As an actress, Kristin Davis swings effortlessly between sexy, sophisticated comedy – some might even call her hit television series and upcoming movie, Sex and the City, bawdy – and yummy-mummy innocence. Today, in the cosy Santa Monica home of Elizabeth Stewart, her stylist and best friend, she is definitely at the innocent end. As a puppy chews her Louis Vuitton sandal, she plays with kids (she is single herself) and pops frozen cookie dough into the oven.

“I’m known as a comedic actress,” she explains, munching on a warm cookie, “not a dramatic one.” Born in Colorado, Davis, 42, started her career on General Hospital and Melrose Place before turning up in every television comedy show from Seinfeld to Friends. She finally hit the big time as the uptight but hot Charlotte York in Sex and the City.

“There are not a lot of comedic films being made,” she says of her career since SATC. “Most comedies these days focus on men. So, sooner or later, every comedic actress is going to play the wife or girlfriend – even Sarah Jessica [Parker, her Sex and the City co-star and good friend]. Sometimes you hear people ask, ‘Why did she choose this?’ It’s not necessarily to pay your bills, it’s because you want to work. What are we supposed to do? Sit around? The problem is, every good actress wants every good role. Halle Berry, Nicole Kidman, Angelina Jolie – they all want the same roles I want. The reality is, you want to keep working, and you only have the choices you’re offered.”

Since the series ended, three years ago, Davis has reinvented herself as a warm and fuzzy wife in The Shaggy Dog (2006) and Deck the Halls (2006), in which she co-starred with Sarah Jessica’s husband, Matthew Broderick. “I love Matthew, but it was odd having to kiss him. I didn’t want to do it, but he kept asking, ‘What’s the problem?’. ” She also appeared in the pilot of a television series that never made it to air.

Now, though, with snatched paparazzi shots from the hotly anticipated Sex and the City movie posted all over the internet, Davis is back to bawdy once again. Will Charlotte finally get her wish for a baby? “Well,” she giggles, “we all know how important a baby is to Charlotte.” And that’s all she will let slip about the film’s closely guarded plot. “I’m not allowed to say,” she smiles.

Does Davis feel any pressure for the film to fulfil its potential as the hit of the summer? “That scares me. I know people miss the show — so do we — but we never expected all this attention, or all the photos, none of which has been officially released. But when you shoot on the streets of New York — which is what Sex and the City is all about — you can’t hide from photographers. I can’t go anywhere without make-up. It’s flattering that people care, but it puts a lot of pressure on us to make a great movie that our fans will love.”

The hopes of those fans have already been dashed once, when an early film script, written by the show’s main writer/producer, Michael Patrick King, initially fell through. “We had a contract to do the movie even before the show ended,” Davis confides, “and we were all so sad when it didn’t happen. Now Michael Patrick’s written another script. He wants Sex and the City to be now, so it is very much set in 2008 — three years later in all their lives.”

One thing that hasn’t changed is the fashion. Patricia Field is back on board as stylist, and the ladies will all be decked out in ever-more-fanciful designer bags, shoes and clothes. “The show was definitely an education in fashion,” Davis recalls. “I was an actress/waitress in New York before that, and I loved looking at Vogue, but could never afford designer clothes. Fashion for me was a real learning curve. The first season, I complained bitterly to Pat Field. Everything was so tight. I’d never dressed that way. Pat wanted Charlotte’s look to be sexy secretary. And the only clothes around like that in 1997 were Dolce dresses and skirts. I kept whining, ‘It’s too tight.’ Pat would just say, ‘You’re wrong, wrong, wrong.’ ”

Eventually, Davis caved in — just as the fashion world caved in to the show. By season two, big luxury houses were asking the actresses to wear their most coveted clothes. “In my personal life, though, I didn’t really know what to wear,” Davis says. “I could so easily get it wrong — and, one year, I did. I was meant to wear a dress to the Golden Globes that I loved — then, 10 days before the event, I got a call saying that Gisele was going to be wearing the same dress on the cover of W. I didn’t know what to do except call Elizabeth, who was then a magazine editor, and who happened to be dressing Calista Flockhart, who I went to college with. I’d noticed Calista starting to look amazing. So Elizabeth got me this amazing white Donna Karan dress in time for the Globes.”

Davis quickly became known as a fashionista actress for her countless lovely dresses, including a wonderful champagne MaxMara number that she wore to a Vanity Fair Oscar party, and is among her favourites. “I do like pretty dresses,” she says, “and I don’t want them to be too tight or too ornate. I’ve learnt not to dress like Charlotte, which means no ponytails and no pink. It’s too confusing.”

Meanwhile, you won’t find Davis commenting on whether she’s more the bawdy girl or the good girl behind the scenes. “We all have many sides,” she says. “My friends know the real me, and I don’t feel pressure to be just one thing. I’ve managed to keep my personal life fairly private, which has taken a lot of work — but it really helps.”

When Parker married Broderick and had a child, Davis watched the paparazzi follow them relentlessly around New York and decided to avoid the gossip columns. “It’s hard enough to be single and semi-famous,” she says. “Not that I’m complaining — I’m grateful for all the wonderful things that have happened to me. But media pressure can kill a budding relationship. So, unlike Charlotte, you will not see me sipping cocktails with fabulous men in fabulous boîtes, then going home with them. I’m not saying I don’t date. But my life is not Sex and the City — and, if it was, how sad would that be?”

Sad?

Sex and the City: The Movie is due for release in May

Times recommends

• It is possible to look stylish while pregnant
• Britain’s tot models
• Who and what benefits from the heat wave?