Reviews for And Just Like That…, HBO Max’s revival of Sex and the City, have been mixed, but there’s no denying the impact the original series had on pop culture. Over 20 years after its premiere, fans are still discussing whether they’re a Carrie, Charlotte, Miranda, or Samantha over cosmopolitans.
But the show isn’t just responsible for making Carrie’s signature cocktail famous; it also was the career launchpad for a number of successful actors, from a wedding crasher to one of the MCU’s funniest sidekicks.
Timothy Olyphant
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Before he became Hollywood’s favorite sheriff, Timothy Olyphant played a one-time fling of Carrie’s in Sex and the City. In season 1’s “Valley of the Twenty-Something Guys,” Carrie is tired of getting mixed signals from Mr. Big, so she seeks solace in a much less complicated twentysomething, Sam (Olyphant). Alas, while men in their twenties have a certain allure to her, in the harsh light of the day, Carrie knows what she wants: to wake up in an apartment that has toilet paper.
Prior to Sex and the City, Olyphant was slowly earning a reputation as a teen movie villain, starting with Scream 2 (1997). He would continue this trajectory with Go (1999) and The Girl Next Door (2004). But Olyphant would really shine in another HBO show, Deadwood (2004-2006), in which he starred as Sheriff Seth Bullock. From there, Olyphant continued to play lawmen in movies and TV shows such as The Crazies (2010) and Justified (2010-2015). Most recently, Olyphant is known for his role as Cobb Vanth in Star Wars spinoff, The Mandalorian. Olyphant’s next projects include an untitled David O. Russell project and role in the miniseries adaptation of Daisy Jones & The Six.
Kat Dennings
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It’s not just anyone who can shock Samantha Jones, and that puts Jenny Brier (Kat Dennings) in a league of her own in season 3’s “Hot Child in the City.” There aren’t many children featured on Sex and the City, but Jenny prides herself on being a mini-adult. She comes from an affluent family and hires Samantha to plan her upcoming bat mitzvah. The fat paycheck is too sweet for Samantha to pass up, so she takes the gig and is later horrified to see Jenny and her friends — also kids — talk about their sexual escapades in such a flippant manner.
As she proved with Jenny, Dennings is a master at playing young characters full of attitude. Sarcastic teenage roles in movies like The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005) and The House Bunny (2008) would become her trademark. It’s this dry wit that landed her her big break as the star in sitcom Two Broke Girls (2011-2017). However, MCU fans most recognize Dennings as quirky sidekick Darcy Lewis, who most recently popped up in WandaVision (2021). Dennings does not currently have any future projects announced.
Bobby Cannavale
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Of all Sex and the City‘s one-episode love interests, Adam Ball (Bobby Cannavale) certainly made a name for himself — though maybe not the name he hoped for. In season 3’s “Easy Come, Easy Go,” Adam is Samantha’s current sexual partner and she finds him to be… an acquired taste. It was probably the least important plot of the episode, but Samantha’s storylines tend to be the most memorable. While she goes to bed with him more than once, after this episode, fans never saw “Mr. Funky Spunk” again.
Cannavale is one of Hollywood’s most versatile character actors, as evidenced by his accolades. He has won two Emmys for his guest appearance as Will’s boyfriend in Will & Grace (1998-2006, 2017-2020) and for his supporting role as the villainous Gyp Rosetti in Boardwalk Empire (2010-2014). Cannavale’s most recent projects were the miniseries Nine Perfect Strangers (2021) and the animated film Sing 2 (2021). Audiences can next see Cannavale in the upcoming film Blonde, an adaptation of a novel about Marilyn Monroe.
Elizabeth Banks
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When Carrie is dating a politician in season 3’s “Politically Erect,” she brings her friends to a fundraising party. Charlotte is thrilled at the opportunity to meet men, but the guy she hits it off with turns out to be engaged — and his fiancée Catherine (Elizabeth Banks) is in attendance. Still, the night isn’t a total dud for Charlotte as Catherine divulges that she and her partner met at a party where every woman brought a man they weren’t interested in, prompting Charlotte to throw a similar shindig.
While Catherine may not have left as big an impression as Mr. Funky Spunk or the guy with no toilet paper, it wouldn’t be long before Banks’ career took off. She became famous for playing wacky comedic characters in The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005), the Pitch Perfect series (2012-2017), and perhaps most famously, The Hunger Games series (2012-2015). Banks is also a director, having helmed Pitch Perfect 2 (2015) and the Charlie’s Angels reboot (2019). Her next directorial project, Cocaine Bear, is set for release later this year.
Vince Vaughn
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Vince Vaughn is no stranger to playing sleazy womanizers and his Sex and the City character, Keith Travers, certainly fits the bill. Carrie meets him in season 3’s “Sex and Another City” when she and the women are in L.A. Keith seduces Carrie with Hollywood glamour, getting her into an exclusive party and inviting her back to his swanky mansion. But it turns out Keith is no Tinseltown bigshot — he’s Carrie Fisher’s assistant and is using her place as his own private sex pad. In a cameo as herself, Fisher is enraged to find her employee in bed with Carrie, and the sex columnist is mortified. This is definitely not one of Sex and the City‘s most popular storylines.
Though Vaughn had already gotten some attention for starring in indie film Swingers (1996), he wouldn’t become an A-lister until the 2000s. This decade saw him star in several comedies including Old School (2003), Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004), and Wedding Crashers (2005). Vaughn frequently acted alongside the same co-stars and together, these actors were dubbed the “Frat Pack.” The 2010s saw Vaughn take on more dramatic roles in True Detective (2015), Hacksaw Ridge (2016), and Brawl in Cell Block 99 (2017). Most recently, Vaughn went back to his comedy roots and guest-starred in the most recent seasons of Curb Your Enthusiasm (2000-present).
Justin Theroux
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Justin Theroux guest-starred on Sex and the City not once, but twice — in two different roles! In season 1’s “The Monogamists,” he plays a cocky writer named Jared who briefly flirts with Carrie. Ironically, Theroux’s other SATC role was also a writer; this time he was Vaughn Wysel in season 3’s “Shortcomings.” Vaughn is a short story writer who introduces Carrie to his family. Carrie immediately hits it off with them, particularly Vaughn’s mother, Wallis. Unfortunately, while Carrie adores the Wysel family, Vaughn’s premature ejaculation issue is too much of a hurdle for her and the two do not last.
It’s fitting that Theroux played offbeat writers in Sex and the City because he largely became famous for unconventional indie fare. Some of his most prominent roles are in movies like American Pyscho (2000) and Mulholland Drive (2001), but Theroux is most known for starring in HBO series The Leftovers (2014-2017). He recently starred in Apple TV+ series The Mosquito Coast, based on the novel of the same name by his uncle, Paul Theroux. Justin Theroux’s next project is the Watergate-era miniseries The White House Plumbers.