John Corbett’s Best Roles: ‘Raising Helen,’ ‘Serendipity,’ ‘Sex and the City,’ ‘To All the Boys,’ and More

Alison Foreman
·2 min read
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With his work spanning decades of TV and film, and a warm presence that’s equally radiant across screens big and small, John Corbett has made an illustrious career from being “that guy” in “that rom-com.”

The 62-year-old actor is perhaps best known for his role as Aidan Shaw: Carrie’s second choice on the ’90s smash hit “Sex and the City” and the second-most controversial character in its contemporary Max spinoff, “And Just Like That…” (All hail the mighty and problematic veterinary receptionist, Che Diaz; long may they reign.)

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Corbett is equally celebrated for his breakout film performance as the leading man in indie darling “My Big Fat Greek Wedding.” Nia Vardalos’ treasured love story from 2002 tells the tale of a sheltered woman and her enormous, meddlesome family introducing Corbett’s dashing fiance character, the magnanimous school teacher Ian Miller, to countless kooky relatives, the Greek Orthodox Church, and the healing power of Windex.

Those two star-making moments for Corbett re-collided this summer with the theatrical release of “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3” (a disappointment IndieWire’s Samantha Bergeson graded a D+) and Aidan’s return to everywhere but Carrie’s apartment in “And Just Like That…” Season 2. With a proposed five-year break on the horizon for Carrie and whatever you call the Opposite of Big (Little? Mini? Petite? Tiny?), Corbett’s return to the Sex and the City-verse remains as big a mystery as anything else on TV these days.

You would be forgiven for picturing the off-duty Corbett — stuck between Ian and Aidan’s heydays and now — sitting pensively, perched on a log somewhere in the nondescript wilderness. Maybe he’s whittling wood…his carefully chosen, wardrobe-issued, puffy vest stiff against the breeze. But with a second-wind arrival as rom-com dad Daniel Covey in Netflix’s “To All the Boys” franchise, true genre fans know the “Raising Helen” and “Serendipity” actor never really left the rom-com behind.

In honor of what can only be described as the John Corbett-aissance (that’s Cor-bett-ah-suhns), IndieWire looks back at some of the actor’s most memorable performances. From “Northern Exposure” to “United States of Tara,” these are the best of the Cor-best — listed chronologically.

With editorial contributions by Mark Peikert, Proma Khosla, Erin Strecker, and Wilson Chapman. 

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