Childhood & Early Life
Chris Noth was born on November 13, 1954, in Madison, Wisconsin. His mother Jeanne L. Parr was a CBS News correspondent, while his father Charles James Noth was an insurance agent and marketing-company executive. Chris lost his father in a car accident in 1966. He has two older brothers.
Chris is of German, Irish and English descent. Due to his mother’s job, Chris and his brother travelled all over the United Kingdom, Spain and Czechoslovakia.
He attended the 'Marlboro College' before earning his master’s degree in fine arts from the 'Yale School of Drama' in 1985. At the drama school, Chris was mentored by the theatre practitioner Sanford Meisner. He worked in around 25 plays during his college days.
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Career
Chris Noth made his acting debut in 1981 with an uncredited role in the thriller film 'Cutter's Way', which was based on the novel 'Cutter and Bone'. He then played a brief role in the comedy movie 'Waitress!' Following some small roles in films, such as 'Smithereens,' 'Off Beat,' 'Baby Boom,' 'Boyz In The Hood,' Chris finally bagged a major role in an Indonesian film.
He played the role of Falco, a former CIA serviceman, in the 1988 Indonesian film 'Peluru dan Wanita', which means Bullets and Women in English. The English title of the movie was ‘Jakarta’.
Chris landed his first television project in 1986 when he was cast as Johnny Mathews in the TV movie 'Killer in the Mirror'. He then went on to play Roy Burnette in the HBO original film 'Apology.' In the same year, he featured as Officer Ron Lipsky in three episodes of the NBC primetime police drama 'Hill Street Blues.'
The breakthrough in his TV career came in 1990 when he appeared in the first franchise of the police procedural legal drama 'Law & Order.' Over the next five years, he worked in 111 episodes of the series and became a household name for his performance as Detective Michael Logan. In 1995, he played the same character in an episode of 'Homicide: Life on the Street', after which he was fired from the show.
Chris reprised his role of Michael Logan from 2005 to 2008 in 'Law & Order: Criminal Intent.' Additionally, he appeared in the film version of the series, 'Exiled: A Law & Order Movie' (2008). He shared two 'Screen Actors Guild Awards' nominations (1995 and 1996) with the cast of ‘Law & Order’ and received one best supporting actor nomination for 'Viewers for Quality Television' for his role on the show.
From 1998 to 2004, he essayed the character of Mr. Big, the love interest of Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) on the popular drama-comedy show 'Sex and the City.' He received best supporting actor nominations at the 'Golden Globe Awards' and the 'Satellite Actors Guild Awards' for his performance on the show. He shared the 'People's Choice Awards' nomination with the ensemble of the series.
Apart from working on 'Sex and the City,' Chris continuously made film appearances. He was seen as T in the 1997 crime thriller 'Cold Around the Heart', and as Martin Ballsac in the 2000 indie movie ‘The Acting Class'. The latter’s supporting cast included many of his 'Law & Order' cast-mates, including Jerry Orbach, Benjamin Bratt and Alec Baldwin.
In the 2000s, Chris appeared in several films, including 'The Glass House' (2001), 'Cast Away' (2000), 'Searching for Paradise' (2002), 'Tooth Fairy' (2004, short film) and 'The Perfect Man' (2005). He simultaneously maintained his association with the theatre, appearing in Classic Stage Company's Off-Broadway production of 'Dr. Faustus' (title role), 'That Championship Season' and the Broadway revival of 'The Best Man'. He was honored with the 2001 'World Theater Award' for his performance in 'The Best Man'.
His second breakthrough TV role came in 2009 when he was cast as the former State Attorney Peter Florrick, the husband of Alicia Florrick (Julianna Margulies), on the CBS legal and political drama 'The Good Wife.'
Chris is also a popular voice artist whose credits include the 2010 original direct-to-video animated superhero film 'Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths', in which he voiced for the supervillain "Lex" Luthor. He also voice acted in the 2011 Japanese animated drama 'From Up on Poppy Hill.'
Some of his notable film performances were seen in 'Frame of Mind' (2008) and 'Lovelace’ (2013). The former movie is about John F. Kennedy’s assassination, in which he appeared as Steve Lynde, while he played Anthony Romano in the latter, which is porn actress Linda Lovelace’s biopic.
Chris was introduced as one of the main characters, General William Cogswell, in the third season of the political drama 'Tyrant.' In the police procedural crime drama show 'Gone,' he played the lead character of FBI Agent Frank Novak.
In 2019, he appeared as James Cohen in an episode of the British sitcom 'Catastrophe.'
Family & Personal Life
Chris Noth has been married to actress Tara Lynn Wilson since April 6, 2012. They welcomed a son, Orion Christopher Noth, in January 2008. He met Tara at 'The Cutting Room,' a music venue in New York that he co-owns with Steve Walter, a 'Berklee College of Music' alumni. Before Tara, Chris was in a long-term relationship with the supermodel-actress, Beverly Johnson.
He co-owns a semi-private club called 'The Plumm.' He also co-owned the tea party themed restaurant franchise 'Once Upon a Tea Cup' with his wife. However, both of its branches are now closed.
He was named 'GQ's 2015 International Man of the Year'. He is an avid supporter of the 'Rainforest Action Network,' a San Francisco-based environment conservation organization.
