Raised in Cincinnati, Ohio; danced with Cincinnati Ballet

Family moved to the greater New York City area, settling first on Roosevelt Island and later in Englewood, New Jersey

1973 – Made TV debut in NBC’s “The Little Match Girl” (date approximate)

1976 – Broadway debut, “The Innocents”, directed by Harold Pinter; brother Timothy Britten Parker also featured

1978 – Joined the Broadway cast of the musical “Annie” (based on the “Little Orphan Annie” comic strip) as one of the orphans; later played the title role for two years (until 1980)

1979 – Made film debut in the feature “Rich Kids”

1982 – Starred as awkward, bespectacled teen Patty Greene on the CBS TV sitcom, “Square Pegs”

1982 – Appeared in the TV-movie “My Body, My Child” (ABC)

1984 – Had supporting roles in “Footloose” and “Firstborn”

1984 – Played first leading role in a feature in “Somewhere Tomorrow”

1984 – Starred in the ABC TV-movie “The Almost Royal Family”

1985 – Co-starred in the CBS TV-movie “Going For the Gold: The Bill Johnson Story”

1985 – Starred alongside Helen Hunt in the teen comedy feature “Girls Just Want to Have Fun”

1986 – Last feature film for five years, “Flight of the Navigator”

1987 – Played Kay Ericson Gardner in the NBC miniseries and subsequent spin-off series, “A Year in the Life”

1988 – Starred in the CBS fact-based miniseries “Dadah Is Death”, the story of Australian youths sentenced to death in Malaysia for drug smuggling

1989 – Acted Off-Broadway in Wendy Wasserstein’s play, “The Heidi Chronicles”

1989 – Starred in “Life Under Water” (PBS), an “American Playhouse” presentation starring Keanu Reeves; also featured in the gripping TV-movies “Twist of Fate” (NBC) and “The Ryan White Story” (ABC)

1990 – Played attorney JoAnn Harris on “Equal Justice”, a TV drama series set in a district attorney’s office

1991 – Returned to Off-Broadway in Jon Robin Baitz’s play, “The Substance of Fire”

1991 – Returned to features with a supporting role as flighty SanDeE* in “L.A. Story”, written by and starring Steve Martin

1992 – Starred in the NBC TV-movie “In the Best Interest of the Children”

1992 – Starred opposite Nicolas Cage in the comedy “Honeymoon in Vegas”

1993 – Co-starred as a young witch in the supernatural comedy “Hocus Pocus”

1993 – Starred opposite Bruce Willis in the actioner “Striking Distance”

1994 – Played Dolores Fuller, star of Edward D Wood Jr films, in “Ed Wood”, Tim Burton’s affectionate biopic of the outlandish director

1995 – Played the title role of dog “Sylvia” in A.R. Gurney’s Off-Broadway play

1995 – Starred as a woman uneasy about commitment given the prediliction for unfaithfulness she sees in her family in the Woody Allen-influenced comedy “Miami Rhapsody”

1996 – Had memorable supporting roles in “The First Wives Club”, “Mars Attacks!” and “Extreme Measures”

1996 – Narrated the documentary “A Life Apart: Hasidism in America”

1996 – Recreated stage role in feature version of “The Substance of Fire”

1996 – Returned to Broadway to co-star with Matthew Broderick in revival of “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying”

1996 – Starred as a single therapist facing a jump off the Brooklyn Bridge if she doesn’t find love by thirty in “If Lucy Fell”

1997 – Starred in Broadway revival of “Once Upon a Mattress”

1997 – Acted in the CBS TV adaptation of Neil Simon’s “The Sunshine Boys” (filmed in 1995)

1997 – Played a spoiled former child star both bringing together and standing between star-crossed lovers Dylan McDermott and Jeanne Tripplehorn in the romantic comedy “‘Til There Was You”

1998 – Portrayed New York relationships columnist Carrie Bradshaw, a single thirtysomething living the high life and looking for love, in HBO’s acclaimed series “Sex and the City”; became a producer as of 1999; garnered Emmy (1999, 2002, 2003), Golden Globe (2002, 2004) and SAG (2005) nominations for Best Actress in a Comedy Series

1999 – Played Nell Fenwick, the title character’s love interest in the live action adaptation of “Dudley Do-Right”

2000 – Appeared in the ensemble of David Mamet’s comedy “State and Main” as an actress who refuses to do an agreed upon topless scene

2001 – Did voice-over commercials for Priceline

2001 – Starred in the off-Broadway play “Wonder of the World”

2004 – Represented the Gap in a marketing campaign, featured in a series of TV spots and print ads

2005 – Cast as Dermot Mulroney’s uptight girlfriend in “The Family Stone” opposite Diane Keaton; earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress

2005 – Signed a two-year deal with HBO to develop and produce series and other programming for the premium cable channel through her production company Pretty Matches Productions

2006 – Co-starred with Matthew McConaughey in “Failure to Launch”, a romantic comedy directed by Tom Dey