Cynthia Nixon

Although she came to prominence as a go-getting lawyer on Sex and the City, this porcelain-skinned actress started working professionally as a young teen. Over the years, Cynthia Nixon showed amazing versatility, appearing on stage and screen in both comedies and dramas, often working on multiple projects at once. (In the mid-'80s she performed in two Broadway shows — The Real Thing and Hurlyburly — simultaneously.) Nixon transitioned easily into adult roles and worked consistently before and after Sex and the City, though her screen time certainly increased once she became famous. After separating from the father of her two children in 2003, she openly began dating a woman even though she publicly refused to label herself as a lesbian.