Noth is best known for his two quintessential New York parts: Law & Order's Mike Logan and Mr. Big on Sex and the City.

Noth was raised by his mom, Jeanne Parr, a foreign correspondent for CBS who moved frequently over the years. Noth spent time living in England, Yugoslavia and Spain before he moved to New York to study with Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse in the late 70s. He later attended the Yale School of Drama, but his first decade in the business left him little to show for it. His first major part came along in 1989, when Dick Wolf cast him as the temperamental Detective Mike Logan on Law & Order. Noth spent five years on the show before Wolf decided the character had run out of steam.

A series of mediocre parts followed, but Noth's career picked up considerably when Darren Star and Michael Patrick King brought him onto HBO's Sex and the City to play Mr. Big, Carrie Bradshaw's hotshot, cigar-smoking lover-a character Candace Bushnell had modeled on Ron Galotti, the former publisher of Vogue. He went on to haunt poor, poor Carrie all six seasons and for both SATC films. Post-Mr. Big, Noth reprised his role as Detective Mike Logan in 2005 for a stint on Law & Order: Criminal Intent, and in 2009, he began starring opposite Julianna Margulies in the CBS drama, The Good Wife.

Noth's personal life has never strayed much from his on-camera persona: He lived the bachelor life for years, dating Winona Ryder and model Beverly Johnson. He's currently engaged to actress Tara Wilson, whom he met when she was working at The Cutting Room. They had their first baby, a son named Orion Christopher, in January 2008. [Image via Getty]