‘Sex and the City’: Kristin Davis Refused to Read for the Part of Carrie Bradshaw for 1 Reason
Kristin Davis is best known for portraying Charlotte York in Sex and the City. The iconic role helped put Davis on the map, and her star quickly rose thanks to her comedic timing and organic portrayal of the often-uptight Charlotte. While fans largely believe Davis was perfect in the role of Charlotte, that isn’t the job casting directors considered her for. Davis had to fight to audition for her role after turning down the opportunity to read for the part of Carrie Bradshaw.
Darren Star asked Kristin Davis to read for the part of Carrie Bradshaw
Sarah Jessica Parker was always the first choice to portray Carrie. Her look and resume made her the number one candidate, but Parker wasn’t into the script initially. She thought the part was a bit too raunchy and worried what appearing in a show about sex would do to her career.
While Darren Star worked on getting Parker to buy into the project, the team considered other actors for Carrie. Davis was one of the actors who received the script. Davis was fresh off a stint on Melrose Place and hoped to move her career more toward comedy. She even appeared in Seinfeld briefly. The script for Sex and the City didn’t concern her, but Carrie’s description had her declining to read the part.
Davis passed on reading for Carrie because of the way she was described in the script
When Davis received the script for Sex and the City, she was intrigued by the show and its concept. Still, she wasn’t thrilled with the character the Star asked her to read for. Jennifer Keishin Armstrong explained in her book, Sex and the City and Us, that the script described Carrie as a woman with “the body of Heather Locklear and the mind of Dorothy Parker.”
Davis was instantly turned off by the description, insisting she did not have the body of Locklear. She would later explain that while she thought Carrie was a great character, she felt connected to the more traditional Charlotte. She pushed for the chance to read for that part instead.
Kristin Davis fought hard to join the Sex and the City cast
Davis’s work on Melrose Place helped her get in front of casting agents and Star. The audition didn’t exactly go smoothly, though. In fact, Star gave Davis the chance to take on Charlotte under a series of conditions. Star informed her that Charlotte might not end up being a series regular. Davis was mostly OK with the notion and went on to join the team.
Lucky for Davis and Sex and the City fans, Charlotte did become one of four main characters. Charlotte provided the traditional, somewhat naïve personality that the show needed to round out the three other women, who, in unique ways, were far more extreme.
