69 Fun Facts About Will & Grace

What is Will Truman's profession?

Lawyer. When Grace sues her client Ben Doucette, Will takes her case, and Doucette answers by hiring him for his own firm, then admits he meant to pay her all along.

What does Grace Adler do for a living?

Interior designer. Her firm, Grace Adler Designs, has an assistant far richer than its owner: Karen is a millionaire's wife who has no need of the job.

Where is Will & Grace set?

New York. Grace's studio is in the Puck Building, a real SoHo landmark seen in exterior shots, yet the show itself was taped before an audience in Los Angeles.

Who created Will & Grace?

Max Mutchnick and David Kohan. The pair stepped back from writing the show after its fourth season, then returned to script both its 2006 finale and the 2017 episode that undid it.

Who plays Karen Walker?

Megan Mullally. She first read for Grace and was reluctant to try for Karen, thinking the part too close to Christine Baranski's role on Cybill; it went on to win her two Emmys.

Who plays Jack McFarland?

Sean Hayes. He liked the script but threw it away rather than pay for a flight from the Sundance festival to the audition, and only read for Jack later.

In a flashback to 1985, which actor's poster helps Will realise he is gay?

Kevin Bacon. Will is trying to get through a make-out session with Grace when he fixes on the star's poster; Jack had already told him he was in denial.

Why is Karen's husband Stan sent to prison in season four?

Tax evasion. Stan's sentence leaves Karen alone for a season, and it is in the prison cafeteria that he starts the affair that later breaks up the marriage.

What is the name of Karen's maid?

Rosario. In a flashback to 1985, Karen finds her selling cigarettes in a nightclub and takes her on as her maid, and the two have swapped insults ever since.

Why does Jack briefly marry Karen's maid?

So she can get a green card. Karen arranges the wedding to keep her maid in the country, and the couple divorce about a season later but stay close.

Which gay icon does Jack idolize above all others?

Cher. Jack carries a prized doll of her, yet when the real Cher walks up to his table he takes her for a drag queen, and only a slap convinces him.

What is the first of the one-man shows McFarland stages to showcase his talents?

Just Jack. He launches his singing career with it in season one and keeps coming back with Jack 2000, Jack 2001 and Jack 2002, none of them more than a marginal success.

Who plays Grace's meddling mother, Bobbi Adler?

Debbie Reynolds. She died in 2016, months before the revival began, so the show wrote in Bobbi's death and gave her a tribute episode built around her last birthday wish.

Which actress plays Will's mother, Marilyn Truman?

Blythe Danner. Her Marilyn treats her Lladro figurines like children and finds Les Miserables unrealistic because, she says, poor people never sing that much.

Which Oscar-winning director plays Will's father, George Truman?

Sydney Pollack. His George is a devoted father who still cannot bring himself to tell his colleagues that his son is gay, a secret Will stumbles on.

Which singer plays Leo Markus, the doctor Grace marries in season five?

Harry Connick Jr. His Leo meets Grace as she heads to a clinic to be inseminated with Will's baby, takes her there himself, and is dating her once the baby plan falls through.

Where is Leo working when he cheats on Grace, ending their marriage?

Cambodia, with Doctors Without Borders. Leo comes home and confesses a one-night stand with another doctor there, and Grace divorces him and moves back in with Will.

Who plays Vince D'Angelo, the police officer who becomes Will's boyfriend?

Bobby Cannavale. His Vince pulls Karen over for speeding, Will fights the ticket in court, and the two men leave the hearing as a couple; the part won him an Emmy.

Which diminutive actor plays Karen's wealthy Southern frenemy?

Leslie Jordan. He won the 2006 guest-actor Emmy for the part, a pint-sized rival who likes to appear from nowhere with a drawled 'Well, well, well' before the insults start.

Who plays Elliot, the son Jack discovers he fathered through a sperm donation?

Michael Angarano. Jack donated at 17 and thought no more of it until the teenage Elliot turned up to introduce himself; reluctant at first, Jack becomes a devoted dad.

Who plays Bonnie, Elliot's mother?

Rosie O'Donnell. Her Bonnie was a nurse at the clinic where Jack donated; she tries to keep him away from their son, then admits she has not yet told the boy that she is gay herself.

Which Monty Python member plays Lyle Finster, Karen's husband for about 20 minutes?

John Cleese. His Lyle is the father of the woman who stole Karen's husband, so for the few minutes the marriage lasts her bitterest rival is also her stepdaughter.

Who plays Lorraine Finster, the cafeteria worker Stan has an affair with?

Minnie Driver. Her Lorraine serves meals in the jail where Karen's husband is doing time, and he keeps seeing her after his release until the marriage breaks up.

Which Bob Newhart Show alumna plays Karen's con-artist mother, Lois?

Suzanne Pleshette. Her Lois is a grifter who roped the young Karen into her cons, which kept mother and daughter apart for years until Jack brought them back together.

