05 Christopher Noth ’85 as Doctor Faustus, with Geoffrey Owens, in Classic Stage Company’s Doctor Faustus, directed by Andrei Belgrader. Photo by Joan Marcus.
stars as Peter Florrick, the disgraced and resurrected politician husband of the title character. All three shows were major hit series, and he has been nominated for the Screen Actors Guild Award (Law & Order and The Good Wife) and the Golden Globe Award (Sex and the City and The Good Wife). But he admits, a bit ruefully, that there are limitations to this kind of work. “Every character you play is you,” he says. “I’m always myself in my roles. There is transformative acting, of course, but it’s still you. We have many people living inside us. All my characters are different parts of me.” He decries what he calls ‘on the nose casting.’ For example, when Chris auditioned for Sex and the City, the creator, Darren Star, had never seen him in in Law & Order. “After I had already landed the role of Mr. Big and Darren did see my Law & Order clips, he said he would never have cast me if he had seen me as Mike Logan.” Chris mimes the ‘what are you gonna do?’ shrug. “I had some influence on the Mr. Big character,” he says, “because he started out just as an idea of the unattainable mystery man. I was able to inject some humor into the character and contributed a couple of story ideas based on things that had happened to me.” In spite of all the notoriety that’s come with these shows, Chris is still an actor who has to audition. “I go up for supporting roles and sometimes I get them and sometimes I don’t,” he says without a trace of bitterness. “There are more opportunities for me in indie films.” His success on television prevented Chris from acting on the stage as much as he would have liked. But he still managed to do a production of Best Man on Broadway in 2000, an Off-Broadway production of Farragut North in 2008, and a revival of That Championship Season in 2011. But he still worries when he’s called a television actor. “The thing about television is that you get accustomed to all the technical support that’s behind your acting,” he says. “Acting on a stage is like walking a tightrope. It’s like a spiritual journey for me. I’m humbled by people in the street complimenting me on my television roles, but have I reached my potential as an actor? No. Do I challenge myself enough? No. Success is tricky. In the last few years, with a young son and my mother who requires 24/7 care, I’ve had to concentrate on making a steady living.” But he can’t get the stage out of his blood. Taking on one of dramatic literature’s most daunting roles, Chris appeared in June in the title role of Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus at Classic Stage Company in New York. “Faust is a big leap for me,” he says. “I trust the director, Andrei Belgrader (Former Faculty). I want to climb that mountain, I want to stand at the top and see all those dead bodies of people who’ve tried it before me. I want to be on that peak. I’m scared to death, of course. But the real danger for me is not to go back on the stage.” YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 015
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