Grace Elizabeth Adler (formerly Adler-Markus) is a fictional character and one of the two titular
protagonists
A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...
in the American
sitcom
A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...
''
Will & Grace
''Will & Grace'' is an American television sitcom created by Max Mutchnick and David Kohan. Set in New York City, the show focuses on the friendship between best friends Will Truman (Eric McCormack), a gay lawyer, and Grace Adler (Debra Messing), ...
'', portrayed by
Debra Messing
Debra Lynn Messing (born August 15, 1968) is an American actress. After graduating from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, Messing received short-lived roles on television series such as ''Ned and Stacey'' on Fox (1995–1997) and ...
.
A
Jew
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...
ish
interior design
Interior design is the art and science of enhancing the interior of a building to achieve a healthier and more aesthetically pleasing environment for the people using the space. An interior designer is someone who plans, researches, coordina ...
er living in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, she lives with her
gay best friend
A stock character is a dramatic or literary character representing a generic type in a conventional, simplified manner and recurring in many fictional works. The following list labels some of these stereotypes and provides examples. Some char ...
,
Will Truman
William Truman is a fictional character and one of the two titular protagonists on the American sitcom ''Will & Grace'', portrayed by Eric McCormack. He is a lawyer who lives in the Upper West Side of New York City with his best friend, Grace ...
(played by
Eric McCormack
Eric James McCormack (born April 18, 1963) is a Canadian-American actor and singer, known for his roles as Will Truman in the NBC sitcom ''Will & Grace'', Grant MacLaren in Netflix's ''Travelers'' and Dr. Daniel Pierce in the TNT crime drama ...
), for a majority of the series.
She is also the employer of
Karen Walker (
Megan Mullally
Megan Mullally (born November 12, 1958) is an American actress, comedian, and singer. She is best known for playing Karen Walker on the NBC sitcom ''Will & Grace'' (1998–2006, 2017–2020), for which she received eight Primetime Emmy Award no ...
) and the friend and neighbor of
Jack McFarland
John Philip "Jack" McFarland is a fictional character on the American television sitcom ''Will & Grace'', played by Sean Hayes.
Character overview
Jack is Will Truman's (Eric McCormack) best friend in the American television sitcom Will ...
(
Sean Hayes
Sean Patrick Hayes (born June 26, 1970) is an American actor, comedian, and producer. He is best known for playing Jack McFarland on the NBC sitcom ''Will & Grace'', for which he won a Primetime Emmy Award, four SAG Awards, and one American Com ...
).
Character overview
Grace was born on April 26, 1967, in
Schenectady
Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-largest city by population. The city is in eastern New Y ...
, New York. She has been particularly influenced by her mother,
Bobbi
Bobbi is a given name and nickname, almost exclusively feminine and usually a diminutive form (hypocorism) of Roberta or Barbara. It may refer to:
People:
* Roberta Beavers (born 1942), American politician
* Bobbi Brown (born 1957), American mak ...
(
Debbie Reynolds
Mary Frances "Debbie" Reynolds (April 1, 1932 – December 28, 2016) was an American actress, singer, and businesswoman. Her career spanned almost 70 years. She was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer for her portra ...
), a flamboyant actress from whom she inherited her many neuroses. Grace also constantly strives for the affection of her father
Martin Martin may refer to:
Places
* Martin City (disambiguation)
* Martin County (disambiguation)
* Martin Township (disambiguation)
Antarctica
* Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land
* Port Martin, Adelie Land
* Point Martin, South Orkney Islands
Austral ...
(
Alan Arkin
Alan Wolf Arkin (born March 26, 1934) is an American actor, director and screenwriter known for his performances on stage and screen. Throughout his career spanning over six decades, he has received various accolades, including an Academy Award ...
, then
Robert Klein
Robert Klein (born February 8, 1942) is an American stand-up comedian, singer, and actor. He is known for his appearances on stage and screen. He has released four standup comedy specials: ''A Child of the 50s'' (1973), ''Mind Over Matter'' (197 ...
), competing with her two sisters (one younger, one older), who have more obvious problems than she (Joyce, played by
Sara Rue
Sara Rue (born January 26, 1979) is an American actress. She is known for her performances as Carmen Ferrara on ''Popular'', as Claude Casey on ''Less than Perfect'', and as the Attorney General in ''Idiocracy''. In 2011, she hosted The CW realit ...