Which Cheers star plays Nathan, Grace's neighbor and boyfriend?

Woody Harrelson. His Nathan blurts out a proposal in bed, Grace is offended, and when she comes round and proposes to him herself he turns her down and ends it.

Which actor plays Noah Broader, the 'West Side Curmudgeon' Grace dates in season ten?

David Schwimmer. His Noah is a grouch whose tweets Grace already follows when she runs into him in person; by the season's end Will worries she is the only one compromising, and the romance is over.

Which actor plays Malcolm Widmark, the government agent who helps Stan fake his death?

He and Karen turn out to have an annual rendezvous in the revival.

Which alias does Karen use when she doesn't want to be recognised?

Anastasia Beaverhausen. Karen falls back on the name whenever she would rather stay anonymous, and it is as Anastasia that she lets a rich bachelor court her while her husband is in jail.

What is Karen's maiden name?

Delaney. Her sister Gin, played by Bernadette Peters, turns up in season eight still blaming Karen for a childhood game of Twister that left her with a bad leg.

In which city does Karen marry Lyle Finster, then end it within the hour?

Las Vegas. Lyle talks Karen out of a big autumn wedding in favour of a quick one in Nevada, and about twenty minutes after the vows she decides she has compromised enough.

Where was Grace born?

Schenectady, New York. Her mother Bobbi is a star of the amateur stage there, taking the leads in gender-swapped shows such as 'Death of a Salesperson' and 'Queen Lear'.

At which university did Will and Grace meet?

Columbia. They dated there as students until Will came out, then avoided each other for a year before a chance meeting in a supermarket made them friends for good.

Who played Grace's father, Martin Adler, before Robert Klein took the part in the revival?

Alan Arkin. He was unable to return for the revival, so the part went to Robert Klein, who had already played Debra Messing's father on The Mysteries of Laura.

Which future Mad Men star played Will's estranged brother Sam in season one?

John Slattery. His Sam cut Will off for years over a remark about the woman he was marrying, and it takes Grace to bring the brothers back together; Steven Weber played him in season eight.

How did the 2017 Will & Grace revival explain away the events of the 2006 finale?

Karen had dreamed it. She comes round in Will's apartment in the opening scene, and the others have to tell her that none of what she remembers of the past eleven years took place.

In Will & Grace's original 2006 finale, whose children grow up to marry each other?

Will's son and Grace's daughter. Will and Grace fall out and lose touch for years, until their children meet while moving into a college dorm, just as their parents once did.

Whose money does Jack inherit in Will & Grace's 2006 finale, making him rich?

Beverley Leslie's. Jack has taken up with him only to keep Karen in luxury after she goes broke, and when a gust of wind blows Beverley off his balcony the fortune passes to Jack.

What prompted NBC to revive the series in 2017?

An online election sketch. The cast reunited in secret in September 2016 for a ten-minute scene urging people to vote, and NBC began talks about new episodes straight after the shoot.

Which classic sitcom does Will & Grace's final season recreate?

I Love Lucy. In the eleventh and last season Grace, Karen and Jack each imagine being Lucy to Will's Ricky, and Lucille Ball's daughter, Lucie Arnaz, turns up as the boss in the candy factory scene.

Which film star plays Will & Grace's photographer, Fannie Lieber?

Glenn Close. Will wins the photo session at a charity auction and brings Grace along as his family; her Emmy nomination for the part was one of 96 the show collected, 18 of them wins.

Which actor won a lead-actor Emmy in 2001 for playing Will Truman?

Eric McCormack. He is straight, and a rival for the part, John Barrowman, says he was turned down for not seeming gay enough; the show itself had won Outstanding Comedy Series a year earlier.

In the Will & Grace pilot, what does Grace do after Will says her fiance is wrong for her?

Leaves him at the altar. She storms off to City Hall to marry Danny anyway, then turns up at her office still in the wedding dress, and she and Will end the night in a bar.

Which sitcom legend directed the pilot and virtually every episode of Will & Grace?

James Burrows. The Cheers co-creator read the pilot script, liked it at once and asked to direct it, then stayed to direct the whole of the original eight seasons himself.

Which sitcom's cancellation the previous season left NBC nervous about launching Will & Grace?

Ellen. ABC dropped it in 1998, a year after its star came out on screen and its ratings slid; Will & Grace reached the air that September all the same.

Which show's mass wedding do Grace and Leo join on impulse?

Today. Katie Couric is presenting the segment when the couple wander past and Leo proposes on the spot; the ceremony turns out not to be legal, so they have to marry all over again.

Which Saturday Night Live star plays Val, Will and Grace's unstable upstairs neighbor?

Molly Shannon. Her Val starts out as Will's new friend, turns into Grace's rival, and at one point is found uninvited in Jack's bedroom.

Before Will & Grace, Karen's actress auditioned for which famous sitcom role?

Elaine Benes on Seinfeld. She was one of several actresses tested for the part that went to Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and she turned up on Seinfeld anyway, as a guest star.

