Debra Messing Biography

Quick Facts

NAME: Debra Messing
OCCUPATION: Film Actress, Television Actress
BIRTH DATE: August 15, 1968 (Age: 44)
EDUCATION: Brandeis University, Tisch School of the Arts
PLACE OF BIRTH: Brooklyn, New York
ZODIAC SIGN: Leo

Best Known For

Debra Messing is a TV and film actress who hit it big as Grace Adler on the sitcom Will & Grace.

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Debra Messing

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Debra Messing. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 01:36, May 23, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/debra-messing-23198.

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The show remained a popular staple of NBC's prime-time lineup for eight seasons.

When Will & Grace wasn't filming, Messing continued to act in movies. She took roles in The Mothman Prophecies,

Along Came Polly and The Wedding Date. She also played Woody Allen's girlfriend in the famed director's 2002 film Hollywood Ending, a role she viewed as a dream job. "I erupted!" Messing said, recalling the call from her agent telling her that Allen wanted her for the part. "This scream came from the lower depths of my body. I don't know how I didn't get into a car accident. It was as if I went blind for a minute with joy and shock."

Personal Life

Messing became pregnant with her first child during the 2003-2004 season of Will & Grace. Her growing belly proved a challenge for producers. "We are running out of ways to hide Debra's stomach," quipped costar Eric McCormack. "At first the refrigerator door was good enough, but now we have to have trucks drive through scenes." Later in her pregnancy, Messing encountered complications that required doctors to put her on bed rest, forcing her to miss taping the season's final episodes before giving birth to a healthy son named Roman on April 7, 2004.

On May 18, 2006, Will & Grace went off the air after eight seasons. Messing went on to star in a film remake of the 1939 film The Women and The Starter Wife, a 2008 series about a woman rebuilding her life after divorce.

Often compared to fellow redhead and physical comedienne Lucille Ball, Messing is a "natural comic talent ... beautiful, very, very gifted," in the esteemed judgment of Woody Allen. "She lights up everything she does."