, is a
compulsive overeater, while Janet, portrayed by
Geena Davis
Virginia Elizabeth "Geena" Davis (born January 21, 1956) is an American actor then
Mary McCormack
Mary Catherine McCormack (born February 8, 1969) is an American actress. She has had leading roles as Justine Appleton in the series '' Murder One'' (1995–97), as Deputy National Security Adviser Kate Harper in ''The West Wing'' (2004–06), a ...
, is rarely employed and
promiscuous
Promiscuity is the practice of engaging in sexual activity frequently with different Sexual partner, partners or being indiscriminate in the choice of sexual partners. The term can carry a moral judgment. A common example of behavior viewed as pro ...
). Grace herself is decidedly selfish and neurotic, but this is usually played for laughs, like when her husband
Leo (
Harry Connick, Jr.
Joseph Harry Fowler Connick Jr. (born September 11, 1967) is an American singer, pianist, composer, actor, and television host. He has sold over 28million albums worldwide. Connick is ranked among the top60 List of best-selling music artists i ...
) asks, "You want me to be happy, right?" and she sweetly replies "Not if it affects me negatively in any way." She is also somewhat vain, once declaring herself to be a "frickin' bombshell" and believing that she bears a strong resemblance to red-haired celebrities like
Rita Hayworth
Rita Hayworth (born Margarita Carmen Cansino; October 17, 1918May 14, 1987) was an American actress, dancer and producer. She achieved fame during the 1940s as one of the era's top stars, appearing in 61 films over 37 years. The press coined th ...
(once even thinking a photo of Hayworth was one of herself) and
Nicole Kidman
Nicole Mary Kidman (born 20 June 1967) is an American and Australian actress and producer. Known for her work across various film and television productions from several genres, she has consistently ranked among the world's highest-paid act ...
. This, however, leads to her being taken down a peg, and she is usually the butt of numerous jokes by other characters. In one episode, while in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
, she is repeatedly mistaken for
Kathy Griffin
Kathleen Mary Griffin (born November 4, 1960) is an American comedian and actress who has starred in television comedy specials and has released comedy albums. In 2007 and 2008, Griffin won Primetime Emmy Awards for her reality show '' Kathy ...
by tourists.
She is a
Democrat
Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to:
Politics
*A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people.
*A member of a Democratic Party:
**Democratic Party (United States) (D)
**Democratic ...
and a graduate of
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
and the
Fashion Institute.
Grace's quirks and physical abnormalities are often fodder for the show's antics. She has very large feet, even for her height, and she's often ridiculed for them. She comments on the fact "feet the size of canoes" were the only things her father ever gave her. When Will pulls out a pair of over-sized slippers out of a box of her childhood memorabilia, she remarks "Those are my ballet slippers from fourth grade! I went from a four to an eight in a month!" In another episode, she and Will travel to
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
and visit the
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a historic landmark which consists of more than 2,700 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, Californ ...
, and Grace finds that her hands and feet fit perfectly into
John Wayne
Marion Robert Morrison (May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), known professionally as John Wayne and nicknamed The Duke or Duke Wayne, was an American actor who became a popular icon through his starring roles in films made during Hollywood's Gol ...
's hand and footprints ("Was he really tiny, or am I just a monster?").
There is a general running joke that she is slovenly and unladylike, which contrasts with Will's fastidiousness, usually for purposes of comedy. She is very cheap and often hoards on free things (such as pretending to have a drinking problem in order to get free food and therapy at
Alcoholics Anonymous
Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is an international mutual aid fellowship of alcoholics dedicated to abstinence-based recovery from alcoholism through its spiritually-inclined Twelve Step program. Following its Twelve Traditions, AA is non-professi ...
meetings) and even steals. She once mentions selling Will's
college
A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offering ...
term papers for a profit, of which Will had no knowledge.
In the 10th season episode "Grace's Secret", Grace reveals that she was
sexually assaulted
Sexual assault is an act in which one intentionally sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their will. It is a form of sexual violence, which ...
at age 15 by her father's best friend, Harry.
