1972–2008

Cattrall began her career after graduating from Georges P. Vanier Secondary School in 1972^{[citation needed]}, when she left Canada for New York City. There, she attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, and upon her graduation signed a five-year film deal with director Otto Preminger. She made her film debut in Preminger's action thriller Rosebud (1975). A year later, Universal Studios bought out that contract and Cattrall became one of the last participants in the contract player system of Universal (also referenced as MCA/Universal during this period) before the system ended in 1980. The Universal system's representative in New York, Eleanor Kilgallen (sister of Dorothy Kilgallen), cast Cattrall in numerous television guest-star roles. One of the first jobs Kilgallen got her was in a 1977 episode of Quincy, M.E. starring Jack Klugman, whom Kilgallen also represented.

In 1978, Cattrall played the house guest of a murderous psychologist in an episode of Columbo and also in "Blindfold", an episode of the 1970s action series Starsky & Hutch, in which Starsky (played by Paul Michael Glaser) is grief-stricken since he accidentally blinded Cattrall's character, young artist Emily Harrison, by a shot of his gun. She starred in The Bastard (1978) and The Rebels (1979), two television miniseries based on the John Jakes novels of the same names. In 1979, she played the role of Dr. Gabrielle White on The Incredible Hulk and would go down in television Hulk lore as one of the few characters who knew David Banner (alter ego of the title character) was alive and was the creature. Her work in television paid off and she quickly made the transition to cinema. She starred opposite Jack Lemmon in his Oscar-nominated film Tribute (1980), and in Crossbar, the film about a high jumper who loses his leg and still participates in the Olympic trials, with Cattrall's help. The following year, she appeared in Ticket to Heaven.

In 1981, Cattrall played PE teacher Miss Honeywell in Porky's, followed three years later by a role in the original Police Academy. In 1985, she starred in three films: Turk 182, City Limits and Hold-Up, the last with French star Jean-Paul Belmondo. In 1986, she played Kurt Russell's brainy flame in the action film Big Trouble in Little China. In 1987, her lead role in the cult comedy film Mannequin proved a huge success with audiences. One of her best-known film roles is that of Lieutenant Valeris in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country; Cattrall assisted in developing the character by designing her own hairstyle and even helped come up with the name.

Aside from her film work, Cattrall is also a stage actress, with performances in Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge and Anton Chekhov's Three Sisters and Wild Honey to her credit. In addition, she can be heard reading the poetry of Rupert Brooke on the CD Red Rose Music SACD Sampler Volume One.

In 1997, she was cast in Sex and the City, Darren Star's series which was broadcast on HBO. As Samantha Jones, Cattrall gained international recognition. She capitalized on her success by appearing in steamy television commercials promoting Pepsi One. Sex and the City ran for six seasons and ended as a weekly series in spring 2004 with 10.6 million viewers. Cattrall reprised the role of Samantha Jones in the Sex and the City film, released on May 30, 2008, as well as the sequel Sex and the City 2, released on May 27, 2010. For her role on the television series, she was nominated for five Emmy Awards,^[7] and four Golden Globe Awards, winning one in 2002. She also won two ensemble Screen Actors Guild Awards, shared with her co-stars Sarah Jessica Parker, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon. She was ranked number eight in TV Guide's 50 sexiest stars of all-time list in 2005.^[8] In 2008 she was honoured by the Cosmopolitan UK Ultimate Women Of The Year Awards with the Ultimate Icon Award^[9] for her role as 'Samantha' on the hit series. She was also awarded the NBC Universal Canada Award of Distinction ^[10] at the 2008 Banff World TV Festival.