Jack's actor won a Tony Award in 2023 for playing which pianist and wit on Broadway?

Oscar Levant. The play, Good Night, Oscar, imagines the troubled virtuoso's 1958 spot on Jack Paar's Tonight Show, and it suited an actor who had trained as a classical pianist.

Which comedian did Jack's actor portray in a 2002 CBS TV film?

Jerry Lewis. Martin and Lewis cast him opposite Jeremy Northam's Dean Martin and follows the duo from struggling club acts to the 1956 split that ended their ten years together.

In which country was the actor who plays Will Truman born?

Canada. Born in Toronto, he spent five seasons at Ontario's Stratford Festival, working up from small parts to leads in Shakespeare, before American television found him.

Which sitcom starred Debra Messing before Will & Grace?

Ned and Stacey. She played Stacey to Thomas Haden Church's Ned, near-strangers posing as man and wife, and among its guest stars was the actress who would later play Karen.

Which NBC musical drama did Debra Messing star in from 2012?

Smash. She played Julia Houston, a lyricist writing a Marilyn Monroe musical, and the series itself later reached the stage: a musical Smash opened on Broadway in 2025.

Which Hollywood leading man plays Gavin Hatch, a detective who invents a crime to spend time with Will?

Michael Douglas. His newly out detective tells Will that a gay laptop-theft ring is at work and takes him undercover to a club, all to get a date; the turn earned an Emmy nomination.

Will & Grace slid out of the top 20 the season after which NBC Thursday hit ended?

Friends. After it bowed out in May 2004, Will & Grace shed viewers, and many came back only for its own 2006 farewell, its best audience since that spring.

On Will & Grace, which film star plays Owen, a straight man posing as gay to join a chorus?

Matt Damon. Jack is sure his rival for the last chorus place is straight and sends Grace to seduce him as proof, but the director picks Owen anyway.

Which medical show do Will and Grace bond over again at the end of the 2006 finale?

ER. Will and Grace fall out for years in the episode, and peace finds them back on the phone watching the hospital drama, just as the pilot began; 18.4 million tuned in, the show's best audience in two years.

Which music superstar plays himself on Will & Grace as the head of the feared 'gay mafia'?

Elton John. Jack goes about in disguise, sure the gay mafia is after him for throwing someone out of his acting class, and Will then meets the man at the top in a restaurant.

Which US vice president said Will & Grace 'did more to educate the American public' on LGBT issues than almost anything?

Joe Biden. He said it on Meet the Press in May 2012 while backing same-sex marriage, which put him ahead of the White House: President Obama had planned to announce his own shift later.

Which institution added Will & Grace scripts, props and set decor to its collection in 2014?

The Smithsonian. Its American history museum took scripts and props including a pill bottle and a flask, and one of the show's creators said it now felt part of something bigger than they had imagined.

Which gay TV network does Jack work for in seasons seven and eight?

OutTV first hired Jack for a job behind the camera, then handed him a show of his own to host; it was gone once he refused to toe the line of the channel's new conservative owners.

For which two pop stars does McFarland work as a backup dancer?

Jennifer Lopez and Janet Jackson both hire him: he fills in when one of Lopez's dancers is hurt at Karen's wedding, and after Lopez fires him she lines up the job with Jackson.

Which Mel Brooks movie star won an Emmy as Mr. Stein, Will's eccentric boss?

Gene Wilder's Mr. Stein leans on Will to get through the working day and repays him with such open favouritism that the rest of the office turns against Will; it was the actor's last screen role.

What is the name of Jack's pet parrot in the early seasons?

Guapo once flew out of a window Karen had opened; when he came back, Jack hid him in a closet so that her guilty gift-buying would carry on.

Which Central American country is Karen's sharp-tongued maid from?

El Salvador sent Karen far more than a maid: by her own account she is a former schoolteacher who studied clinical psychology at the University of Texas.

Despite 30 nominations, Will & Grace never won which award?

A Golden Globe is the one big prize that got away: the show lost on all 30 nominations, even though every one of its leads took home an Emmy.

Which standard do Jack and Karen sing as a duet in Will & Grace's 2006 finale?

Unforgettable is their last number: the finale's flash-forward finds Karen and a newly rich Jack still sharing a home years later, champagne in hand.

By its star's account, why was the planned Broadway show Karen: The Musical cancelled?

Rights to the character were withdrawn 'at the last second', the actress said in 2013: they were, she added, 'very unceremoniously stripped from me' by people she would not name.

What is the name of the show Jack fronts as host on a gay cable channel in the later seasons?

Jack Talk kept its name until conservative new owners rebranded it Talk Time USA and began steering what went on air; its host refused to play along, and that ended his run.

Which actor plays Ben Doucette, the hard-nosed boss who hires Will and dates Grace?

Gregory Hines's Ben Doucette first refuses to pay Grace for her work, then offers Will a job and reveals that the whole dispute was a test of his character.