Transcript of Cynthia Nixon '88 on "Martha," hosted by Martha Stewart '63
 Date November 17, 2005
Time 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Station Syndicated TV
Location Network
Program "Martha"
MARTHA STEWART, host:
Well, my first guest is an accomplished actor on both stage and screen and we all went into mourning after her wonderful series "Sex and the City" ended. Take a look at this.
(Clip of "Sex and the City")
Please welcome Emmy award winner Cynthia Nixon.
Well it seems like very talented people attend Barnard
College.
Ms. CYNTHIA NIXON (Actress): Oh, right back at you. Definitely.
STEWART: We both went to Barnard, which is the women's college up next to and across the street from Columbia University. It's a wonderful, wonderful college. Did you learn a lot there do you think?
Ms. NIXON: I did. I did.
STEWART: What did you major in?
Ms. NIXON: English.
STEWART: Uh-huh.
Ms. NIXON: English. I had wonderful teachers and I don't know if I would do English if I had it to do all over again. I think I'd do history.
STEWART: Yeah, I'd do history.
Ms. NIXON: You think?
STEWART: Yeah.
Ms. NIXON: I should have called you.
STEWART: What do you see? What do you see? No, I did history and--art history and architectural history and I loved it. But I did take a lot of English courses. I took
a lot of science courses, too. It was just an amazing place.
Ms. NIXON: I know I just feel if I had it to do over again I would probably read those books on my own. But how many history books am I really going to crack, you know?
STEWART: Right. Right. Well--but you've done extremely well despite that. As majoring only in English. And Barnard is known for its English courses, by the way.
Ms. NIXON: Yes.
STEWART: Anyway, it's really great to see that skit from "Sex and the City."
Ms. NIXON: I know. I know.
STEWART: Do you miss--do you miss the program?
Ms. NIXON: I do. I do.
STEWART: Do you miss the camaraderie of the other girls?
Ms. NIXON: I do. I miss everything. I miss--I miss filming it. I miss our crew. I miss getting the scripts every couple of weeks and being--
STEWART: Were they always a surprise for you?
Ms. NIXON: Oh yeah. I mean, when--and I just feel like a viewer of it myself. I mean, I would always want to know what was happening with the girls, you know?
STEWART: Yeah.
Ms. NIXON: And I couldn't--you get this--
STEWART: Well, now I just got this in the mail as a--so I could prepare myself--the whole series on DVD of "Sex and the City" and it is a fantastic thing to have for your
video library at home. Do you ever watch any of the old ones?
Ms. NIXON: I do. I do occasionally. Occasionally sometimes I'm on a--I usually watch it at home where I don't seem so whatever. But I'm tempted when I fly on an
airplane and they have it.
STEWART: Oh yeah. They play it often--
Ms. NIXON: But I don't.
STEWART: Oh you don't watch it?
Ms. NIXON: Not in public. No. Although I was sitting on a train one time and a woman had her bags on the--didn't really want me to sit down but I sort of strong armed my way into the seat and I looked and she had her computer out and she was actually watching "Sex and the City" on her little DVD.
STEWART: But did you have red hair?
Ms. NIXON: I did.
STEWART: Yes, so now you have--is this your natural color?
Ms. NIXON: This is my natural color.
STEWART: Oh, I think you look great as a blonde.
Ms. NIXON: Thank you.
STEWART: Yeah.
Ms. NIXON: Thank you.
STEWART: Fantastic. Now you dress--as all the girls did on the show--so amazingly beautifully. Now those were all--and we have Bob Mackey on the show--so he's like the ultimate ultimate designer. So did you get to keep all those great clothes?
Ms. NIXON: I got to keep a lot of them.
STEWART: You did?
Ms. NIXON: A lot of them. You know, some of them were borrowed and had to go back but yes, I mean, I wear them and I will wear them for many years. They are beautiful, well made clothes.
STEWART: Now you went to college in New York. Were you from New York?
Ms. NIXON: I'm born and raised. I've never lived anywhere else.
STEWART: Oh, so are you enjoying it now after you finished, when you walk on the street, do people sort of like clamber after you?
Ms. NIXON: People do at times. It sort of comes and goes. When it just sort of starts on a new network and there's a big uproar in the streets but then it kind of
fades back down. And the fact that my hair is different helps. When I have my kids with me they're not quite expecting that. So--
STEWART: Now you're in a new movie.
Ms. NIXON: I am.
STEWART: Tell us a little bit about it.
Ms. NIXON: It's another--you know I try and stay in New York as much as I can--and so this is a film that was shot--not just in New York but in my own neighborhood of
the Upper West Side entirely. It's called "Little Manhattan" and Bradley Woodford and I play the parents of an 11-year-old boy who is falling in love for the first
time in Manhattan just as his parents are splitting up. So it's a kind of a bittersweet meditation on what love looks like from an 11-year-old vantage point.
STEWART: We'll be very sure to see it because I'm sure--it sounds wonderful. And you are an advocate of public education I understand?
Ms. NIXON: I am. I am.
STEWART: And your two daughters--are they both in public school?
Ms. NIXON: Well, I went to public school growing up here and my daughter is--well my little one is a boy but he's three. So he will be in public school but he's not yet.
He's not yet.
STEWART: But she goes to public school?
Ms. NIXON: She does. She's in fourth grade.
STEWART: Yeah, and it's so great. I was with the Mayor last night, our Mayor Bloomberg, who won so handily just last week and he vowed last night to spend the next four years really--he wants to leave a legacy of making sure that New York's public schools are a safe and wonderful place to get educated. So, you have a great mayor to work with.
Ms. NIXON: Yeah, you have to take your hat off to him. So many--so many mayors of the recent past have ignored the public school system and he's really taken the bull by the horns and he's really--
STEWART: Yeah, he has. Give him a hand. And also our chancellor of schools. Yes. Well, I'm very happy to hear you say so because nothing is more important than the education of our kids, right?
Ms. NIXON: Yes, I think so.
STEWART: So, I was reading a little bit about your background and at one time you appeared in two Broadway plays at the same time. You would leave one play during
intermission--
Ms. NIXON: In my freshman year at Barnard actually.
STEWART: Oh, is that--oh my gosh. And then you would run over--which plays were they?
Ms. NIXON: There were two plays. One was "The Real Thing" by Tom Stoppard and the other one was "Hurlyburly" by David Ray, which just had a revival here.
STEWART: My gosh.
Ms. NIXON: And Mike Nichols directed both of them and so--
STEWART: And he loved you so much.
Ms. NIXON: Yes, and I was in the first act of "Hurlyburly" and the second act of "The Real Thing" and then I took my curtain call and I went back and did the
third act of "Hurlyburly".
STEWART: So was it just like across the street theaters?
Ms. NIXON: Two blocks away.
STEWART: Wow. How amazing.
Ms. NIXON: Two blocks away.
STEWART: And you never--you never missed a cue?
Ms. NIXON: I never--I never did. I never did.
STEWART: Versatile. Cynthia Nixon.
Ms. NIXON: But I had to--I had to actually leave because of my freshman year and I was very petrified about my geology final, so I--I--I left to try and do my--
STEWART: Well, Barnard encouraged all of us to do our thing and they let me go off and do my modeling and stuff while I was there. And a little bit of acting--not much.
When we come back Cynthia and I will be showing you how to make the perfect centerpiece.
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