Manhattan was born March 25, 1965, in Nelsonville, Ohio, to parents Stephen Parker and Barbra Forste (who remarried Paul Forste after divorcing Sarah's father). After her mother wed Forste, Sarah, her two brothers and her sister, joined Forste's four children.

Trained in singing and ballet, Sarah was cast in the Broadway production of The Innocents, which prompted her family to relocate to New Jersey. Already a professional performer (she studied at the American Ballet School and the Professional Children's School), Sarah was cast in The Sound of Music (along with four of her siblings), and landed the lead in the Broadway run of Annie.

After a year as the free-spirited orphan, Sarah attended Dwight Morrow High School, while continuing to add more credits to her acting resume. She landed a role in the made-for-TV movie My Body, My Child, before being cast as one of the lead roles in the 1982 sitcom Square Pegs, as high-schooler Patty Green.

Once a graduate, Sarah decided to pursue a full-time acting career rather than further her education. Since Square Pegs didn't last more than a year, Sarah moved on to supporting film roles in movies such as Somewhere Tomorrow, Footloose, First Born, and the lead role in the teenage film Girls Just Want To Have Fun.

Sarah was having lots of fun, although she had yet to land a star-turning role. After more television appearances in series and made-for-TV movies including A Year in the Life, The Room Upstairs, Dadah is Death, and Equal Justice, Sarah finally landed the role of Steve Martin's bubbly lover in the 1991 comedy L.A. Story.

More substantial film roles soon followed, starting with a role opposite Nicolas Cage in 1992's Honeymoon in Vegas (which foreshadowed her comedic talent), Hocus Pocus (1993), opposite Bruce Willisin Striking Distance (1993), and Ed Wood (1994). A big Woody Allen fan, she starred opposite the renowned filmmaker in the TV movie The Sunshine Boys in 1995, and that same year, she landed a starring role in Miami Rhapsody.

1996 was a film intensive year with roles in The First Wives' Clubs, If Lucy Fell, Extreme Measures, and Mars Attacks!. All the while making a name for herself in film, Sarah was gaining respect as a theater actress, with her lead role as a dog (hard to imagine, but true) in the off-Broadway Sylvia, and her Broadway roles in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (starring her present husband, Matthew Broderick, and the Tony-Award nominated Once Upon a Mattress.

But Sarah's star has shot up since her portrayal of Manhattan sex-columnist Carrie Bradshaw in the HBO series Sex and the City. Sarah's Golden Globe Best Actress victory in 2000 only underscores the fact that she plays the role of Carrie as though it were literally written for her.

She may portray the role of the single, man-hunting Carrie in the Emmy-nominated Sex and the City, but Sarah has been happily married to fellow actor Matthew Broderickfor quite a while now. She has had her share of lovers though, including Robert Downey Jr.(who she also lived with), and the late John F. Kennedy Jr.

When not serving as lead actress and oft-producer of Sex and the City, Sarah is a member of Hollywood's Women's Political Committee, and is UNICEF's representative for the Performing Arts.

She can next be seen in the upcoming film State and Main and is currently working on a movie entitled Life Without Dick (don't get the wrong idea).