Sex and the City's New Mr. Big

(CBS/AP)  He's Mr. Big in the dance world. Now Mikhail Baryshnikov is ready to take on Carrie Bradshaw in "Sex and the City."

HBO announced Wednesday that the renowned dancer has signed on to play Sarah Jessica Parker's love interest in the comedy.

It's not the first acting gig for Baryshnikov, who was nominated for an Oscar for 1977's "The Turning Point" and also won acclaim for roles including the 1985 film "White Nights" and the 1989 Broadway play "Metamorphosis."

At age 55, Baryshnikov is still dancing and packing in the audiences, with the White Oak Dance Project, which he and choreographer Mark Morris founded over a decade ago.

Many of Baryshnikov's acting roles have been tailor-made to mirror his real life identity as a dancer and the "Sex and the City" role may also give him a chance to draw on his real-life experiences: in this case, as a man whose love life has at times kept gossip columnists quite busy.

Baryshnikov will play the popular international artist Alexander Petrovsky, who meets and falls in love with Bradshaw, the star character portrayed by Parker.

Bradshaw and Petrovsky meet at an art gallery in one of the episodes airing later this summer. He'll be a featured actor in the eight episodes of the series that will air beginning in January.

This sixth season of HBO's dishy gal-pal comedy will be the last, a long goodbye no one feels more acutely than Kristin Davis, who became sentimental at a recent photo shoot for the show.

"When we got back and were shooting our group photo, which we do at the beginning of every year, someone said, 'This is our last group photo,"' recalls Davis, who, in the glam foursome, plays Smith College-educated art dealer Charlotte York. "I had to declare a moratorium: `We can't talk about it every day. I'm not good with endings!'"

Fortunately, the season will roll out in two parts to ease viewer withdrawal: 12 weekly episodes began in June with a resumption next January for eight more, including a grand send-off, whatever that may entail.