David Shankbone · CC BY 3.0

Debra Messing spent eight seasons as Grace Adler on Will & Grace, a role that earned her seven Golden Globe nominations, five Emmy nominations and a win, and helped make one of network television's first sitcoms built around gay characters a mainstream hit. She carried leading roles across a run of other series — The Starter Wife, Smash, The Mysteries of Laura — and returned to Grace Adler for the show's 2017 revival, picking up a ninth Golden Globe nomination along the way. Her film work spans A Walk in the Clouds to the 2025 drama The Alto Knights.