The Men of "Sex and the City 2"

Chris Noth, David Eigenberg, Jason Lewis and Evan Handler are the fellows that made the ladies laugh, cry and climax-check out all the men from the flick!
- Mark Marino, BettyConfidential.com


They say behind every great man is a great woman, but in the case of Sex and the City, the opposite is true (get your mind out of the gutter!). Without Big and Aidan, Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) would just be spending her days sipping Cosmos and talking couture. Wait a minute. "These women would be spinning in a false reality if there weren't worthwhile men they were trying to build their lives around," says show creator Michael Patrick. "Their lives wouldn't have evolved if the audience wasn't somehow believing in and relating to the men that they chose." To mark the release of Sex and the City 2, we present an up-close-and-personal look at these unsung heroes from the flick - plus a few new sexy faces.

Read Sex and the City 2 Fashion Lowdown

Chris Noth (John James Preston, a.k.a., Mr. Big)

Getting into the character of Big didn't come easy the second time around. When Chris reported for work on the sequel, creator King said, "We're not calling you Mr. Big because you have a big gut." So, Chris, 55, shed pounds with a spa stay and some cross-country skiing training. "Kids make you gain weight," explains Chris, whose fiancée, Tara Wilson, delivered their son, Orion, in January 2008. Gut or no gut, Sarah Jessica Parker is thrilled he's back. "Chris was, and is, so perfect," she says. "Men love him… They say to me, 'You're not going to do something awful to Mr. Big, are you?' And women swoon because he's THAT guy. He is that fable."

John Corbett (Aidan Shaw)

Aidan loved Carrie to no avail in the series. He even proposed and eventually found himself with a broken heart when Carrie admitted she was having an affair with Big during their engagement. He took her back again only to wind up losing her once more. John says of Aidan's Abu Dhabi encounter with ex Carrie: "When you're out of town, in a city where you don't know other people, he thinks, 'What's the harm in two old friends having dinner?'" John, 49, may create trouble in paradise on screen, but he's been nicely settled into a relationship with actress Bo Derek, 53, since 2002. The couple shares a California ranch house, and, says John, who currently stars on the Showtime comedy The United States of Tara, "There's an excitement when you're coming home and you know somebody is waiting for you."

David Eigenberg (Steve Brady)

"Miranda and Steve are very real, very honest with each other," David says of his character who is married to Miranda Hobbs (Cynthia Nixon). "They just say what they need and they've learned how to compromise. It's a very real relationship." The ex-marine, 46, is married to Chrysti, a former military policewoman he met at a 2002 USO event. Four years later, the couple wed. "It was a great day, the greatest day of my life," he says. Aww, sounds like David is as sensitive as Steve, no? "I'm a cold-hearted b------ ," laughs the actor, whose son Louie was born in January 2009. "Ask my wife."

Evan Handler (Harry Goldenblatt)

Evan plays the loyal Harry, husband of Charlotte (Kristin Davis) who made her a wife, a mother and a Jew. Those SATC love scenes are nothing compared to what Evan gets up to on Showtime's steamy Californication. And even his wife Eisa Atti, gets in on the action! She helps Evan rehearse his lines and they watch the show together when it airs. "Some of it makes her a little queasy," he admits. "But it makes me a little queasy to see myself doing that stuff." Leukemia survivor, Evan, 49, has written two books about his battle with the disease and was considering writing a third about being a dad to 3-year-old Sofia: "It would be called When It's Easy, It's Hard: A Father Falls in Love With His New Daughter -- Eventually."

Jason Lewis (Smith Jerrod)

"It was just plain fun," Jason says of his second round of Sex. Though Smith's romance with Samantha hits a rough patch, his acting career continues to soar - just like Jason's. Since the first SATC film, he's appeared on TV's How I Met Your Mother, Brothers and Sisters, and will guest star on NBC's fall series Love Bites. The 38-year-old, who sleeps in the nude, is single and says mature gals should step to the front of the line. "I was lucky as a young man to have some affairs with older women. I had an affair in Paris when I was 21 with a 45-year-old woman, and when I was 18 I was living with a 39-year-old woman for a summer." Hear that, Betty White?

Willie Garson (Stanford Blatch)

Willie plays Stanford Blatch, Carrie's best gay friend. Finally it's his turn to walk down the aisle in SATC2 to marry Anthony, Charlotte's best gay buddy and Stanford's onetime nemeses. That all changed and now the boys will say, "I do." "I had never seen anything like this," Willie, 46, says of Stanford and Anthony's over-the-top "I dos." "It was reminiscent of a Busby Berkeley musical of the `30's and `40s, with hundreds of extras and an orchestra and two camera cranes." Off-screen, Willie has found happiness with his own special guy - Nathan, an 8-year-old the straight, single actor adopted in January. "I just reached a point of 'What am I waiting for?'" he says." "I don't care if I ever get married, but if I never have a kid?" Well, he'd always have Carrie -- Willie, currently starring on USA's "White Collar," has been pals with SJP since 1985. "We've been through everything together," he says.

Mario Cantone (Anthony Marantino)

Everyone loved Mario's razor sharp remarks as Anthony, Charlotte's wedding planner. Now he and Stanford are making it legal. "I got my (real life) sisters, Marion and Camille, to walk me down the aisle, so it was actually very emotional," Mario, 50, says of his big wedding scene. The comedian is equally passionate when discussing whether he would tie the knot with longtime partner Jerry Dixon. Rather than a splashy ceremony, Mario would prefer they quietly exchange vows with just a witness present. But, he says, "I would register, because you know what, the straight people get all the gifts… I'm registering at Tiffany's. I want the good stuff!"

Noah Mills (Nicky Marantino)

Noah really scored when he landed the role of Anthony's brother Nicky - it was the model's first acting audition! Although the Baltimore native, 26, felt he had a lot to prove, co-star Kim Cattrall put him at ease: Rather than use her stand-in during his close-up scenes, "she demanded to stay," says Noah, who shares a steamy scene with Samantha. Single Noah will next appear in the drama Happy New Year and hopes to make an impression as lasting as that number 7 scar on his arm. "[In 11 th grade], I had my basketball number drawn with a marker… I asked my friend to burn it into my shoulder with a butter knife and a lighter," he says. "It LUCKILY turned out pretty well."

Max Ryan (Rikard Spirit)

British-born Max plays Rikard, a hunky Norwegian architect who helps Samantha heal her broken heart after her split with Smith. The actor, 43, says Kim personally picked him for the part. "I'm pretty sure I blew her away. They called me later saying it was Kim who wanted me to play opposite her. There was no denying the chemistry between us… I loved what I saw and clearly she did too." What else does Max love in a woman? "Personality," he says, "is a really big thing.

Mark Marino is a New York City-based writer who has contributed to OK! magazine, In Touch Weekly, Stylelist.com and the websites for The View and The Oprah Winfrey Show.

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