Chris Noth was born on November 13, 1954, in Madison, Wisconsin, which makes him 71 years old as of October 2026. He turns 72 on November 13, 2026. Noth is best known for three long-running television roles: Detective Mike Logan on the original Law & Order, Mr. Big in Sex and the City and Peter Florrick in The Good Wife.
Because his screen career stretches across more than four decades, and because he played some of the same characters at very different stages of his life, his age is one of the most searched facts about him. Below you will find a clear answer, a table of how old he was at each career milestone, his early life and education, his main roles and the facts about his personal life that have been widely reported.
Chris Noth Quick Facts
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Full name | Christopher David Noth |
| Date of birth | November 13, 1954 |
| Age (October 2026) | 71 |
| Birthplace | Madison, Wisconsin, United States |
| Zodiac sign | Scorpio |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Best-known roles | Mike Logan (Law & Order), Mr. Big (Sex and the City), Peter Florrick (The Good Wife) |
| Education | Marlboro College; Yale School of Drama |
| Spouse | Tara Wilson (married 2012) |
| Children | Two sons |
How Old Is Chris Noth?
Chris Noth is 71. Because his birthday falls in mid-November, a simple rule works for any year: subtract 1954 from the current year, then subtract one more if November 13 has not yet arrived. In 2026, that means he is 71 until November 13 and 72 afterward. In 2027 he will be 72 until his birthday and 73 after it.
A lot of confusion about his age comes from older biography pages that were written years ago and never updated, or from pages that simply subtract the birth year without accounting for his late-year birthday. If you see him listed as 72 in early or mid 2026, that page is ahead of the calendar.
How to work out his age on any date
- Take the year you are checking and subtract 1954.
- Check whether the date is before November 13 in that year.
- If it is before November 13, subtract one from your result. If it is on or after November 13, keep the number as it is.
For example, on June 1, 1998, the subtraction gives 44, but his birthday had not yet arrived, so he was 43 when Sex and the City premiered that month.
Chris Noth’s age at key career milestones
| Year | Milestone | Approximate age |
|---|---|---|
| 1985 | Completes drama training at Yale | 30 to 31 |
| 1990 | Debuts as Det. Mike Logan on Law & Order | 35 to 36 |
| 1995 | Leaves Law & Order after five seasons | 40 to 41 |
| 1998 | Sex and the City premieres on HBO | 43 |
| 2000 | Appears in the film Cast Away | 45 to 46 |
| 2005 | Returns as Mike Logan on Law & Order: Criminal Intent | 50 to 51 |
| 2008 | Sex and the City film released | 53 |
| 2009 | Begins playing Peter Florrick on The Good Wife | 54 to 55 |
| 2012 | Marries Tara Wilson | 57 |
| 2021 | Returns as Mr. Big in And Just Like That… | 67 |
The table shows something unusual about his career: he did not become widely famous until his mid-thirties, and his best-known role began in his forties. Many actors who break through on network TV do so in their twenties. Noth’s path ran through years of classical training and theater first.
Early Life and Family Background
Noth was born in Madison, Wisconsin, but did not grow up in one place. His mother, Jeanne Parr, was a journalist who worked as a correspondent for CBS News, and his father, Charles James Noth, worked in insurance and marketing. His father reportedly died in a car accident when Chris was still a boy, in the mid-1960s. Because of his mother’s work, the family moved frequently, and Noth has described spending parts of his childhood abroad, including time in Europe.
He is commonly described as having German, Irish and English ancestry. He grew up with brothers, although biographies differ on some family details, so it is best not to rely on any single fan site for them. What is consistent across interviews is that the moves and his mother’s journalism career exposed him early to different cultures and to the idea of a life spent in the public eye.
Education and Training
Noth attended Marlboro College, a small liberal arts school in Vermont. He went on to train as an actor in New York and then at the Yale School of Drama, where he completed his graduate training in the mid-1980s. Yale gave him a strong grounding in classical theater, and he performed in a large number of student and repertory productions there before moving into professional stage and screen work.
That training shows in his screen work. Even in a glossy romantic series, his performances rely on restraint and timing rather than big gestures, a style common among actors who come up through the stage.
Career Overview
Early stage and screen work
Like many Yale-trained actors, Noth started in theater and small television parts during the 1980s. He picked up guest roles on TV series and minor film parts, building the steady résumé that led to his breakthrough casting in 1990, when he was in his mid-thirties.
Law & Order (1990 to 1995)
Noth became a household name as Detective Mike Logan, a hot-tempered New York City detective, in the first five seasons of NBC’s original Law & Order. He left in 1995; press reports at the time pointed to a contract dispute. He later reprised the role in the TV film Exiled: A Law & Order Movie (1998) and then as a lead on Law & Order: Criminal Intent from 2005 to 2008. Noth was not a regular on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, a common mix-up on older biography pages.
Sex and the City and the films (1998 to 2010)
In 1998, HBO launched Sex and the City, based on Candace Bushnell’s columns and book. Noth played Mr. Big, the wealthy, elusive love interest of Sarah Jessica Parker’s Carrie Bradshaw, across all six seasons through 2004. He returned for the feature films Sex and the City (2008) and Sex and the City 2 (2010). The role made him internationally recognizable and remains the one most people associate with him.
