The name Sarah Jessica Parker is synonymous with Sex and the City, the hit television series that captivated men and women on a weekly basis for six years. Thanks to playing the sex-crazed columnist Carrie Bradshaw, Parker (as she’s affectionately known) became not only a household name but also a fashion icon with her own fashion line, Bitten.

Parker started her showbiz career on stage after landing a part in the Broadway production, The Innocents. A trained ballet dancer and singer, she later won a role in Annie, and was part of the production for about four years. After graduating from high school, Parker decided to pursue acting full-time and subsequently appeared in films like Somewhere, Tomorrow (1983), Footloose (1984) and Girls Just Want to Have Fun (1985). After starring in several TV movies in the late ’80s, Parker’s career began to gain momentum, as she won substantial parts in L.A. Story (1991), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992) Hocus Pocus (1993) and Ed Wood (1994). In 1996 alone, the hardworking actress churned out more than five movies.

The turning point in her career came in 1998, when producer and screenwriter Darren Star of Beverly Hills 90210 and Melrose Place fame approached Parker to star in Sex and the City, based on Candace Bushnell’s novel of the same name. The rest, as they say, is history. Along with Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon, the foursome tackled socially relevant issues that focused on the changing roles of women in society. Over the course of its six seasons, Sex and the City was nominated for over 50 Emmy awards, with seven wins, including a win for each actress. Parker even served as producer of the series.

Royston Loh caught up with the Sex and the City stars in New York, where the ladies dished out secrets on their upcoming movie, a production that was fours years in the making.

FiRST: How do you feel about the movie?
SARAH JESSICA PARKER: I am very excited about the movie. I can’t wait for everybody to watch it. Michael Patrick King wrote a beautiful screenplay. It is a part of a lifetime for me; I just hope we did our job well. He has the shortest post-production period of any director in history; he had four weeks to work on the movie, but he’s fully equipped for that, having worked in television. I think he’s going to do a great job.

The movie picks up four years after the series ended. What has Carrie been up to during this time?
I think one of the things Michael sets up beautifully is he illustrates, in the first few minutes of the movie, that she’s having a very successful life in New York. She’s also in a very successful relationship; she really believes she knows Mr Big and knows herself. She’s having a lot of satisfaction at work too; she’s published two more books and is now working on her fourth.

Has anything changed for Carrie, whether psychologically or in terms of her relationships?
She still feels very much a part of the city, but she’s just a different person from four years ago, like we all are. You are that much more invested in your relationships, especially with the opposite sex. Things mean more, which mean loss and disappointment at this point in our lives and at this age has real significance and real meaning; it can be absolutely paralysing when it happens.

Are we to assume that something bad is heading Carrie’s way?
That is exactly what happens. Michael sets it up beautifully; he shows you where everybody is, then this unthinkable thing happens. She’s really forced to look at herself and allow her friends to help to the degree that friends can. At a certain point in your life, you really have to figure things out for yourself.

Sex and the City opens May 22. Get more of SJP and the other ladies from SATC in the May issue of FiRST.