Debra Messing

Debra Lynn Messing was born on August 15, 1968, in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of Sandra Ellen Messing, a professional singer, banker, and travel and real estate agent, and Brian Messing, a sales executive for a costume jewelry packaging manufacturer. Her family is Jewish, with roots in Russia, Przecław, Poland, and London, England. When Messing was three years old, her family relocated to East Greenwich, Rhode Island, where she grew up with her older brother, Brett. Though her parents supported her ambitions in acting, they encouraged her to pursue a broad education first. She enrolled at Brandeis University, where three-quarters of her coursework, at her parents' request, was outside the theater department. She graduated summa cum laude in 1990 with a Bachelor of Arts in Theater Arts, then earned admission to the graduate acting program at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, which accepts only sixteen students per year. She completed a Master of Fine Arts there after three years of study.

Messing's professional career began in earnest in 1993, when she received acclaim for her portrayal of Harper in the pre-Broadway workshop production of Tony Kushner's Angels in America: Perestroika. She subsequently appeared in several episodes of NYPD Blue in 1994 and 1995, and made her film debut in 1995 in Alfonso Arau's A Walk in the Clouds, playing the unfaithful wife of the character portrayed by Keanu Reeves. That same year, she became the co-star of the Fox sitcom Ned and Stacey, which ran for two seasons through 1997. During that period she also appeared in two episodes of Seinfeld, playing Jerry Seinfeld's romantic interest in "The Wait Out" in 1996 and "The Yada Yada" in 1997. She turned down another television sitcom role to appear in Donald Margulies's two-character play Collected Stories at the off-Broadway Manhattan Theatre Club, and co-starred in the 1997 film McHale's Navy.

In 1998, Messing played bioanthropologist Sloan Parker on ABC's science-fiction series Prey, and that same year was cast as Grace Adler, an interior designer, on the NBC sitcom Will and Grace. The role became her breakthrough, earning her seven Golden Globe Award nominations and five Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series. She won the Emmy in 2003. The original run of Will and Grace continued through 2006. During the intervening years, director Woody Allen cast her in a supporting role in Hollywood Ending (2002), and she appeared as Richard Gere's wife in The Mothman Prophecies (2002) and in a supporting role in Along Came Polly (2004). The Wedding Date (2005) marked her first leading role in a major theatrical film release.

From 2007 to 2008, Messing starred as Molly Kagan, the ex-wife of a Hollywood film mogul, in the television miniseries The Starter Wife, a production nominated for ten Emmy Awards. Her performance earned her two Golden Globe nominations, a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie, and a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination. She reprised the role in a ten-episode series continuation in 2008. In 2012, Messing joined the NBC musical drama Smash, playing Broadway playwright Julia Houston. The series ran for two seasons before its cancellation in 2013. Also in 2014, she won the Best Actress Award at the Williamsburg Independent Film Festival for her performance in Frank Whaley's Like Sunday, Like Rain, in which she appeared alongside Billie Joe Armstrong and Leighton Meester.

Messing made her Broadway debut in John Patrick Shanley's Outside Mullingar, which began previews at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre on January 3, 2014. She appeared in the production alongside Tony Award winner Brían F. O'Byrne. The play received a Tony Award nomination for Best Play at the 68th Annual Tony Awards. That same year, she began starring as homicide detective Laura Diamond on the NBC police-procedural comedy The Mysteries of Laura, which ran for two seasons through 2016. In 2017, she portrayed Marjorie Houseman in ABC's television remake of Dirty Dancing, and returned to NBC to reprise her role as Grace Adler in the three-season revival of Will and Grace, which aired from September 2017 through April 2020. Her performance in the revival earned her a ninth Golden Globe nomination. Messing returned to Broadway with Birthday Candles, extending her stage credits through 2022.

Messing's film work spans three decades and includes Jesus (1999), The Mothman Prophecies (2002), Hollywood Ending (2002), Along Came Polly (2004), the animated film Garfield (2004), The Wedding Date (2005), Lucky You (2007), Open Season (2006), The Women (2008), Nothing Like the Holidays (2008), Searching (2018), 13: The Musical (2022), and The Alto Knights (2025). In 2005, she and castmate Megan Mullally received the Women in Film Lucy Award in recognition of their work enhancing the portrayal of women on television.

Beyond her performance career, Messing has been active in civic and political causes. She began working on political campaigns in 2004. In 2018, she and Mandana Dayani co-founded the nonpartisan voter education and mobilization organization I Am a Voter. Following the October 7, 2023 attacks, Messing became a vocal public supporter of Israel, delivering a speech at the March for Israel in Washington, D.C. in November 2023 and traveling to Israel in December 2023 on a trip organized by the Creative Community for Peace, during which she met with members of the Israeli military and families of hostages.