Some celebrities are remembered by the one extremely famous role they played. There are so many examples of it, David Schwimmer starring as Ross in Friends, or Daniel Radcliffe starring as Harry Potter. And another one is Chris Noth, who starred as Mr. Big in Sex & The City.
Not only did it bring Noth to the next level of stardom. Many also wanted relationship advice from him considering his role in the smash hit series.
Now, Chris Noth has turned 66, and he’s a loving husband and father. His eldest son has turned 13 – and the resemblance to his father is just amazing!
To be one with your role as an actor is crucial for your performance. Sure, you will at one point leave that role to go on and work in other productions. But for some, that one role will forever be the one people associate you with.
Chris Noth – Mr. Big
Sometimes, it might even be something negative once you go on to work in other films or television series. For example, isn’t it weird seing Daniel Radcliffe in some drama film without his tradmark Harry Potter glasses and the scar on his forehead?
There are many examples of actors or actresses who have had one role which, in a sense, have gone on to haunt them forever. And for some, maybe people doesn’t even know their actual name and they still refer to them as their character’s name.
For Chris Noth, that was sometimes the case. The actor starred in the smash hit series Sex & The City as Mr. Big, which made his career skyrocket. However, some fans actually found it hard not seeing him in only the series, but outside of the set.
Now, Chris Noth has turned into a real family man with a wife as well as two children. And his eldest son, 13-year old Orion, is the spitting image of his father!
Chris Noth – early life
Speaking with EW, Chris Noth says that he “managed to drive at a very young age,” was “partaking” in marijuana, and also snuck into Chinatown for Halloween each year to buy explosives. Why? So he could blow up pumpkins.
“I probably wasn’t getting the best education, and I was driving my mother half wild with anxiety and madness,” Noth said. “I was probably headed toward a lifestyle of possible juvenile crime, but only because it was fun.”
Chris’ mother had an answer to her son’s troublesome activities. She decided to send him to an all-boys high school, however, he managed to persuade her to let him attend another school in upstate New York.
“I’ll never forget, as we were driving up, I looked to my left and there were three girls skinny-dipping,” Noth recalled. “My mother didn’t see it, and I just went, ‘You know, Mom, I think I could really learn a lot at this school.'”
After graduating from high school, Noth found his real passion in life. Following a short stint in both California and New York, he attended Marlboro College in Vermont, and he fell in love with acting.
Acting became his lifestyle – and he made the most of it each and every day. He soon transferred to Yale Drama School, where he shared the playwriting classroom with actresses Patty Clarkson and Jayne Atkinson.
Early career in New York
“There was always so much going on; you were in class during the day and doing plays at night,” Noth said in an interview with Broadway. “It’s just a feast! That’s what I wanted. I started that way at Marlboro College, doing four plays in rep in the summer”
Many actor and actresses dream of the Hollywood lifestyle, living in a celebrity packed area with sun all year around in the heart of showbiz. But Chris Noth didn’t want that at all. Instead, he wanted to go to New York to focus on learning the Group Theater, which was a theater collective formed back in the ’30s.
Noth moved to New York to follow his dream – and he hasn’t left.
Right away, he started climbing the ladder of success. Noth got small parts in films like Smithereens (1982) and Baby Boom (1987). Soon after he got his first lead in an Indonesian low-budget film called Peluru dan Wanita (“Bullets & Women”).
“I was struggling, teetering on the edge of financial ruin,” Noth said. “My unbalanced diet almost made me ill.”
Chris Noth – Sex and The City
But soon after the Indonesian lead role, Noth’s career took on new speed. He was offered a part in the television series Law & Order – and later the legendary part of Mr. Big in Sex and The City.
But it was actually pretty close that Noth didn’t even get the part of Mr. Big. The show’s creator Darren Star told EW that they first had Alec Baldwin in mind for the part.
“I don’t really watch Law & Order, but I met with Chris Noth and thought he was perfect,” Star said. “I remember the first table read, how good he was. I’m not saying that Chris was Mr. Big, but he brought a lot of his own persona to the role.”
“It took off like a rocket,” Noth said of the time.
It was a coincidence, but for Noth, it sure was fun that the two smash hit series he starred at was based in New York. It was the city he’s lived in for more than two decades.
