On June 6, 1998, HBO debuted Sex And The City, quickly changing the TV landscape forever. The new series starred four women who smoked, drank, had sex, had careers, and made Cosmopolitans hugely popular. Even more shocking, the show had the word ‘sex’ right there in the title. Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Cynthia Nixon and Kristen Davis were the four leads for all six seasons of SATC and were often joined on screen in cameos both from celebs who were already stars and those who had yet to become household names.
While the series was sprinkled with appearances from A-listers like Heidi Klum, Matthew McConaughey and Lucy Liu all playing themselves, for the most part, SATC featured actors who you wouldn’t have recognized back in 1998, but you definitely would now. We’re looking at you, Oscar nominee Bradley Cooper.
Here are 21 actors you likely forgot were in Sex and the City. Dun dun dundun, dun dun dundun…
21 actors you forgot were on Sex and the City
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JUSTIN THEROUX
“The Monogamists” and “Shortcomings” Season 1 and 2
Justin Theroux had the honour of playing not one, but two characters on SATC. Strangely, both men were writers, so we’re not sure why his character from Season 1 wasn’t continued into until Season 2. In Season 1, Theroux played a hot writer that Stanford knew and in Season 2, Theroux played a hot writer that Carrie dated, but who climaxed too fast. It happens.
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BRADLEY COOPER
“They Shoot Single People, Don’t They?” Season 2
Bradley Cooper played the only straight guy in a gay bar, which was all Carrie needed to spend the night making out with him. In all fairness, there isn’t much anyone would need to agree to make out with Bradley Cooper.
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JON BON JOVI
“Games People Play” Season 2
Season 2 was a great time to be Sarah Jessica Parker. The actor had a long list of handsome co-stars, including Jon Bon Jovi, who played Seth, a man she met while waiting to see her therapist. Unfortunately, for Carrie, it wasn’t until after she slept with Seth that she found out that he was in therapy because he lost interest in women as soon as he had sex with them. You give love a bad name, Seth.
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WILL ARNETT
“La Douleur Exquise!” Season 2
During Will Arnett’s short stint on SATC, his character dated Miranda and loved having sex in public places. This would be kinda hot if one of those places didn’t include his home, which he shared with his parents.
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ALANIS MORISSETTE
“Boy, Girl, Boy, Girl” Season 3
Canadian musician Alanis Morissette appeared in Season 3 of SATC as Dawn, a woman Carrie kisses at a party while she’s dating a man who is bisexual. The kiss confirmed for Carrie that she was both too old to play spin the bottle, and not bisexual.
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ELIZABETH BANKS
“Politically Erect” Season 3
Elizabeth Banks played the role of Catherine, a woman married to a man she met at a party where women bring male friends they don’t want to date. Um, awesome? It gave Charlotte the idea to throw a similar party, which not surprisingly, backfired.
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BOBBY CANNAVALE
“Easy Come, Easy Go” Season 3
Thanks to Bobby Cannavale’s role as a director with ‘funky spunk’ who dates Samantha, we got the amazing line from Kim Cattrall about oral sex on men. “Easy? Honey, they don’t call it a job for nothing.”
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KAT DENNINGS
“Hot Child In The City” Season 3
Before she was one of two broke girls, Kat Dennings played a super-rich teen who hired Samantha to plan her Bat Mitvah, which she planned on spending $1 million dollars on. Take that, My Super Sweet 16.
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JOHN SLATTERY
“Politically Erect” Season 3
Before Donald Trump was POTUS and reportedly doing unspeakable things in Russia, Mad Men’s John Slattery played politician Bill Kelley, who dated Carrie for a few episodes until he asked her to pee on him. Bill broke up with Carrie after she refused, which inspired Carrie to go Taylor Swift on him and write about Bill without naming names…but we knew who she meant.
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SARAH MICHELLE GELLAR and VINCE VAUGHN
“Escape From New York” Season 4
When Carrie and the girls headed to LA so Carrie could take meetings on turning her column into a movie, Sarah Michelle Gellar played a movie exec who wanted to put Carrie’s words on the big screen. The A-list names didn’t stop there, with Matthew McConaughey playing himself and Vince Vaughn playing an agent that gets caught borrowing his boss’s house to impress Carrie.
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JIM GAFFIGAN
“Defining Moments” Season 4
Jim Gaffigan may be a clean comic in real life, but in Season 4 of SATC, he played a guy Miranda dated who got really comfortable really fast, ie. using the bathroom with the door open after only a few dates. Dirty.
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CHANDRA WILSON
“Anchors Away” Season 5
We know her best as Dr. Miranda Bailey on Grey’s Anatomy, but during Season 5 of SATC, Chandra Wilson played a cop who finds Samantha posting pictures of her cheating boyfriend Richard around his neighbor. When Samantha explains that she’s a wronged woman, Wilson lets her go about her business.
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MOLLY SHANNON and AMY SEDARIS
“Unoriginal Sin” Season 5
The hilarious duo Molly Shannon and Amy Sedaris play Carrie’s book agents who help get her a book deal (yay!) and introduce her to Berger, who breaks her heart on a Post-It (boo!).
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NATHAN LANE
“I Love A Charade,” Season 5
Broadway and film star Nathan Lane plays nightclub owner Bobby Fine, who surprises the four women by marrying another…woman.
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JENNIFER COOLIDGE
“The Perfect Present” Season 6
The original MILF, Jennifer Coolidge played a recently divorced woman named Vanessa, who invited her friends, including Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda to a party where she was selling all her high-end bags.
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GERI HALLIWELL
“Boy Interrupted” Season 6
New York is a great city, unless you’re there in the middle of the summer during a heat wave. When Samantha ran into a refreshed Spice Girl Geri Halliwell, who had just spent the day at the city’s hottest rooftop pool, she knew she needed to be there. The wait list went on for months, so Samantha improvised and stole a member’s card from the bathroom.
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DAVID DUCHOVNY
“Boy Interrupted” Season 6
The Carrie Diaries didn’t stick to this storyline, but in SATC, we learned that Carrie’s high school sweetheart was Jeremy, played by David Duchovny. The pair rekindled their romance in their adult years, but Jeremy wasn’t quite ready to be in a serious relationship since he had just gone through a divorce and was receiving treatment in a mental institution. And we thought it was tough making out with your girlfriend when you lived with your parents!
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KRISTEN JOHNSON
“Splat” Season 6
Kristen Johnson had a short but memorable appearance on SATC’s final season as Lexi, the party girl who falls to her death after exclaiming “I’m so bored I could die.” Yeah, it was intense.
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CANDICE BERGEN
As Enid Frick, Season 6
It seemed almost fitting that the woman who played journalist Murphy Brown would later play Carrie’s Vogue editor, Enid. Bergen appeared in a handful of episodes in the final season as well as the first (and only, in our opinion) SATC film, reprising her role as Enid and convincing Carrie to pose for Vogue’s bridal issue. The dresses were great, but as we all remember, the wedding was less great.
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All six seasons of Sex and the City are available now on CraveTV.