Grace_adler

Grace Elizabeth Adler-Markus (born April 26, 1967) is a fictional character on the popular American sitcom Will & Grace, portrayed by Debra Messing. She is a Jewish interior designer (Grace is not a Jewish name, but it is mentioned that her Hebrew name is Rachel. Messing is Jewish in real life), living in New York City with her gay best friend Will Truman (played by Eric McCormack). She is originally from Schenectady, New York, and has graduated from Columbia University.

Fictional character history

Grace was born on April 26 1967, in Schenectady, New York. She has been particularly influenced by her mother, Bobbi (Debbie Reynolds), an overly dramatic actress. She is often annoyed by her mother and her antics, but also often realizing she inherited quite a few of her mother\'s personality traits [as displayed in Bobbi\'s first appearance in Season 1]. She also constantly strives for the affection of her father Martin (Alan Arkin), competing with her two sisters (one younger, one older), who have more obvious problems than she (Joyce, played by Sara Rue, is a mentally slow compulsive overeater, although Grace herself has shown frequent instances of compulsive overreating, while Janet, portrayed by Geena Davis, is marginally employed and promiscuous). Grace herself is decidedly selfish and neurotic, but it is usually played for laughs, like when her husband Leo asked "You want me to be happy, right?" and she sweetly replied "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 (once even thinking a photo of Hayworth was one of herself) and Julia Roberts. 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, she is frequently mistaken for Kathy Griffin by tourists.

Grace\'s characteristics (her Jewish heredity, big red hair, big teeth, untraditional wardrobe, flat chest, big feet, pocketing freebies and knick knacks, and obsession with food) are often fodder for the show\'s antics. We even see her ballet slippers as a child and Will comments on how huge they are ("I went from a four to an eight in a month!") There is a general running joke of her being slovenly and unladylike, which contrasts with Will\'s uptight nature, usually for purposes of comedy. She is very cheap and often hoards on free stuff and even steals. She once mentions selling Will\'s college term papers for a profit of which Will had no knowledge of. One time, she even observes someone else\'s private workout and just follows the trainer and the trainee. Of course, this comes back to blow up in her face, as always.

Grace has become infamous for her string of boyfriends, many played by famous guest stars such as Woody Harrelson and Gregory Hines. Grace married the Jewish doctor Leo Markus, played by Harry Connick, Jr., on November 21, 2002, but the marriage failed when he had a one-night stand while working in Cambodia. In season 8, the two reunited briefly during a flight to London when they coincidentally met on the plane. This one-night tryst led to Grace getting pregnant, but she didn\'t tell Leo because he was engaged to another woman. However, in the series finale, she and Leo reunited and raised the baby, a girl named Lila, together. Lila then went on to attend college with and eventually marries Will and Vince\'s son, Ben.

Grace also has a reputation for "turning" men gay. Several of her boyfriends - such as Will himself, and her second season boyfriend Josh - ended up gay or bisexual, and she has a recurring fear that this will happen again. (At one point she entered a room to find Jack, Will and Nathan (played by Harrelson) all passed out on a bed together, and moaned, "Oh, no, I turned another one.") In season 8, she took this to a new level when she briefly married James Hanson, a boyfriend of Will\'s, so that he could get a green card. They broke off the relationship a few days later.

Aside from Will, she also has a strong relationship with her secretary, Karen Walker, a rich, alcoholic socialite who does virtually no secretarial work. Karen is nevertheless useful to Grace, as she pays for her employer\'s health insurance and occasionally uses her society connections to help Grace get work. Otherwise, Karen spends her "work" hours harassing Grace, her maid Rosario, and trading banter with her flamboyantly gay friend Jack. She routinely criticizes Grace\'s breast size and choices in fashion (usually by disdainfully asking "Honey, what\'s this all about?") and men. Grace and Karen became close over the years. Grace once commented to a man (played by Andy Garcia) who had refused to ask Karen out on a second date that, "I\'ve kissed Karen more times than I can count, and I\'ve always felt something."

Trivia

• She is allergic to bees.
• She is a Democrat.
• Grace, like her mother, has a horrible desire to always be right, and when they prove someone wrong they break into dance while singing: \'Told ya so! Told ya so!\'
• If she is very offended by something someone says to her, she often is known to pause a couple seconds after they have spoken, and say "Whoa!" dramatically.
• She often breaks into song, convinced she can sing well. However, people often cringe or quickly make her stop when she sings.
• She is of Russian and German ancestry (it was mentioned in Season 3 that her grandmother was Russian, and Adler is a German surname)
• She is 5 feet 8 inches in height.
• She makes sure to misstate her age as several years younger, even to her friends
• Whenever she says something under the influence that it\'s funny, she will often burst into a laugh, but will soon after snort and change her facial expression to an emotionless state.
• Like her dramatic \'Whoa!\' response to offense, she will occasionally give off a dramatic gasp, sometimes so dramatic it will be split into 3 simultaneous gasps.

See also

• List of fictitious Jews

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