Kristin Davis Biography

Kristin Landen Davis (also listed as Kristin Lee Davis; born February 24, 1965) is an American actress. She first rose to prominence and achieved fame for playing the role of Brooke Armstrong on Melrose Place and went on to achieve greater success as Charlotte York Goldenblatt on HBO's Sex and the City.

Early life and education

Davis was born in Boulder, Colorado. She is an only child, and her parents divorced when she was a baby. She was adopted by her stepfather, then-University of Colorado Boulder professor Keith Davis, after he married her mother, Dorothy, a university data analyst, in 1968. She has three sisters from her adoptive father's first marriage. Early in her childhood, she and her parents moved to Columbia, South Carolina, where her father served as provost and teaches psychology at the University of South Carolina.

Davis wanted to be an actress from the age of 9, when she was cast in the Workshop Theatre production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Davis lived in South Carolina until she graduated from A.C. Flora High School in 1983. She then moved to New Jersey, where she attended Rutgers University. Davis graduated with a BFA degree in Acting from Rutgers University's Mason Gross School of the Arts in 1987.

Career

Television

After graduation in 1987, Davis moved to New York and waited tables before opening a yoga studio with a friend. In 1991, she acted in a couple of episodes of the daytime drama (soap opera) General Hospital. Her big break came in 1995 when she landed the role of villainess Brooke Armstrong Campbell on the nighttime drama Melrose Place. She left the show after one year when producers decided to kill off the character. Davis also had roles in other television series including Friends, Will and Grace and Seinfeld.

In 1998, Davis was cast as Charlotte York in Sex and the City and remained an integral cast member until the series ended in 2004. In 1999, along with the rest of the cast, she was awarded the Women in Film [[Women in Film Crystal + Lucy Awards#THE LUCY AWARD|Lucy Award]] in recognition of her excellence and innovation in her creative works that have enhanced the perception of women through the medium of television. She received an Emmy nomination for her role as Charlotte in the final season.

Davis hosted the VH1 show 200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons. In 2005, she starred in a television pilot entitled Soccer Moms in which she and Gina Torres star as suburban mothers who moonlight as private detectives. She starred as Miss Spider in the animated television special Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Kids and its spin-off series Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends and was recently a guest judge on the Lifetime (TV network) program Project Runway.

Films

Davis's films include The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3D, opposite David Arquette and George Lopez; the Walt Disney film The Shaggy Dog, opposite Tim Allen, and Deck the Halls, opposite Matthew Broderick. She performed in ABC Family channel's Christmas movie Three Days in 2001, and in a commercial for Head & Shoulders shampoo.

Davis appeared in 2008's Sex and the City feature film, under the direction of executive producer Michael Patrick King. In 2009, Davis co-starred in Couples Retreat, a comedy chronicling four couples who partake in therapy sessions at a tropical island resort. Jon Favreau, who also wrote the script, played her husband.

Additional ventures

Shortly after the wide release of the Sex and the City feature film, in June 2008, Belk, the nation's largest privately owned department store chain, announced a partnership with Davis. The arrangement includes a ladies' apparel and accessories line that debuted in 2008 in 125 store locations and online, with eventual plans for expanding availability to other store locations. In Belk's press release about the product line launch, Davis cited her upbringing in South Carolina as part of her inspiration for working with the chain.

Personal life

In 2011, Davis adopted a daughter, Gemma Rose. They reside in Los Angeles, California.

Davis is a recovering alcoholic. She says she was introduced to alcohol early as part of her Southern upbringing: "Alcohol freed me. I was really shy and I didn't know how to come out of my shell. I drank for the same reason I loved acting. I wanted to feel things and express myself and be free. And I'm not naturally that way." She went sober at the age of 22, later stating, "I miss it. You don't go to rehab and then suddenly it goes away."

During her 2009 visit Africa, Davis, a life-long lover of elephants, discovered an abandoned baby elephant and arranged for it to be taken to a wildlife rehabilitation center. In recognition of the attention she has brought to the plight of orphaned African elephants, Davis won the Humane Society's 2010 Wyler Award, which is bestowed on a celebrity or public figure who has made news on behalf of animals.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1987	Doom Asylum	Jane
1991	N.Y.P.D. Mounted	Young Lady	Television film
1995	Nine Months	Tennis Attendant
1995	Alien Nation: Body and Soul	Karina Tivoli
1996	'	Claire McGrath	Television film
1997	'	Babette Watson	Television film
1998	Traveling Companion	Annie
1998	Sour Grapes	Riggs
1999	Atomic Train	Megan Seger
2000	Take Me Home: The John Denver Story	Annie Denver	Television film
2000	Blacktop	Sylvia	Television film
2001	Someone to Love	Lorraine	Television film
2001	Three Days	Beth Farmer	Television film
2004	'	Mandy	Television film
2005	Soccer Moms	Brooke	Television pilot
2005	'	Max's Mom	Minor
2006	'	Rebecca Douglas
2006	Deck the Halls	Kelly Finch	Main role
2008	Sex and the City: The Movie	Charlotte York Goldenblatt
2009	Couples Retreat	Lucy Tippaglio
2010	Sex and the City 2	Charlotte York Goldenblatt	ShoWest Ensemble Award Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress Nominated - People's Choice Awards For Favorite Cast
2012	Journey 2: The Mysterious Island	Elizibeth Anderson
2012	Of Two Minds	Billie Clark	Television film

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1991	General Hospital	Betsy Chilson, R.N.
1992	Mann & Machine	Cathy	"Billion Dollar Baby"
1993	'	Bri	"The Breakdown: Part 2"
1994	Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman	Carey McGee	"Thanksgiving"
1995	ER	Leslie	"Luck of the Draw"
1995"96	Melrose Place	Brooke Armstrong	32 episodes
1997	'	Leslie	"Johnny Hollywood"
1997	Seinfeld	Jenna	"The Pothole"; "The Butter Shave"
1998"2004	Sex and the City	Charlotte York	Women in Film Lucy Award (shared with cast) Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (2001) Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (2003) Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (2004) Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress " Series, Miniseries or Television Film (2003) Nominated -Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series (2004)
2000	Friends	Erin	"The One with Ross' Library Book"
2000	Sex and the Matrix	Charlotte York MacDougal	short parody
2004	Will & Grace	Nadine	"Will & Grace & Vince & Nadine"
2004"08	Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends	Miss Spider	Voice role
2013	Bad Teacher	Ginny	Main role