Grace Adler
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| Grace Elizabeth Adler Markus | |
|---|---|
| Will & Grace character | |
| First appearance | "Pilot" |
| Last appearance | "Finale" |
| Cause/reason | End of series |
| Created by | David Kohan Max Mutchnick |
| Portrayed by | Debra Messing |
| Episode count | 190 |
| Information | |
| Nickname(s) | Gracie, G, Gracious |
| Species | Female |
| Age | 30 at series beginning (Series began in March 1998, Grace turned 31 in April 1998), 38 or 39 by series end |
| Date of birth | April 26, 1967 |
| Occupation | Interior Designer |
| Title | Mrs. Grace Adler Markus (Formerly Miss Grace Elizabeth Adler) |
| Family | Martin Adler (Father) Bobbi Adler (Mother) Janet Adler (Older Sister) Joyce Adler (Younger Sister) |
| Spouse(s) | Dr. Leo Markus |
| Children | Lila Markus (born c. August 2006) |
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. She also mentions in season 2 that she attended the Fashion Institute.
[edit] 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's The Unsinkable Mommy Adler). 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.
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.
Grace's best friend since college is Will Truman, and their relationship is the focus of the show. They met at a college party at Columbia University. Through the season 3 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. When Will met Jack McFarland at a party, he made him realize his homosexuality. Will "proposed" to Grace during Thanksgiving, in an effort to postpone actually having sex with her. When he finally came out to her hours later, Grace was so angry with him, she didn't speak to him for a year. They ran into each other at a grocery store a year later, and made up. Ever since then, they remained very close. Grace moves into Will's apartment in season 1 when she breaks up with fiancee Danny (whom she was living with), moves out in season 2 to declare her independence (although the apartment is across the hall from Will's), but then moves back in the 3rd season. She eventually moves out in season 5 when she marries Leo, but back in with him in season 7 when she divorces him. Their closeness is often made fun of by other characters like Jack or Karen, referring to them as a married couple. They can finish each others sentences at times, 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 began dating Vince in season 6, he was very nervous about Grace's opinion of him, noting relationships have ended because of Grace not liking one detail about his boyfriend. Despite this, they are caring and supportive of each other at the end of the day.
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 friends over the years. Grace eventually learns to look past Karen's faults, and Karen occasionally does stop ridiculing her or being outrageous to reveal a softer, more caring side. In one episode, Grace stands up to Milo [ played by Andy Garcia ] who refuses to go on a second date with Karen, who was going through a divorce with her husband Stan and very vulnerable at the time. In another instance, Karen seemingly turns down Grace's proposal for a business loan out of mean behavior. But she reveals really does it to protect Grace, who doesn't really have a strong business plan, from being let down.
[edit] 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! Told ya-told ya-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.
[edit] See also
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