In the 11th season, Grace discovers that she is pregnant, the result of a one-night stand while on vacation in Italy. She decides to raise the child with Will, who is also having a child via surrogate. In the series finale, she goes into labor, and Will, Jack, and Karen go with her to the hospital to have the baby and begin a new chapter in her life.
Relationships
Will
Grace's best friend since college is
Will Truman
William Truman is a fictional character and one of the two titular protagonists on the American sitcom ''Will & Grace'', portrayed by Eric McCormack. He is a lawyer who lives in the Upper West Side of New York City with his best friend, Grace ...
, and their relationship is the focus of the show. They met at a college party at Columbia University. Through the third-season episode "Lows in the Mid-Eighties", we see they began dating and Grace did not realize that Will was gay at the time, and Will had not come out of the closet yet. Will "proposed" to Grace during Thanksgiving, in an effort to postpone actually having sex with her. When he finally
came out
Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity.
Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...
to her hours later, Grace was so angry with him that she didn't speak to him for a year. They ran into each other at a grocery store a year later and made up, and became inseparable best friends. Grace moves into Will's apartment in season 1 when she breaks up with her fiancé, Danny (
Tom Verica
Tom Verica (born May 13, 1964) is an American actor, director, and producer, best known for his role as Sam Keating in the ABC drama ''How to Get Away with Murder'' (2014-2020). He also played Jack Pryor in the NBC critically acclaimed drama ''Am ...
). She moves out in season 2 to declare her independence – albeit only to an apartment across the hall. She moves back in by season 3. She eventually moves to
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
in season 5 when she marries Leo, but moves back in with Will in season 7 when she gets divorced.
Her closeness to Will is a running joke throughout the series; many other characters refer to them as a married couple. They can finish each other's sentences, which helps them in their fast rounds in trivia and parlor games. They can also be quite dysfunctional and co-dependent, sometimes even requiring the other's approval of clothing and boyfriends. When Will begins dating his future husband Vince D'Angelo (
Bobby Cannavale
Roberto Michael Cannavale (; born May 3, 1970) is an American actor. He is best known for various television roles, including leading roles in ''Third Watch'', ''Vinyl'', and ''Mr. Robot'', as well as recurring roles in ''Will & Grace'', which wo ...
) in season 6, Will is nervous about Grace's opinion of him, noting that he has ended relationships because Grace disliked one detail about them (one example given is that all Grace had to say about one such boyfriend was "mock turtleneck," and the relationship was ruined).
In the revived series, which retcons the events of the first series finale, Grace has divorced Leo, and is once again living with Will. They go into business together briefly, before Will gets a job as a law professor. When she gets pregnant in the 11th season, she decides to raise the baby with Will, and they buy a house together in
Upstate New York
Upstate New York is a geographic region consisting of the area of New York State that lies north and northwest of the New York City metropolitan area. Although the precise boundary is debated, Upstate New York excludes New York City and Long Is ...
. In the series finale, she goes into labor, and Will assures her that they can do this together as he goes with her to the hospital.
Jack and Karen
Grace also has a close relationship with her assistant,
Karen Walker, a rich,
alcoholic
Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomin ...
socialite who does virtually no work. Karen is nevertheless useful to Grace, as she pays for her employer's health insurance, gives Grace holiday bonuses, and occasionally uses her society connections to help Grace get work. Otherwise, Karen spends her "work" hours drinking and belittling Grace. Karen routinely criticizes Grace's choices in
fashion
Fashion is a form of self-expression and autonomy at a particular period and place and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture. The term implies a look defined by the fashion in ...
(usually by disdainfully asking, "Honey, what's this all about?") and men. Karen doesn't exactly withhold her judgments; in one episode, when Will calls Grace at work and Karen answers, she puts him on hold and says "Grace, the reason you're not in a relationship is on line one." Nonetheless, Grace and Karen become close friends over the years. Grace eventually learns to look past Karen's faults, and Karen occasionally does stop ridiculing her to reveal a softer, more caring side. In one episode, Grace stands up to Milo (
Andy García
Andrés Arturo García Menéndez (born April 12, 1956), known professionally as Andy García, is a Cuban-born American actor, director and musician. He first rose to prominence acting in Brian De Palma's ''The Untouchables'' (1987) alongside ...
