Long before Cynthia Nixon became a household name as Miranda Hobbes on Sex and the City, she was already a living Broadway legend.
In 1984, when she was just eighteen years-old, Nixon became the first and only person to ever play two Broadway roles at the same time. Hurlyburly, a dark comedy by playwright David Rabe, and The Real Thing, a drama penned by Tom Stoppard, were both running on The Great White Way. Both productions cast Nixon, albeit in smaller roles, which meant she had to be in two places at once every single night. Well, almost.
In a recent interview with NPR’s Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me, Nixon revealed just how she managed to pull off the iconic Broadway feat. First, she’d perform the first act of Hurlyburly before heading to another theater to perform the second act of The Real Thing.
“I would change my clothes, I would walk two blocks away, and I would walk through the Edison Hotel, and then I would wait, and then I would go at The Real Thing,” explained Nixon.
“Then, I would kill a lot more time, and then I would take my curtain call and then I would change again, back to Hurlyburly. My character, who was an innocent runaway, by the third act had become a street hooker, so I did very garish makeup, and then I would wait until the very last scene, which was with William Hurt, which would be after eleven o’clock at that point.”
To this day, no one else has managed to perform two Broadway roles at the same time, and Nixon’s resume has only flourished since then. In 2006, she earned a Tony Award for her performance in Rabbit Hole, as well as nominations for Wit in 2012 and Indiscretions in 1995.
Currently, Nixon stars as Ada Forte in HBO’s The Gilded Age, a period drama created by Julian Fellowes of Downton Abbeyfame. Of her character, Nixon said in a 2025 interview, “Ada is sort of funny, and she’s a little bit silly. But I think one of the very touching things about Ada is all of the pain that she’s gone through in her life, previous to meeting Luke, her husband, that she tries not to talk about. She doesn’t want to complain. She’s just made her peace with her lot in life. She tries to be cheerful, loving and upbeat.”
The Gilded Age was recently renewed for a fourth season following the success of season three, and is expected to premiere towards the end of 2026 or early 2027.
This story was originally reported by Parade on Sep 29, 2025, where it first appeared in the Entertainment section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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