In 2005, she appeared in the Disney film Ice Princess, in which she played Tina Harwood, ice skating coach of the film's lead character. She portrayed Claire, a paralysed woman who wants to die, in the West End drama revival of Whose Life Is It Anyway?. She was honoured that year by Glamour Magazine for the "Woman of the Year Awards" for Theatre Actress.^{[citation needed]} In October 2006, she appeared to rave reviews^[11] in a West End production of David Mamet's The Cryptogram at the Donmar Warehouse in London. Since late 2005, she has appeared in a number of British television commercials for Tetley Tea.^[12] In July 2006, a commercial for Nissan cars, which featured Cattrall as Samantha Jones, was withdrawn from New Zealand television, apparently because of complaints about its innuendo.^[13] She later starred alongside Brendan Gleeson in John Boorman's film The Tiger's Tail (2006), a black comedy that focuses on the impact of the Celtic Tiger economy on Irish people. On ITV, she starred alongside David Haig, Daniel Radcliffe and Carey Mulligan in My Boy Jack, the story of author Rudyard Kipling's search for his son lost in the First World War.

2009–present

In 2009, Cattrall played Amelia Bly in Roman Polanski's well-received The Ghost Writer and voiced the character Dee in the Canadian adult animated sitcom Producing Parker, the latter, for which she was awarded a Gemini for Best Performance in an Animated Program or Series in 2010. Later in 2009, it was announced that Cattrall would receive a star on Canada's Walk of Fame in Toronto, Ontario. The induction ceremony was held on 12 September 2009.^[14] In November 2009, while filming Sex and the City 2 in Marrakech, Morocco, she took part in a seminar, 'Being directed' with director John Boorman as part of the third edition of the Arts in Marrakech Festival.^[15] On 24 February 2010, Cattrall began a run in the West End of London at the Vaudeville Theatre as leading lady, Amanda, opposite Matthew Macfadyen, in a revival of Noël Coward's play Private Lives. She performed until 3 May 2010 and received a 2011 Whats on Stage nomination for "Best Actress.^[16]" In the same year, Cattrall starred as Gloria Scabius (alongside Macfadyen once again) in the critically acclaimed Channel 4 adaptation of William Boyd's novel Any Human Heart.

Cattrall played Cleopatra in a production of Antony and Cleopatra, directed by Janet Suzman, opposite Jeffery Kissoon as Anthony, in Liverpool at the Playhouse^[17] in October 2010, with a subsequent revival at Chichester Festival Theatre (with Michael Pennington as Anthony) in September 2012.^[18] In 2010, Cattrall was named an Honorary Fellow of Liverpool John Moores University in recognition of her contributions to the dramatic arts.^[19] In 2011, Cattrall reprised her role as Amanda in a production of Noël Coward's Private Lives opposite Canadian actor Paul Gross in Toronto and on Broadway.^[20] The New York Times theatre critic raved about Cattrall's performance^[21] and she received a Drama League Award nomination.^[22] That year, Cattrall also appeared in Uptown Downstairs Abbey, the Comic Relief parody of the critically acclaimed historical television dramas Downton Abbey and Upstairs, Downstairs. Playing Lady Grantham, she starred alongside Jennifer Saunders, Joanna Lumley, Victoria Wood, Harry Enfield, Patrick Barlow, Dale Winton, Olivia Colman, Tim Vine, Simon Callow, Michael Gambon and Harry Hill.

From June to August 2013, Cattrall starred in the Old Vic's production of Tennessee Williams's Sweet Bird of Youth, directed by Olivier Award-winner Marianne Elliott.

In 2014, she starred in and executive produced HBO Canada's Sensitive Skin, an adaptation of the 2005 British series. In 2015, the show was nominated for an International Emmy Award.^[23] The show was nominated for numerous Canadian Screen Awards with Cattrall receiving a nomination in 2017^[24] for her role as Davina Jackson in the series. The show is now available for streaming on Netflix.^[25]