) after he refuses to go on a second date with Karen, who is feeling vulnerable because she is going through a divorce. In another instance, Karen turns down Grace's proposal for a business loan to protect her, as Grace does not have a strong
business plan
A business plan is a formal written document containing the goals of a business, the methods for attaining those goals, and the time-frame for the achievement of the goals. It also describes the nature of the business, background information on t ...
.
Grace also has a close bond with Will's other best friend,
Jack McFarland
John Philip "Jack" McFarland is a fictional character on the American television sitcom ''Will & Grace'', played by Sean Hayes.
Character overview
Jack is Will Truman's (Eric McCormack) best friend in the American television sitcom Will ...
. Early in the series, Jack and Grace dislike each other, seeing each other as a rival for Will's affections. However, after they spend time together while Will is in the
Cayman Islands
The Cayman Islands () is a self-governing British Overseas Territory—the largest by population in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, which are located to the ...
between seasons 2 and 3, they develop a closer friendship. They still antagonize one another, however, often leading to Grace striking Jack in some manner.
Romantic relationships
Grace has a string of boyfriends throughout the series, many played by guest stars such as
Woody Harrelson
Woodrow Tracy Harrelson (born July 23, 1961) is an American actor and playwright. He is the recipient of various accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award and two Screen Actors Guild Awards, in addition to nominations for three Academy Award ...
and
Gregory Hines
Gregory Oliver Hines (February 14, 1946 – August 9, 2003) was an American dancer, actor, choreographer, and singer. He is one of the most celebrated tap dancers of all time. As an actor, he is best known for '' Wolfen'' (1981), '' The Cotton C ...
. Grace marries
Leo Markus
This list provides descriptions of the supporting or recurring characters and guest stars on the NBC situation comedy ''Will & Grace''.
Main characters
* Eric McCormack as Will Truman: The first titular protagonist in the show, Will is a gay ma ...
(
Harry Connick, Jr.
Joseph Harry Fowler Connick Jr. (born September 11, 1967) is an American singer, pianist, composer, actor, and television host. He has sold over 28million albums worldwide. Connick is ranked among the top60 List of best-selling music artists i ...
), a Jewish doctor on November 21, 2002, but the marriage ends when he has a
one-night stand
A one-night stand or one-night sex is a single sexual encounter in which there is an expectation that there shall be no further relations between the sexual participants. It draws its name from the common practice of a one-night stand, a single ...
with a doctor from the
Red Cross
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...
while working in
Cambodia
Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...
with
Doctors Without Borders
Doctor or The Doctor may refer to:
Personal titles
* Doctor (title), the holder of an accredited academic degree
* A medical practitioner, including:
** Physician
** Surgeon
** Dentist
** Veterinary physician
** Optometrist
*Other roles
** ...
. In season 8, the two reunite briefly during a flight to London when they coincidentally met on the plane. Their
mile high
''Mile High'' is a British television drama based on the lives of the cabin crew members of Fresh!, a budget airline based in London. The name of the show is a reference to the Mile High Club. The show was broadcast on Sky1 from 2003 to 2005 ...
tryst leads to Grace getting pregnant, but she doesn't tell Leo because he is engaged to another woman. However, in the
series finale
A series finale is the final installment of an episodic entertainment series, most often a television series. It may also refer to a final theatrical sequel, the last part of a television miniseries, the last installment of a literary series, or ...
, she and Leo remarry and raise the baby, a girl named Laila, together. Laila is born in
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
, where Leo is working at a hospital as a researcher. After living in Rome for a year, the family moves back to New York, to their apartment in Brooklyn. Laila (
Maria Thayer
Maria Christina Thayer is an American actress and comedian. She first earned public recognition for her portrayal of Tammi Littlenut on the cult series ''Strangers with Candy'' in 1999. Thayer has also had supporting roles in the comedy films '' H ...
) goes on to attend college and there meets Will and Vince's son, Ben (Ben Newmark). Laila and Ben are living in dorm rooms opposite each other's while at college; the same scenario that Will and Grace found themselves in while they attended college. Ben and Laila marry soon afterward.
