Now that Sex and the City is on Netflix, a whole new set of fans are watching the beloved HBO show — and learning just how many chaotic boyfriends Carrie Bradshaw had over the years.
There was the comic book guy who lived with his parents, the comptroller candidate who loved water sports and, of course, the jazz man. The jazz man, a.k.a. Ray King, was odd enough to merit a two-episode arc, which was a rarity for any of the core four’s short-term boyfriends. As soon as his first episode as Ray aired in the summer of 2001, Craig Bierko knew immediately that something different was happening.
“Women were very aware of the show,” Bierko, now 59, recalled exclusively to Us Weekly. “At that point, I lived on the Upper West Side in New York. … The next day, I got out of the cab and was walking towards my apartment, which is like a 15-foot walk. And a woman came up to me and said, ‘Are you going to leave her? Are you going to stay?’”
Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) met Ray, a professional bassist, during a friendly night out with her then-ex Mr. Big (Chris Noth). The twosome had a memorable group date at Tao followed by a couple of intimate hangouts in Ray’s apartment, but Carrie decided she’d had enough after she woke up one morning to find Ray playing banjo in the nude. According to Bierko, the banjo was his idea. (He plays the instrument in real life, but unlike Ray, he does not play the bass.)
“I don’t remember what the script said … but I do remember pitching them the idea of the banjo, which they loved,” he recalled. “So I brought my banjo in and took my skivvies off and sat behind it.”
Bierko had only seen Sex and the City at the time thanks to his then-girlfriend and his mom, but he knew that the show was enormously popular, in part because the writers kept his role secret as much as possible in the lead-up to filming. He didn’t have a regular audition either, as producers had seen him in a revival of The Music Man and decided he’d be perfect as one of Carrie’s paramours. He and Parker, 59, had a “nice conversation” at Silvercup Studios, and then “we were in business,” Bierko recalled.
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Bierko has since appeared in everything from Boston Legal and Nip/Tuck to UnREAL, Sex/Life and Julia, but he still gets recognized for his brief turn as the jazz man.
“I’m always very happy when they come up and they recognize me from the show. It means I’m in the zone weight-wise,” he quipped. “But I have to say almost more than anything I’ve ever done, the show is still so heavily watched. People love it so much.”
While Ray’s days on Sex and the City were short-lived, Bierko would love to see the character back on And Just Like That, which is currently filming its third season. He originally had an idea for Ray’s return in 2010’s Sex and the City 2, but he thinks it could work just as well in AJLT.
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“I would imagine this guy Ray King is still alive, wandering around the city somewhere, and you always bump into people,” Bierko said, explaining that he wanted Carrie to quickly run into Ray on the street. “When they shot the second movie, I always regretted not picking up the phone and just calling [director Michael Patrick King] and saying, ‘I have a funny idea. It’s so quick. It’s really a one-off joke. It’s more of a visual joke with my character, but I’d like to tell you about it because it’s almost like a New Yorker cartoon idea.’ … No charge, honestly, no charge. Because it would be so effortless and easy to do this.”
So if you’re reading this, Mr. King, you know what to do.
Sex and the City is now streaming on Max and Netflix.
