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Debra Lynn Messing, born August 15,
1968, is an Emmy Award-winning American actress. She is best known for
portraying Grace Adler in Will & Grace.
Messing was born in the New York City borough of Brooklyn to American
Jewish parents Brian Messing (a sales executive for a jewelry
manufacturer) and Sandra (who has worked as a professional singer, banker,
travel and real estate agent). When Messing was three, she moved with her
parents and her older brother, Brett, to East Greenwich, a small town
outside Providence, Rhode Island.
During her high school years, she acted (and sang) in a number of high
school productions, including the starring role in the musical Annie.
Messing took lessons in dance, singing, and acting. While her parents
encouraged her dream of becoming an actress, they also urged her to
complete a liberal arts education before deciding on acting as a career.
Following their advice, she attended Brandeis University in Waltham,
Massachusetts. During her junior year, she studied theater at the
prestigious London-based British European Studio Group program, an
experience that fueled her desire to act.
In 1990, after graduating summa cum laude from Brandeis with a bachelor's
degree in theater arts, Messing gained admission to the elite Graduate
Acting Program (which accepts only about 15 new students annually) at New
York University, where she earned a master's degree in fine arts after
three years.
In 1993, Messing won praise for her acting in the pre-Broadway workshop
production of Tony Kushner's much-lauded play Angels in America:
Perestroika. Consequently, she appeared in several episodes (running from
1994 to 1995) of the award-winning television series NYPD Blue.
In 1995, Messing made her film debut with a supporting role in A Walk in
the Clouds, a love story directed by Alfonso Arau. This exposure led the
Fox network to make her the co-star of the television sitcom, Ned and
Stacey. The series lasted for two seasons, from 1995 to 1997. Messing
appeared as Jerry Seinfeld's date in two episodes of the hit television
show Seinfeld: "The Wait Out" in 1996 and "The Yada Yada" in 1997. Messing
turned down a starring role in another television sitcom to appear in
Donald Margulies's two-character play Collected Stories, which opened at
the Off-Broadway Manhattan Theater Club in 1997.
In 1998, Messing had a lead role as the bio-anthropologist "Sloan Parker"
on ABC's dramatic science-fiction television series Prey. Meanwhile,
Messing's agent had approached her with the pilot script for the
television show Will & Grace. Messing was inclined to take some time off,
but the pilot for Will & Grace intrigued her, and she received the role of
Grace Adler, beating out Nicollette Sheridan (Knots Landing, Desperate
Housewives), who also auditioned for it and who later guest starred on the
show as a romantic rival of Grace's. Will & Grace became a big ratings
success, and Messing gained renown. In 2002, she was named one of the "50
Most Beautiful People in the World" by People Magazine. TV Guide picked
her as its "Best Dressed Woman" in 2003.
Messing was personally picked by director Woody Allen for a small role in
his 1998 film Celebrity. Her big-screen roles since include a happily
married but ill-fated wife in the supernatural thriller The Mothman
Prophecies (2002) and a co-starring role in Along Came Polly (2004).
The Wedding Date (2005) was Messing's first leading role in a high-profile
film. It received mixed reviews but performed fairly well at the box
office.
Messing was featured as a judge on the season finale of the second season
of Bravo's hit reality show, Project Runway.
Her combination of beauty and a talent for physical comedy have led some
critics to compare her to Lucille Ball.
Messing met her future husband, Daniel Zelman (an actor and screenwriter),
on their first day as graduate students at NYU. The two were married on
September 3, 2000 and live in Los Angeles, California. On April 7, 2004,
Messing gave birth to their son, Roman Walker Zelman. Rumors are
circulating that Messing is pregnant with the couple's second child and is
due in late 2006, though she has yet to confim this news. Messing has also
stated that she intends to move back to New York, and with her Will &
Grace commitments now over and rumors of a Broadway play in Fall 2006, she
will likely be returning soon. |
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"Starter Wife" (2007) (mini)
TV Series .... Molly Kagen
Lucky You (2007) .... Suzanne
Purple Violets (2007) .... Kate Scott
Open Season (2006) (voice) .... Beth
"Will & Grace" .... Grace Adler (182 episodes, 1998-2006)
- The Finale (2006) TV Episode .... Grace Adler
- Whatever Happened to Baby Gin? (2006) TV Episode .... Grace Adler
- Partners 'n' Crime (2006) TV Episode .... Grace Adler
- The Mourning Son (2006) TV Episode .... Grace Adler
- Blanket Apology (2006) TV Episode .... Grace Adler
(177 more)
Will & Grace: Say Goodnight Gracie (2006) (TV) .... Grace Adler
The Wedding Date (2005) .... Kat Ellis
Garfield (2004) (voice) .... Arlene
... aka Garfield: The Movie (USA: promotional title)
Along Came Polly (2004) .... Lisa Kramer
"King of the Hill" .... Mrs. Hilgren-Bronson, Jordan's Mom (1
episode, 2002)
- Get Your Freak Off (2002) TV Episode (voice) .... Mrs.
Hilgren-Bronson, Jordan's Mom
Hollywood Ending (2002) .... Lori
The Mothman Prophecies (2002) .... Mary Klein
Jesus (1999) (TV) .... Mary Magdalene
... aka Bibbia: Jesus, La (Italy)
... aka Bibel - Jesus, Die (Germany)
"Ned and Stacey" .... Stacey Colbert (47 episodes, 1995-1999)
- Skippy's Revenge (1999) TV Episode .... Stacey Colbert
- I Like Your Moxie (1999) TV Episode .... Stacey Colbert
- No Retreat, No Surrender (1997) TV Episode .... Stacey Colbert
- Where My Third Nepal Is Sheriff (1997) TV Episode .... Stacey
Colbert
- Saved by the Belvedere (1997) TV Episode .... Stacey Colbert
(42 more)
Celebrity (1998) .... TV Reporter at Lupus Office
"Prey" .... Dr. Sloan Parker (13 episodes, 1998)
- Deliverance: Part 1 (1998) TV Episode .... Dr. Sloan Parker
- Progeny (1998) TV Episode .... Dr. Sloan Parker
- Vengeance (1998) TV Episode .... Dr. Sloan Parker
- Sleeper (1998) TV Episode .... Dr. Sloan Parker
- Collaboration (1998) TV Episode .... Dr. Sloan Parker
(8 more)
"Seinfeld" .... Beth (2 episodes, 1996-1997)
- The Yada Yada (1997) TV Episode .... Beth
- The Wait Out (1996) TV Episode .... Beth
McHale's Navy (1997) .... Lt. Penelope Carpenter
"Partners" .... Stacey (1 episode, 1995)
- City Hall (1995) TV Episode .... Stacey
A Walk in the Clouds (1995) .... Betty Sutton
... aka Caminando por las nubes (Mexico)
... aka Paseo por las nubes, Un (Mexico)
"NYPD Blue" .... Dana Abandando (3 episodes, 1994-1995)
- Bombs Away (1995) TV Episode .... Dana Abandando
- A Murder with Teeth in It (1995) TV Episode .... Dana Abandando
- Double Abandando (1994) TV Episode .... Dana Abandando |