In July 2015, Cattrall was cast in the title role of Linda in a new play by Penelope Skinner, to be directed by Michael Longhurst and produced at London's Royal Court Theatre. She was forced to drop out of that production a few days before the opening, due to "chronic, debilitating insomnia". She returned to New York and started a program of cognitive behaviour therapy to train herself to be able to sleep better. The therapy was successful; it included developing certain evening rituals, removing electronic devices from her bedroom, and limiting the use of the bed to two activities, one of which would be sleeping. Meanwhile, for the scheduled December 2015 opening of Skinner's play, actress Noma Dumezweni took over the role to much acclaim and publicity.^[26][27][28] Cattrall opened up to the BBC Woman's Hour on her insomnia journey and how she was able to manage it.^[29] Cattrall later returned that year to guest edit the BBC's Woman's Hour to discuss "Choosing to Be Child Free" and "Being a Parent Without Giving Birth"^[30] which raised controversial response and opinions. She was also seen in 2015 on the SkyArts short Ruby Robinson,^[31] a physical comedy where Cattrall starred as Ruby, a woman living with a troupe of unusual acrobat helpers, who is taught a valuable lesson by her nephew.

Catrall took part in the BBC Arts' I'm with the Banned,^[32] the flagship event in Belarus Free Theatre's (BFT) tenth-anniversary celebrations. Commissioned by The Space, the concert took place at London's KOKO and was broadcast worldwide. Radical underground company BFT brought together a unique line-up of musicians and performers to stand up for artistic freedom of expression and against injustice.

In 2016, Cattrall starred in the BBC mini-series The Witness for the Prosecution^[33] based on the Agatha Christie short story. The celebrated two part mini-series was nominated for a 2017 BAFTA^[34] award for "Best Mini-Series."

In 2017, Cattrall also joined the cast of the hit^[35] Swedish TV show Modus,^[36] playing the President of the United States. Modus first aired in Sweden in 2015 and was later broadcast by BBC Four in the UK. The show also airs in Canada, Australia, France and Japan and is handled by FremantleMedia International.^[36]

From 2018 to 2019, Cattrall starred on the Paramount+ series Tell Me a Story.

In 2020, Cattrall starred on the Fox drama Filthy Rich,^[37] where she played Margaret Monreaux, the matriarch of a Southern family which has become mega-rich and famous for creating a wildly successful Christian television network. After her husband dies in a plane crash, Margaret and family are stunned to learn that he fathered three illegitimate children, all of whom are written into his will — threatening their family name and fortune. Cattrall also served as a producer on the series.^[38] Cattrall was honoured at the 2020 Atlanta TV festival with the Icon Award for the show.^[39]

In December 2020, development began on a revival of Sex and the City following the cancellation of a third film adaptation. Catrall previously expressed that she did not want to return for the third film due to disagreeing with its planned storylines, involving killing off Mr. Big, and Samantha receiving nude pictures from Miranda's 14-year-old son, Brady.^[40] The reboot titled And Just Like That... premiered on December 9, 2021. In June 2022, Sarah Jessica Parker spoke on The Hollywood Reporter's Award Chatter podcast about why Cattrall wasn't asked to be a part of the revival. She stated, "We did not ask her to be part of this because she made it clear that that wasn't something she wanted to pursue, and it no longer felt comfortable for us, and so it didn't occur to us".^[41] On May 31, 2023, it was announced that Catrall would reprise her role as Samantha for a brief cameo for the season 2 finale of And Just Like That….^[42] The episode, entitled "The Last Supper Part Two: Entree", aired on August 24, 2023.

In May 2021, Cattrall joined the cast of How I Met Your Mother spinoff series, How I Met Your Father led by Hilary Duff. She was cast in the pivotal narrator role originated by Bob Saget. The series was released on January 18, 2022.^[43] On February 15, 2022, Hulu renewed the series for a 20-episode second season.^[44]

In September 2021, Cattrall joined Robert De Niro in the comedy film About My Father inspired by the life of stand-up comedian Sebastian Maniscalco, who also stars.^[45] The film was released in theaters on May 26, 2023.

In November 2021, Cattrall featured prominently in the permanent exhibition Wondrous Place celebrating Liverpool's cultural heritage.^[46]

In 2022, Cattrall starred on the Peacock revival series Queer as Folk.

In 2023, Cattrall starred on the Netflix series Glamorous.

Film

Television

Music videos