Cynthia Ellen Nixon (born April 9, 1966) is an American actress, known for her portrayal of Miranda Hobbes in the HBO series Sex and the City (1998–2004). She is an Emmy-, Tony- and Grammy Award-winning actress. In 1997, Nixon auditioned for what would prove to be the biggest project of her career so far. She won the role of lawyer Miranda Hobbes in the new comedy series Sex and the City, based on a newspaper column by Candace Bushnell. Sarah Jessica Parker played the columnist, named Carrie Bradshaw in the show. The show followed the lives and romantic misadventures of Bradshaw, Hobbes, art dealer Charlotte York (Kristin Davis), and public relations expert Samantha Jones (Kim Cattrall).
EARLY LIFE AND EDUCATION
Cynthia Ellen Nixon was born in Manhattan, the only child of Walter Elmer Nixon Jr., a radio journalist from Texas, and Anne Elizabeth an actress originally from Chicago. She credits her mother with “indoctrinating” her into the theatre. She is of English and German descent. Her grandparents were Adolph Knoll, Etta Elizabeth Williams, Walter E. Nixon, and Grace Truman McCormack. her parents divorced when she was six years old. According to Nixon, her father was often unemployed and her mother was the household’s main breadwinner: Nixon’s mother worked on the game show, To Tell the Truth, coaching the “impostors” who claimed to be the person described by the host.
Nixon made her first television appearance on the show at 9 as one of the “impostors”, pretending to be a junior horse riding champion. Nixon was an actress all through her years at Hunter College Elementary School and Hunter College High School (class of 1984), often taking time away from school to perform in film and on stage. Nixon also acted in order to pay her way through Barnard College, where she received a B.A. in English Literature. Nixon was also a student in the Semester at Sea Program in the Spring of 1986.
CAREER
A versatile performer, she began her career on the New York stage as a teenager. She made her Broadway debut in The Philadelphia Story in 1980. That same year, Nixon appeared as a hippie child in the film Little Darlings, with Tatum O’Neal.
Over the next few years, Nixon played a variety of roles on stage, on television, and in film. She appeared in a few television after-school specials as well as juggled roles in two Broadway plays — Tom Stoppard’s The Real Thing and David Rabe’s Hurlyburly — at the same time in 1984 and 1985, respectively. She also made time to film a small role in Amadeus (1984).
In the 1990s, Nixon kept up her hectic work schedule. She made television and film appearances and performed in several productions, scoring her first Tony Award nomination in 1995 for her work in Indiscretions.
‘Sex and the City
In 1997, Nixon auditioned for what would prove to be the biggest project of her career so far. She won the role of lawyer Miranda Hobbes in the new comedy series Sex and the City, based on a newspaper column by Candace Bushnell. Sarah Jessica Parker played the columnist, named Carrie Bradshaw in the show. The show followed the lives and romantic misadventures of Bradshaw, Hobbes, art dealer Charlotte York (Kristin Davis), and public relations expert Samantha Jones (Kim Cattrall).
Filled with sharp dialogue, genuine characters and interesting fashions, Sex, and the City became a huge hit. Nixon played Miranda: a smart, sarcastic, and successful woman, who was also fearful, defensive, and mildly neurotic at times, adding a layer of vulnerability to the character. During the course of the series, her character went through a transformation and was softened somewhat by her experiences as a mother and later a wife. Nixon won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her performance in 2004.
After Sex and the City went off the air in 2004, Cynthia Nixon continued to remind the world of her great acting range. She appeared as Eleanor Roosevelt in the HBO film Warm Springs (2005) opposite Kenneth Branagh as Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Critics praised Nixon’s interpretation of the legendary first lady and humanitarian.
PERSONAL LIFE
From 1988 to 2003, Nixon was in a relationship with schoolteacher Danny Mozes. They have two children together. In June 2018, Nixon revealed that her older child is transgender
In 2004, Nixon began dating education activist Christine Marinoni. Nixon and Marinoni became engaged in April 2009 and married in New York City on May 27, 2012, with Nixon wearing a custom-made, pale green dress by Carolina Herrera. Marinoni gave birth to a son in 2011.
Nixon has two children from her long-term relationship with English professor Danny Mozes. The couple split in 2003. Since then, she has married education activist Christine Marinoni, with whom she has another child.
NET WORTH
Sex and the City (2008)$3 million
Sex and the City 2 (2010)$4 million
And Just Like That… (2021)$1 million per episode
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