Cynthia Nixon missed her character, Miranda Hobbes

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Like many fans of "Sex and the City," Cynthia Nixon missed her character, Miranda Hobbes, when the HBO series ended in 2004."But you know, life is like that as an actor," says Nixon. "You're constantly falling in love with characters and then saying goodbye to them."She respected executive producer Michael Patrick King, who decided to end the show with its sixth season."He was always so smart about everything, and I think he ... kept topping himself season after season," she says. "He wanted us to go out on a real high, not after we had started to wane and had overstayed our welcome."Still, Nixon was thrilled when years of negotiations and rumors ended and King came up with the big-screen version of "Sex and the City." She reunited with Miranda -- and co-stars Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall and Kristin Davis -- "in a bigger way than the first time."Nixon, who has been acting since age 12 and made her film debut in 1980's "Little Darlings," was in a long-term relationship and the mother of a young daughter when the series about four single female friends in Manhattan debuted. She didn't have much in common with cynical lawyer Miranda."Most of her experiences were alien to me, but ... the way they related to each other and their friendships I found really familiar," Nixon, 42, says by phone from New York.She had no inkling that the show would become such a phenomenon, attracting millions of (mostly female) fans."It was crazy," she says. "Just when you thought it couldn't get any bigger possibly, it would get bigger still."In the film, Miranda, Carrie, Charlotte and Samantha are a little older and not as single as they used to be. In one plot line, Carrie receives a proposal from Mr. Big (Chris Noth). Nixon, who won a supporting-actress Emmy for the final season of "Sex," after two earlier nods, is happy with her character's arc."I think she has a really great part to do in it," says Nixon. "Really, really meaty stuff. She's sort of sounding the dark note, which I think is good and appropriate."I think it's a real mix of light and dark -- some real high highs in the movie, a lot of joy, and some real pain and heartbreak ... Miranda has her fair share of that heartbreak."Since the show's 2004 curtain call, Nixon has earned a Tony for her lead role in "Rabbit Hole" and received another Emmy nomination, for her portrayal of Eleanor Roosevelt in "Warm Springs." On the personal front, she parted ways with her boyfriend of 15 years, the father of her two children, and then fell in love with a woman, a public-education advocate who has been her partner for four years now.Nixon believes "Sex and the City" played an important role in TV history."There were a lot of black middle-class families out there, but white America didn't realize it until they saw 'The Cosby Show,' " she says. "There were a lot of single women in their 30s and 40s who were living full, happy lives and not sitting by the phone, being the cliche of the old maid, but I think our culture hadn't caught up to what it was like to be single and how great it could be for women in their 30s and 40s until they saw it on 'Sex and the City.' "(Contact Betsy Pickle of The Knoxville News Sentinel in Tennessee at XX(at)xxx.com.)