Kristin Davis

This article is about the actress. For the former madam, see Kristin M. Davis.
Kristin Davis

Kristin Davis in 2014
Born February 24, 1965
Boulder, Colorado, U.S.
Alma mater Rutgers University
Occupation Actress
Years active 1987–present
Children 1

Kristin Landen Davis (also listed as Kristin Lee Davis; born February 24, 1965[1]) is an American actress. She is well known for playing the roles of Brooke Armstrong on Melrose Place (1995–1996) and Charlotte York Goldenblatt on HBO's Sex and the City (1998–2004). For her role on Sex and the City, she received an Emmy Award nomination in 2004. Her films include Deck the Halls (2006), Sex and the City: The Movie (2008), Couples Retreat (2009). and Sex and the City 2 (2010). In 2014, she made her West End debut playing Beth Gallagher in the original stage production of Fatal Attraction.

Early life and education

Davis was born in Boulder, Colorado.[2] She is an only child, and her parents divorced when she was a baby.[2] She was adopted by her stepfather, then-University of Colorado Boulder professor Keith Davis,[3] after he married her mother, Dorothy, a university data analyst, in 1968.[4] She has three sisters from her father's first marriage.[5] Early in her childhood, she and her parents moved to Columbia, South Carolina, where her father served as provost and teaches psychology at the University of South Carolina.

Davis wanted to be an actress from the age of 9, when she was cast in the Workshop Theatre production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Davis lived in South Carolina until she graduated from A.C. Flora High School in 1983.[2] She then moved to New Jersey, where she attended Rutgers University. Davis graduated with a BFA degree in Acting from Rutgers University's Mason Gross School of the Arts in 1987.[5]

Career

Television

After graduation in 1987, Davis moved to New York and waited tables before opening a yoga studio with a friend. In 1991, she acted in a couple of episodes of the daytime drama (soap opera) General Hospital. Her big break came in 1995 when she landed the role of villainess Brooke Armstrong Campbell on the nighttime drama Melrose Place. She left the show after one year when producers decided to kill off the character. Davis also had roles in other television series including Friends, Will and Grace and Seinfeld.

Davis at the HBO party after the 1999 Emmy Awards.

In 1998, Davis was cast as Charlotte York in Sex and the City and remained an integral cast member until the series ended in 2004. In 1999, along with the rest of the cast, she was awarded the Women in Film Lucy Award in recognition of her excellence and innovation in her creative works that have enhanced the perception of women through the medium of television.[6] She received an Emmy nomination for her role as Charlotte in the final season.[7]

Davis hosted the VH1 show 200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons. In 2005, she starred in a television pilot entitled Soccer Moms in which she and Gina Torres star as suburban mothers who moonlight as private detectives. She starred as Miss Spider in the animated television special Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Kids and its spin-off series Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends and was recently a guest judge on the Lifetime (TV network) program Project Runway.

Films

Davis's films include The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3D, opposite David Arquette and George Lopez; the Walt Disney film The Shaggy Dog, opposite Tim Allen, and Deck the Halls, opposite Matthew Broderick. She performed in ABC Family channel's Christmas movie Three Days in 2001, and in a commercial for Head & Shoulders shampoo.

Davis appeared in 2008's Sex and the City feature film, under the direction of executive producer Michael Patrick King.[8] In 2009, Davis co-starred in Couples Retreat, a comedy chronicling four couples who partake in therapy sessions at a tropical island resort. Jon Favreau, who also wrote the script, played her husband.[9]

Stage

Davis made her West End debut[10] playing Beth Gallagher in Fatal Attraction at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, in March 2014.[11]

Additional ventures

Shortly after the wide release of the Sex and the City feature film, in June 2008, Belk, the nation's largest privately owned department store chain, announced a partnership with Davis. The arrangement includes a ladies' apparel and accessories line that debuted in 2008 in 125 store locations and online, with eventual plans for expanding availability to other store locations. In Belk's press release about the product line launch, Davis cited her upbringing in South Carolina as part of her inspiration for working with the chain.[12]

Personal life

Oxfam Ambassador Davis visits Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya

In 2011, Davis adopted a daughter, Gemma Rose Davis.[13] They reside in Los Angeles, California.

Davis is a recovering alcoholic.[14] She says she was introduced to alcohol early as part of her Southern upbringing: "Alcohol freed me. I was really shy and I didn't know how to come out of my shell. I drank for the same reason I loved acting. I wanted to feel things and express myself and be free. And I'm not naturally that way."[15] She went sober at the age of 22, later stating, "I miss it. You don't go to rehab and then suddenly it goes away."[16]

Davis has been an ambassador for the poverty organization Oxfam since 2004.

