Evan Handler

Evan Handler is an American actor born on January 10, 1961, in New York City, to Enid Irene Handler, a mental health administrator, and Murry Raymond Handler, an agency owner and advertising designer. He grew up in the Town of Cortlandt, New York, near Croton-on-Hudson, and attended Hendrick Hudson High School in Montrose, New York. After completing high school a year ahead of schedule, he relocated to New York City and took an internship at the Chelsea Theater Center, during which he performed in the Off-Broadway productions Biography: A Game and Strider: The Story of a Horse.

Handler subsequently enrolled at the Juilliard School as part of the Drama Division's Group 12, a class that ran from 1979 to 1983 and included Kevin Spacey, Ving Rhames, and Elizabeth McGovern. He departed the four-year program before its completion to accept a role in the 1981 film Taps. His early film work also included The Chosen in 1981 and Sweet Lorraine in 1987.

His Broadway career spanned from 1982 to 1991 and included appearances in "MASTER HAROLD"…and the boys, Solomon's Child, and Six Degrees of Separation. His final Broadway credit, I Hate Hamlet, became the subject of considerable public attention in 1991 when Handler walked off the stage during the first act of a performance after co-star Nicol Williamson deviated from choreography during a sword-fighting scene and struck Handler on the backside. Gregory Peck and Elaine Stritch were in the audience that evening, and Handler's understudy completed the performance. Handler later stated that he left the production because the show's producers had condoned Williamson's persistent abusiveness toward other cast members throughout rehearsals.

On television, Handler became widely recognized for two long-running roles. From 2002 to 2004 he played Harry Goldenblatt, a divorce attorney who becomes the husband of Charlotte York, on Sex and the City, a role he reprised in the revival series And Just Like That... from 2021 to 2025. From 2007 to 2014 he portrayed Charlie Runkle, the best friend and agent of David Duchovny's character Hank Moody, on Californication. Additional television credits include Six Feet Under, Friends, Law & Order, The West Wing, Miami Vice, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Ed, Lost, 24, and Power, in which he starred as Eastern District US Attorney Jacob Warner. He co-starred in the ABC sitcoms It's Like, You Know... and Hot Properties and appeared in the FOX sitcom Woops!. In 2000 he portrayed Larry Fine in the made-for-TV biopic The Three Stooges, and in 2016 he played attorney adviser Alan Dershowitz in American Crime Story: The People v. O. J. Simpson. He also portrayed Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein in the HBO film Too Big to Fail, based on Andrew Ross Sorkin's book of the same name. His feature film credits include Ransom in 1996.

Handler is additionally an author. His first book, Time On Fire: My Comedy of Terrors, recounts his recovery from acute myeloid leukemia, which he was diagnosed with in his mid-twenties. His second book, It's Only Temporary...The Good News and the Bad News of Being Alive, published in May 2008, chronicles the years following his illness. He has written for ELLE, O the Oprah Magazine, and Mirabella, and has contributed regularly to The Huffington Post.

In his personal life, Handler married Elisa Atti, an Italian-born chemist, in 2003. Their daughter, Sofia Clementina Handler, was born on January 17, 2007. His brother Lowell Handler, a writer and photographer, authored Twitch & Shout: A Touretter's Tale and served as star, narrator, and associate producer of the Emmy-nominated PBS documentary of the same name, in which Evan also appeared. Handler has a sister named Lillian. He has participated in advocacy for DC Statehood, appearing in a 2014 public service announcement on the subject, attending the Creative Coalition's DC Statehood Dinner in December 2015, and taking part in DC Shadow Senator Paul Strauss's "51 Stars" campaign.