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Sarah Jessica Parker may be the perfect person to receive the Golden Globes’ Carol Burnett Award — despite feeling “not worthy” of the honor.
“My mom and my dad met doing a local production of ‘Once Upon a Mattress’ in Athens, Ohio. He walked into the audition to the theater where they were auditioning, and she was on stage, and he told us that he thought she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen,” says Parker. “And we grew up listening to that.”
Burnett made her Broadway debut on “Once Upon a Mattress,” originating the role of Princess Winnifred, which earned her a Tony nomination.
But the connection doesn’t stop there; in 1996, when the Broadway show was revived, Parker took on the role of Princess Winnifred — Burnett’s role. And the legendary comedian came to the show.
“She was so lovely and gracious,” recalls Parker. “She has played a not inconsequential role in my life. So, it is a sincerely profound honor to try to do right by this acknowledgement.”
Best known for her role as Carrie Bradshaw in “Sex and the City” and “And Just Like That…, ” Parker feels “privileged” for every role she’s ever played — especially those that allow her to stretch different muscles.
“’Square Pegs’ was a really special experience, and obviously a wonderfully different character than Carrie Bradshaw,” she says of the 1982 CBS sitcom, which she led alongside Amy Linker. “I’ve done a lot of movies that feel like they’re part of me learning and making attempts at being better and keeping up with people around me who I thought were spectacular artists and craftspeople in lots of ways. Working with Steve Martin taught me a lot about physical comedy, and doing a few movies with Bette Midler taught me about being absurd and broad and wonderfully ridiculous — to take an enthusiastic swing at things.”
Like many who receive an honor, Parker credits most of her success to those around her, soaking in every bit of what others have to offer and always giving it 100%.
“It’s a great thing — always actively wanting to be good,” she says. “It’s about caring still, this many years in, though tiresome and sometimes frustrating, that you still feel so affected by what you think wasn’t good enough. For me, it has probably been the best way for me to function as a professional.”
At this point in her career, she’s focused on taking on a new challenge.
“What doesn’t feel like I’ve already said these lines or been that person, or been in that city, or worn that pair of shoes. It’s easiest to do what is most familiar; it’s often the most lucrative thing to do that. But it’s more and more the case, the thing that’s the least satisfying and certainly asks not enough of me,” she says. “I think it’s incumbent upon me, at this point in my life and my career, to try to be always terrified, to always feel like it’s very possible I will not be able to do it, it’s very possible I will get fired.”
While she admits it’s not fun to have those types of anxious feelings, there’s no excitement in taking on the same roles repeatedly — “and I say that having played somebody for a long time, but she was always having these new experiences,” Parker says of Carrie, who she played in two HBO series and two theatrical movies. “There was always so much that was unexpected and surprising, and it was much more like a human life with a proper heartbeat.”
English (US) ·