During her 2009 visit to Africa, Davis, a lifelong lover of elephants, discovered an abandoned baby elephant and arranged for it to be taken to a wildlife rehabilitation center. In recognition of the attention she has brought to the plight of orphaned African elephants, Davis won the Humane Society's 2010 Wyler Award, which is bestowed on a celebrity or public figure who has made news on behalf of animals.[17]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1987 Doom Asylum Jane
1991 N.Y.P.D. Mounted Young Lady Television film
1995 Nine Months Tennis Attendant
1995 Alien Nation: Body and Soul Karina Tivoli
1996 Ultimate Lie, TheThe Ultimate Lie Claire McGrath Television film
1997 Deadly Vision, AA Deadly Vision Babette Watson Television film
1998 Traveling Companion Annie
1998 Sour Grapes Riggs
1999 Atomic Train Megan Seger
2000 Take Me Home: The John Denver Story Annie Denver Television film
2000 Blacktop Sylvia Television film
2001 Someone to Love Lorraine Television film
2001 Three Days Beth Farmer Television film
2004 Winning Season, TheThe Winning Season Mandy Television film
2005 Soccer Moms Brooke Television pilot
2005 Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D, TheThe Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D Max's Mom Minor
2006 Shaggy Dog, TheThe Shaggy Dog Rebecca Douglas
2006 Deck the Halls Kelly Finch Main role
2008 Sex and the City: The Movie Charlotte York Goldenblatt
2009 Couples Retreat Lucy Tippaglio
2010 Sex and the City 2 Charlotte York Goldenblatt ShoWest Ensemble Award
Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress
Nominated–People's Choice Awards For Favorite Cast
2012 Journey 2: The Mysterious Island Elizabeth Anderson
2012 Of Two Minds Billie Clark Television film

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1991 General Hospital Betsy Chilson, R.N.
1992 Mann & Machine Cathy Episode: "Billion Dollar Baby"
1993 Larry Sanders Show, TheThe Larry Sanders Show Bri Episode: "The Breakdown: Part II"
1994 Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman Carey McGee Episode: "Thanksgiving"
1995 ER Leslie Episode: "Luck of the Draw"
1995–96 Melrose Place Brooke Armstrong 32 episodes
1997 Single Guy, TheThe Single Guy Leslie Episode: "Johnny Hollywood"
1997 Seinfeld Jenna Episodes: "The Pothole" / "The Butter Shave"
1998–2004 Sex and the City Charlotte York Goldenblatt Women in Film Lucy Award (shared with cast)
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (2001)
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (2003)
Nominated–Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (2004)
Nominated–Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film (2004)
Nominated–Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series (2004)
2000 Friends Erin Episode: "The One with Ross' Library Book"
2000 Sex and the Matrix Charlotte York MacDougal short parody
2004 Will & Grace Nadine Episode: "Will & Grace & Vince & Nadine"
2004–09 Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends Miss Spider Voice role, 35 episodes
2014 Bad Teacher Ginny Taylor-Clapp 7 episodes

Theatre

Year Title Role Notes
2014 Fatal Attraction Beth Gallagher

References

  1. ↑ The World Almanac & Book of Facts. World Almanac Books. 2007. p. 218. 2/24/65.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Kristin Davis Biography". The Biography Channel. A+E Networks. Retrieved February 18, 2014.
  3. ↑ Doug Nye (September 19, 2000). "Kristin Davis, 'sex' symbol". The State (Columbia, South Carolina).
  4. ↑ "Kristin Davis Biography (1965-)". Film Reference. Advameg, Inc. Retrieved February 18, 2014.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Ellen, Barbara (February 10, 2002). "Charlotte's web". The Observer. Retrieved April 14, 2008.
  6. ↑ "Past Recipients". Wif.org. Retrieved April 10, 2013.
  7. ↑ "Kristin Davis". Emmy Awards. Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved February 18, 2014.
  8. ↑ ""Sex and the City" movie close to green light". ABC7Chicago. November 14, 2006. Retrieved February 1, 2007.
  9. ↑ Trio of Ladies Going on Couples Retreat" TV Guide. October 15, 2008. Retrieved October 15, 2008.
  10. ↑ "Kristin Davis will make her West End debut alongside Mark Bazeley in Trevor Nunn’s forthcoming production of Fatal Attraction". officiallondontheatre.co.uk. Official London Theatre. January 28, 2014. Retrieved January 28, 2014.
  11. ↑ "Kristin Davis’s fatal attraction to West End". standard.co.uk. London Evening Standard. January 28, 2014. Retrieved January 28, 2014.
  12. ↑
  13. ↑ Julie Jordan (October 7, 2011). "Kristin Davis Adopts a Baby Girl". People.
  14. ↑ "'Sex and the City' Star Kristin Davis: I'm a Recovering Alcoholic". Fox News. May 22, 2008. Retrieved February 18, 2014.
  15. ↑ Sharon Churcher (May 11, 2008). "Sex and the shower scene... or how Kristin Davis refused to bare all in Sex And The City movie". Mail on Sunday. Retrieved May 11, 2008.
  16. ↑ Lynsey Haywood (May 28, 2008). "Kristin Davis' 'dead at 30' fears". The Sun. Retrieved May 28, 2008.
  17. ↑ "The Wyler Award".

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kristin Davis.