Best known as the lovable bald schlub who won Charlotte's heart on
Sex and the City, Handler evokes on-screen laughter even though his personal life has been filled with drama. After training at the prestigious Juilliard School, he began landing stage and big-screen roles (
Taps,
The Chosen) and was understudying Matthew Broderick in
Biloxi Blues on Broadway when he was diagnosed with supposedly incurable leukemia at age 24. After a five-year battle, the actor emerged cancer-free and turned his harrowing story into the acclaimed autobiographical solo show
Time on Fire, which he subsequently adapted into a memoir. In the '90s, Handler picked up where his career left off with only a few bumps in the road — he quit the 1991 Broadway show
I Hate Hamlet in mid-performance after his erratic costar Nicol Williamson struck him with a sword. By the end of the decade, he was all over the small screen (usually playing Jewish characters), including a recurring role on Aaron Sorkin's
The West Wing. Sorkin then cast him as a disgruntled writer on
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.
Evan Handler Fast Facts:
- Launched acting career as an intern at the Chelsea Theatre Center in New York City.
- Starred as Larry Fine in the 2000 TV-movie The Three Stooges.
- Wrote the solo show Time on Fire and the book Time on Fire: My Comedy of Terrors, both autobiographical works about his bout with leukemia.
- Has contributed articles to numerous magazines, including The New Yorker, Elle, Mirabella and O, the Oprah Magazine.
- Released a collection of autobiographical essays, It's Only Temporary: The Good News and the Bad News of Being Alive, in 2008.
- Evan Handler Relationships:
- Elisa Atti - Wife
- Enid Handler - Mother
- Lillian Handler - Sister
- Lowell Handler - Brother
- Murry Handler - Father
- Sofia - Daughter
- College:
- Attended The Juilliard School, New York, NY