And for Noth, it was “exciting for me to feel like a small part of the cultural history of the city,” he said.
Thought he was “Mr Big” in real life
Many celebrities, among these John Lennon, decided to move to New York City because of its size. It has meant they can be fairly anonymous compared to Los Angeles, but for Chris Noth, this has not been the case.
Following his role in Sex and The City, fans thought of him as Mr. Big in real life as well. It was bittersweet that the show was increasing in popularity, and the anonymous lifestyle as a New Yorker wasn’t really there anymore.
To sum it up, fans confused the man with the myth. One night, when coming out of a restaurant alongside his then girlfriend Tara, a number of fans were waiting around to see what car Noth was driving.
“We got in, and you could hear them go, ‘Oh my God, he’s riding in a Toyota,'” he recalled. “‘Mr. Big would never ride in a Toyota.’ But I don’t give a s— about cars.”
“I have been walking these streets and taking subways all of my adult life, and before I was just another face in the crowd,” Noth says. “It’s pretty annoying to be suddenly looked at as some exotic bird in the zoo.”
At the same time as it’s been tough for him to come under such stardom, the fact that many associates Noth with Mr. Big in real life has also had its moments.
“I would be an idiot…”
“When they want advice about their Carrie-Big relationship, I have to laugh,” he said.
Sex and The City became a blockbuster series. Noth appeared in the film that premiered in 2008, and now, he will be back as Mr. Big once again.
In late May, Noth confirmed that he will reunite with Sarah Jessica Parker and the rest of the Sex and The City crew to reprise his role in the new HBO Sex and The City reboot, called And Just Like That. Early reports stated that Noth wasn’t planning to return for the sequel series. But now, the fans once again will see their beloved Mr. Big on screen.
”I would be an idiot not to do it,” he says. ”There had been some stops and starts. Once I knew Michael Patrick King and Sarah Jessica and all of the girls were back on board, I knew we could do no wrong.”
Noth filmed Law & Order and the Sex and The City film simultaneously for quite a while. And it sure gave his fellow actors and production crew at the crime series some great laughs.
Chris Noth – family
“I’d be in beautiful clothes and a great set on the movie, and then I’d be in freakin’ Red Hook,” he told EW. “The crew at Law & Order didn’t have much sympathy for me. ‘Oh, welcome back, Mr. Big. There’s a dead body, Mr. Big. Go figure out who shot that guy between the ears, would you? Do you need a cosmo while you do that?'”
Even though the series – which has won seven Primetime Emmy awards – is one of the most popular ones in history, Noth doesn’t really understand the hype. At least not about him.
“I don’t understand why I am known for it, to tell you the truth,” Noth told Broadway. “The last New York Times article [that mentioned me], they put in parenthesis after my name “Sex and the City.” I just find it a bit odd. I actually spent more time on Law & Order. But I don’t particularly think there’s anything I can do about it.”
Besides playing one of the most iconic roles in television history – and doing several other projects at the same time – Noth has also turned into a real family man. He and Tara Wilson tied knot in 2012 with an intimate ceremony in Maui, Hawaii.
Previously, Noth has said that he think it’s “gross” how other celebrities show off their private lives in shows or magazines. Therefore, there isn’t that much known of his own.
Chris Noth – lookalike son Orion
In 2008, Chris and Tara welcomed their first son, Orion Christopher Noth. Just a year ago, she also gave birth to the couple’s second boy, Keats Noth.
Through Instagram, Noth shares plenty of pictures of his family. And it’s safe to say that Orion has gotten many treats from his father. Just look at how much they look alike!
The actor has been keen on not discussing his private life in interviews. However, in the 2008 interview with Broadway, Noth spoke about being a first time-father rather late in life, at 53.
“It’s not something that I expected would happen, so it just goes to show you that life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans,” Chris Noth said.
“He came out of the universe into my life, and now I have to stay in great shape so we can play sports together. He’s already very active and curious about everything; he’s starting to form words. I don’t usually talk to reporters about my baby because there seems to be this weird fascination out there with celebrities and babies. But I will say that he’s a wonder. That’s the main thing kids add back to your life—the wonder.”
Chris Noth is truly an amazing actor. And wow, does his son look just like him!
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