When the series was revived in 2017, the events of the season finale – in which Grace gives birth to Leo's child and drifts apart from Will – are
retconned
Retroactive continuity, or retcon for short, is a literary device in which established diegetic facts in the plot of a fictional work (those established through the narrative itself) are adjusted, ignored, supplemented, or contradicted by a subse ...
as one of Karen's drug and alcohol-induced hallucinations. In this continuity, Grace has recently divorced Leo, has never had children, and has moved back in with Will while she recovers from the divorce. When Leo reappears sometime later, it is revealed that the marriage ended because Grace did not trust Leo not to cheat on her again, and because she was closer to Will than to her own husband. Despite the couple trying months of therapy and taking up golf together, they could not make it work and Grace, unable to forgive Leo, turned to Will for comfort.
In season 10, Grace enters a serious relationship with Noah Boarder (
David Schwimmer
David Lawrence Schwimmer (born November 2, 1966) is an American actor, director and producer. He gained worldwide recognition for portraying Ross Geller in the sitcom '' Friends'', for which he received a Screen Actors Guild Award and a Prime ...
), after several tense meetings where he tries to sabotage her campaign for interior design president. Their romance slowly blossoms, Grace gets to know Noah's daughter, and he eventually asks her to move in with him. In the season finale, when Noah is unable to come to Jack's wedding, Grace is not happy after overhearing Will say she can do much better than him, and begins to wonder where their relationship is going. After meeting Marcus (
Reid Scott
Reid Scott (October 23, 1926 – March 2, 2016) was a lawyer and provincial judge in Canada, and a New Democratic Party of Member of Parliament for the Danforth electoral district, in Toronto, from 1962 to 1968, leaving federal politics when h ...
), a fellow traveler who plans on traveling the world indefinitely in an effort to find himself, Grace decides to leave the country with him to find true happiness.
In the season 11 premiere, Grace returns to New York from her whirlwind European adventure, during which she had sex with Marcus. During a doctor's appointment, Grace is startled to find that she is pregnant. When Marcus reappears in the next episode, Grace tells him that she is pregnant with his child, only for Marcus to tell her that he had a
vasectomy
Vasectomy, or vasoligation, is an elective surgical procedure for male sterilization or permanent contraception. During the procedure, the male vasa deferentia are cut and tied or sealed so as to prevent sperm from entering into the urethra and ...
. Karen then gathers three other men that Grace had sex with during her European adventure in an effort to find out who her baby's father is via a
DNA test. Marcus shows up and admits to Grace that he lied about getting a vasectomy, and promises that he will sacrifice his dreams and do everything he can to raise her baby with her. Grace then decides she does not want to know the identity of the father for the time being – all she wants to do is raise the baby, either alone or with someone who loves her.
Grace has a reputation for "turning" men gay. Several of her boyfriends – such as Will himself, and her second-season boyfriend Josh (
Corey Parker) – have turned out to be gay, and she has a recurring fear that this will happen again. In one episode, she enters a room to find her boyfriend Nathan (
Woody Harrelson
Woodrow Tracy Harrelson (born July 23, 1961) is an American actor and playwright. He is the recipient of various accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award and two Screen Actors Guild Awards, in addition to nominations for three Academy Award ...
) passed out on a bed with Jack and Will, and moans, "Oh, no, I turned another one." In season 8, she takes this to a new level when she briefly marries James Hanson (
Taye Diggs
Scott Leo "Taye" Diggs (born January 2, 1971) is an American stage and film actor. He is known for his roles in the Broadway musicals ''Rent'' and '' Hedwig and the Angry Inch'', the TV series ''Private Practice'' (2007-2013), ''Murder in the ...
), Will's Canadian boyfriend, in search of a
green card
A green card, known officially as a permanent resident card, is an identity document which shows that a person has permanent residency in the United States. ("The term 'lawfully admitted for permanent residence' means the status of having been ...
. They annul the marriage a few days later, after Will and James break up.
Awards and nominations
For her performance as Grace Adler, Messing received 5 nominations for the
, winning once in
2003
File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...
.
See also
*
List of fictitious Jews
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adler, Grace
Fictional American Jews
Fictional characters from New York (state)
Television characters introduced in 1998
Fictional Democrats (United States)
Fictional people in fashion
Fictional Columbia University people
Will & Grace characters
American female characters in television
Fictional victims of sexual assault