Technically, Sarah Jessica Parker was born in Nelsonville, just up the road from Athens in Southeast Ohio.
But the award-winning Sex and the City star who moved to Cincinnati at age 4 — and made her TV and stage debut here — considers the Queen City her home.
So we’ll take that, and claim her as one of our own, when the Golden Globes presents Parker with the Carol Burnett Award on Thursday, Jan. 6, 2026.
In 1969, Parker and her siblings moved with their mother, Barbara Keck Forste, to Cincinnati. Her mom was “born and raised in Cincinnati’s German community, like her parents and grandparents,” Parker explained on NBC’s 2010 genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are?
The series, produced by former Friends star Lisa Kudrow, brought Parker to meet with genealogists at the Clifton Public Library branch and the Cincinnati Museum Center.
“I’m really excited to be home,” Parker said on the show. “Any excuse to come back!”
Parker grew up in a theater-loving family. Her mother and stepfather Paul Forste met on stage at Ohio University in Athens. “My parents took us to the theater all the time, and this had an enormous influence on us,” Parker said on the NBC series.
In 1974 at age 9, Parker starred in WLWT-TV’s Little Match Girl. Channel 5’s parent company, AVCO Broadcasting, syndicated the Young People’s Special to more than 100 stations. She was paid $500 for the production, according to a 1975 Enquirer Sunday Magazine feature on her family.
Parker first attended Clifton Elementary School, then the School for Creative & Performing Arts. Her Cincinnati acting experiences included playing a mouse in a Cincinnati Ballet production of The Nutcracker; a lion in The Velveteen Rabbit; Showboat Majestic roles in Annie Get Your Gun and South Pacific; and a Cincinnati Bell TV commercial, says the Enquirer Sunday Magazine story.
Her talent was so obvious that by 1976 she headed to Broadway for a role in The Innocents. In 1978 she joined the Broadway cast of Annie, and took over the title role in 1979, at age 14. Then she headed to Hollywood to star in a short-lived CBS sitcom, Square Pegs (1982-83), as a geeky high school student, at age 17.
I first met her in 1987, when NBC converted its Year In The Life miniseries into a weekly drama. She told me how much she missed Skyline Chili, Graeter’s ice cream, Fountain Square and WLW-AM.
“I’d kill for a three-way right now. Kill!” she said.
We met again in 1990 when she starred in an ABC legal drama called Equal Justice with Jane Kaczmarek, Joe Morton and Debrah Farentino. After that, her film career took off with Honeymoon in Vegas, Hocus Pocus and The First Wives Club before returning to TV as Carrie Bradshaw in HBO’s Sex and the City. She won an Emmy and Golden Globe award in 2004 for playing Bradshaw.
Parker, 60, will be presented the Carol Burnett Award during Golden Eve on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, at 8 p.m. on CBS and streaming on Paramount+. The new TV special also will include Dame Helen Mirren receiving the 2026 Cecil B. DeMille Award.
“Sarah Jessica Parker’s career embodies the very spirit of the Carol Burnett Award,” said Golden Globes President Helen Hoehne in a media release. “Her trailblazing impact on television and her dedication to storytelling across stage and screen have left an indelible mark on popular culture. We are honored to celebrate her extraordinary contributions to entertainment.”
From the CBS release:
“An Emmy- and Screen Actors Guild Award-winning actor and producer, Parker has captivated audiences for decades with her creative versatility, cultural influence and enduring contributions to the arts. Best known for her iconic portrayal of Carrie Bradshaw in HBO’s groundbreaking series Sex and the City and hit sequel And Just Like That, Parker’s Golden Globe-winning performances have helped redefine women’s representation on television and continue to inspire new generations of viewers and creators alike.
“Beyond her defining television achievements, Parker’s acclaimed career spans film, stage and production. Her diverse filmography includes Hocus Pocus and Hocus Pocus 2, The Family Stone, Failure to Launch, The First Wives Club, Ed Wood and Mars Attacks!,” among many others.”
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