Messing, Debra (1968- )

US actor. She is best known for her Emmy Award-winning role as interior designer Grace Adler in the US television comedy series Will and Grace (2000- ). Her films include the Woody Allen comedy Hollywood Ending (2002) and the romantic comedy The Wedding Date (2005).

Her character Grace, an endearingly spoiled and clumsy New Yorker, lives with her best friend, Will Truman (played by Canadian actor Eric McCormack), an openly gay lawyer, and the series chronicles the flatmates' ongoing search for romance. Messing's other films include the supernatural thriller The Mothman Prophecies (2002) and the quirky comedy Along Came Polly (2004), alongside actors Ben Stiller and Jennifer Aniston.

She was born in Brooklyn, New York, but grew up near Providence, Rhode Island, and trained in acting, singing, and dancing. She received a bachelor's degree in theatre arts from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, followed by a master's degree in fine arts from New York University's Graduate Acting Program in 1993. After starring in a pre-Broadway production of Tony Kushner's play Angels in America, she achieved a variety of television guest roles, for example in the police drama NYPD Blue and the cult comedy series Seinfeld (1996 and 1997). She starred in the Fox Network comedy series Ned and Stacey 1995-97 before turning back to theatre to star in the off-broadway Collected Stories in 1997. She also starred in the ill-fated science-fiction television series Prey in 1998. Her feature film debut was in a small role in the romantic drama A Walk in the Clouds (1995).