Film roles
Noth’s film work has mostly been supporting parts. The most widely seen is Cast Away (2000), in which he played the man Kelly (Helen Hunt) marries after Tom Hanks’s character is presumed lost at sea. His film appearances tend to draw on the same qualities as his TV work: charm, authority and a hint of moral ambiguity.
The Good Wife (2009 to 2016)
From 2009 to 2016, Noth played Peter Florrick, the disgraced Illinois state’s attorney and politician married to Julianna Margulies’s Alicia Florrick, on CBS’s The Good Wife. The role gave him a third long-running TV character and a darker, more political part than Mr. Big. Many critics saw it as a smart piece of casting, since it played on the charm audiences already associated with him and turned it into something less trustworthy.
Stage work
Noth never fully left the theater. His best-known Broadway credit is the 2011 revival of Jason Miller’s That Championship Season, alongside Kiefer Sutherland, Brian Cox, Jim Gaffigan and Jason Patric. He has also appeared in regional and off-Broadway productions over the years.
Later career and the 2021 controversy
In 2021, at 67, Noth returned as Mr. Big in HBO Max’s And Just Like That…, and he had also joined CBS’s reboot of The Equalizer. In December 2021, several women made allegations of sexual assault against him, which Noth denied. Following the reports, he was dropped from The Equalizer, and his career in mainstream television slowed significantly afterward. These events were covered extensively by major news outlets at the time.
If you enjoy reading about the people behind long-running TV hits, our profile of Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels covers another career built on decades of New York television, and our piece on actor Peter Boyle looks at a performer best remembered for a single sitcom role.
Main TV Roles at a Glance
| Series | Character | Years | Network | His age during the run |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Law & Order | Det. Mike Logan | 1990 to 1995 | NBC | 35 to 41 |
| Sex and the City | Mr. Big | 1998 to 2004 | HBO | 43 to 50 |
| Law & Order: Criminal Intent | Det. Mike Logan | 2005 to 2008 | NBC, later USA Network | 50 to 54 |
| The Good Wife | Peter Florrick | 2009 to 2016 | CBS | 54 to 62 |
| And Just Like That… | Mr. Big | 2021 | HBO Max | 66 to 67 |
One reason his age draws interest is that he played two of these characters, Mike Logan and Mr. Big, across gaps of a decade or more. Viewers who watched him as a detective in his thirties saw the same character again in his fifties, and Mr. Big aged on screen from his forties into his late sixties, which is unusual for a single actor and role.
Personal Life
Noth has a long relationship with actress Tara Wilson. Their son Orion was born in 2008, and the couple married in a small ceremony in Hawaii in April 2012. Their second son, Keats, was born in 2020, when Noth was 65. He has generally kept details of his family life out of the spotlight.
Outside acting, Noth is known as a co-owner of The Cutting Room, a live music venue in New York City that opened in the late 1990s. He has also been involved in other hospitality and drinks ventures over the years.
What About Chris Noth’s Net Worth?
You will see a wide range of figures for Noth’s net worth online, often in the low tens of millions of dollars. These are estimates published by celebrity finance websites, not confirmed numbers, and they rarely explain their method. What is well documented is that he earned his income from three long-running TV series, feature films, stage work and business interests such as The Cutting Room. Treat any precise figure with caution.
How to check facts about him
- Use his birth date, November 13, 1954, as the anchor for any age claim, and ignore pages that do not state the date they were updated.
- Check roles against the network’s own episode listings rather than fan wikis, especially for the Law & Order spin-offs.
- Treat net worth figures as rough estimates, since none come from him or his representatives.
- For the 2021 allegations, rely on reporting from established news organizations rather than social media summaries.
Frequently Asked Questions
How old is Chris Noth in 2026?
Chris Noth was born on November 13, 1954, so he is 71 until his birthday on November 13, 2026, when he turns 72.
How old was Chris Noth when Sex and the City started?
Sex and the City premiered in June 1998, when Noth was 43. He was 50 when the series ended in 2004 and 67 when he returned as Mr. Big in And Just Like That…
Why did Chris Noth leave Law & Order?
Press reports at the time attributed his 1995 exit to a contract dispute. He later returned to the role of Mike Logan in a 1998 TV movie and on Law & Order: Criminal Intent from 2005 to 2008.
Why is the character called Mr. Big?
The nickname comes from Candace Bushnell’s original columns, where Mr. Big was a powerful, larger-than-life New York businessman. Bushnell has said the character was inspired by a real magazine executive she dated.
Where was Chris Noth born?
He was born in Madison, Wisconsin, though his family moved often during his childhood because of his mother’s work as a journalist.
Who is Chris Noth married to?
He married actress Tara Wilson in Hawaii in April 2012. The couple have two sons, Orion, born in 2008, and Keats, born in 2020.
Bottom Line
Chris Noth is 71 in 2026 and turns 72 on November 13. His career is a slow-build story: Yale training and stage work in his twenties, fame as a TV detective in his mid-thirties, global recognition as Mr. Big in his forties and a political drama in his fifties. When you see a different age elsewhere, check it against his November 1954 birth date before trusting it.
