an episode of HBO's "The Larry Sanders Show"
1995
Made a cameo as a tennis attendant in the comedy "Nine Months"
1995
Joined cast of "Melrose Place" (Fox) in recurring role of Brooke Armstrong; became regular in the 1995-96 season
1995
Played a small but pivotal role in the Fox TV-movie "Alien Nation: Body and Soul"
1996
Starred in the NBC TV-movie "The Ultimate Lie"
1997
Guest starred on the NBC sitcoms "The Single Guy" and "Seinfeld"
1997
Starred as a woman whose psychic abilities allow her to predict violent crimes in the TV-movie thriller "A Deadly Vision" (ABC)
1998
Landed bit part in the independent comedy "Sour Grapes"
1998
Cast as prissy and proper New Yorker Charlotte York on the acclaimed HBO comedy series "Sex and the City"; earned Golden Globe (2003) and Emmy (2004) nominations for Best Supporting Actress
1999
Starred opposite Rob Lowe in the action miniseries "Atomic Train" (NBC)
2000
Played Annie Denver in the CBS biopic "Take Me Home: The John Denver Story" opposite Chad Lowe
2001
Appeared with Kelly Ripa and Adam Frost in the TV Movie "Someone to Love"
2004
Made guest appearance on "Will and Grace" (NBC) as the best friend of Will's (Eric McCormack) boyfriend Vince (Bobby Cannavale)
2004
Signed with Maybelline as celebrity spokeswoman; appeared in the cosmetics brand's TV and print ads
2004
Co-starred with Matthew Modine in the TNT movie "The Winning Season"
2005
Co-starred in "The Adventures of Shark Boy & Lava Girl in 3-D"; directed by Robert Rodriguez and written by his son Racer Rodriguez
2006
Played Tim Allen's wife in a remake of Walt Disney's 1959 favorite "The Shaggy Dog"
2006
Played Matthew Broderick's ("Sex and the City" co-star Sarah Jessica Parker's husband) wife in "Deck the Halls"
2008
Reprised the character of Charlotte York for "Sex and the City: The Movie"
2009
Co-starred with Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau in the comedy feature "Couples Retreat"
2010
Reprised her role of Charlotte York for "Sex and the City 2"
2012
Cast opposite Dwayne Johnson in the adventure sequel "Journey 2: The Mysterious Island"
2014
Cast as Ginny Taylor-Clapp on "Bad Teacher"
2016
Appeared in TV movie "A Heavenly Christmas"
Family
Companions
