Debra Messing

Debra Messing is an American actress best known for her role as Grace Adler on the NBC sitcom Will & Grace. She has also starred in the feature films A Walk in the Clouds (1995), The Mothman Prophecies (2002), and The Women (2008).

Born on August 15, 1968 in Brooklyn, New York, Messing is a Leo. Her middle name is Lynn.

Debra Messing – Her Religion

Debra is a follower of Judaism. She was raised in the Jewish faith by her parents and is counted as a prominent member of the New York Jewish community.

Growing up in a Rhode Island small town, Debra saw religious intolerism firsthand.

“We looked different, and people didn’t like us, which was very painful for my parents who grew up in Brooklyn and Queens I remember my mom crying when she went outside the day after Halloween and saw a swastika painted on my grandmother’s car who was visiting. Again, I just remember being confused. I knew something bad had happened and I could tell that being outraged, my mother was scared, so I was scared,” she remembered. (1)

When Debra was struggling to break into show business, it demanded that she make sacrifices in attending Temple for religious ceremonies.

“Hollywood is a one-industry town,” Messing says. “Everything revolves around creating and and profiting off of the newest TV or movie. So if going to Temple conflicts with performing in one of these money-making creations you are not going to Temple. As an actor, if you are lucky to get a role, you act if you are told to act. So if your first day of filming is on Kol Nidre, that means you perform on Kol Nidre .. This fact, this ugly reality of the entertainment business was the greatest source of tension between my father and myself.” (1)

Debra Messing – Her Politics

Debra is leftist in her political beliefs. During the 2016 presidential election Messing strongly supported Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. (2)

Messing isn’t shy with sharing her different political opinions with Hollywood stars who are also vocal Democrats. The Will & Grace star has had a few Twitter arguments with leftie Susan Sarandon, whose public support of 2016 Democratic nominee Bernie Sanders made Debra hot and bothered:

STFU SUSAN. Oh yes, PLEASE let’s give Trump CREDIT. I mean how else are you able to walk out on the street. Convince yourself that that this CATASTROPHE of a President who you said was better that HRC IS NOT ripping children away from parents seeking asylum, holding children https://t.co/UuXLLdahaB

— Debra Messing (@DebraMessing) September 12, 2018

And she has used Twitter numerous times to be critical of Donald Trump, such as this incident:

OMG This makes me physically sick. I didn’t even know what the gesture meant until Trump. https://t.co/HpTdsGRAKu

— Debra Messing (@DebraMessing) September 9, 2018

…or this one…

To our @willandgrace fans—I want you to know that I am ashamed that my network aired this disgusting racist ad. It is the antithesis of everything I personally believe in, and what, I believe, our show is all about. @nbc pic.twitter.com/CLinZKHB47

— Debra Messing (@DebraMessing) November 5, 2018

When asked why she posts about her politics frequently on Twitter, Messing had this to say:

“I feel like, being a public person, it is a privilege to have a platform that is larger than most. I think that there’s a responsibility associated with that privilege. I wanted to start using my platform to support initiatives that were specifically marked toward social justice and reform. There are so many new policies, since this administration has taken over, that have eroded rights, and it is very concerning to me. I follow people who are much, much smarter than I am, and I learn from them, and if I read something that I feel is particularly illuminating, in my opinion, I’ll share it with the hope that it might be interesting to the people who are following me.” (3)

Debra Messing – Her Relationships & Family

Messing was married for 11 years to Daniel Zelman, an actor. They have one son, Roman, born in April 2004. Messing and Zelman separated in late 2011 and their divorce was finalized in March 2016.

Sources:

1: Haaretz

2: Jewish Journal

3: W Magazine

Photo by David Shankbone. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 International License

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