Issue date: Sept 19, 1999

In this article:
Photo Gallery: Debra Messing
10 things you'll like about the new TV season

'Can you see the color magenta on my face?" Debra Messing says, her hands clasped to her blushing cheeks like Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone. It's early August and the morning paper reports that Messing and her co-stars on TV's Will & Grace -- about a straight woman and a gay man who are best friends -- received matching Porsche Boxsters (about $50,000 each) as thank-you presents from NBC.

While the grandness of the gesture amazed Messing, it also left her rattled. Especially because she'd just returned from Morocco, where she filmed a CBS movie, Jesus (she plays Mary Magdalene; it airs next May), and reveled in the undeveloped culture. There, in the Sahara heat, Messing, 31, and her fiancé, actor-screenwriter Daniel Zelman, explored ancient cities such as Fez. "Complete strangers would invite me home for a feast and I'd be embraced by 50 family members. And when I'd leave, they'd give me a rug! It changed me."

A hit show -- back for a second season starting Tuesday -- and a hot new sports car are far less humbling than such simple kindnesses. With her crown of auburn curls (yes, they're real) and cascading legs, the 5-foot-8 actress brings a whirly edge to New York interior designer Grace Adler that makes her character's name a sort of ironic joke. "I think they've picked up on some Debra-isms," she says of the writers, who don't always make Grace so graceful.

But her co-star, Eric McCormack, credits Messing. "She's like an archeologist of comedy," he says. "She searches for truth and for what's funny more diligently than anyone I've ever seen." And off camera? "Smart, well-spoken, down-to-earth. She comes to work without makeup. She orders McDonald's more than she should. She listens. She is the least flaky actress I know."

That's partly because, though she enjoys a steady paycheck, Messing is wary of star trappings. "I'm still of the mind that I'm this New York theater actress," she says. "It's a shock to find a new love [the show] and not have to worry about paying bills. But there's an inherent conflict in that for me. There's a fear that with the embracing of the material things, somehow you're stepping away from what made you do this to begin with -- that you're losing the purity." Which also explains why she and Zelman have been slow to put down roots in L.A. Though she bought a two-bedroom house in the Hollywood Hills last year, she has yet to own a stick of furniture besides a bed. "When I moved here from New York," she says, "I was living in a studio apartment. So to actually face more than a room is daunting."

Her strong sense of the basics has its roots in Brooklyn, where her parents met in a bowling alley as teens. Her dad worked for a jewelry manufacturer (he's now president of sales), and when she was 3, he moved the family to four pine-filled acres in Rhode Island to give his kids a more secure childhood than his own.

"My parents have always made travel and education a No. 1 priority," she says. "Travel is the best education you can have in life, learning that your life and the world you live in is just a very small part of the world." As a child, Messing went to performing-arts and sailing camps and later she took a teen tour of the United States, Mexico and Canada. And whenever the family visited their relatives in Brooklyn, they caught a Broadway show. "I remember seeing Annie and nearly leaping out of my chair, trying to get onstage," she says. "I told my mother, 'I'm going to be Annie someday.' " When she was 16, she played Annie in high school.

Because she sang and danced from an early age, there was little question Messing would act. But her mother insisted she get an education first, saying, 'I believe in you, but it's a difficult business. You have to be able to support yourself, and education is the only way.' " Messing got her liberal-arts degree from Brandeis University, then a master's of fine arts at NYU.

Perhaps it was her experience on Fox's short-lived Ned and Stacey that keeps Messing from succumbing to a flashier lifestyle. "I know people who came to L.A., made money, paid off debts and started celebrating their financial freedom," she says. "And then the TV show stopped. And they're back on unemployment. Had they been a little more realistic, they wouldn't know what they don't have anymore. None of it lasts."

One conspicuous acquisition: her antique platinum-and-diamond engagement ring. "Daniel threw this big swing-dance birthday party for me and he had the ring on him the whole night. He was going to [ask me] but he didn't because we had too much champagne. He gave it to me the next morning in bed; we were just waking up. I was half asleep and he whispered in my ear asking me. And the ring was in his hand. It was perfect."

Right now, Messing is still learning to enjoy her good fortune while holding onto her artistic purity. "My father called me today and said one of his buyers from New York called and said, 'So what's it like to get a Porsche as a gift?' I was mortified and said, 'How did he know?' And my father said, 'Honey, it was on CNN.' I said, 'That's not news! Kosovo is news!' " She laughs at the notion, then cracks, "But at least now people know I didn't buy it."

Mark Morrison is the West Coast editor of In Style magazine. He last profiled NYPD Blue star Rick Schroder for USA WEEKEND.

10 things you'll like about the new TV season

1. The West Wing
(Debuts Wednesday, 9 p.m. ET, NBC) Real "must-see TV." A smart, lush, intern-free look at life inside the Oval Office. Good actors (Rob Lowe, Martin Sheen) + good writing (Aaron Sorkin) = a big-screen feel.

2. Action
(Thursdays, 9:30 p.m. ET, Fox) This comedy about an an egotistical Hollywood producer -- chock-full of sexual situations and bleeped-out foul language -- is this year's envelope-pusher.

3. Freaks and Geeks
(Debuts Saturday, 8 p.m. ET, NBC) Every season needs a My So-Called Life-ish underdog to root for, and this early-'80s high school charmer is it.

4. Now and Again
(Debuts Friday, 9 p.m. ET, CBS) Conspiracy theorists, this one's for you. The government creates the perfect man and watches what unfolds.

5. Wasteland
(Debuts Oct. 7, 9 p.m. ET, ABC) A drama for Friends fans. Fewer laughs, more tears.

6. Roswell
(Debuts Oct. 6, 9 p.m. ET, WB) If you believe aliens touched down here, you'll be happy to know they're well-dressed -- and wearing make-up.

7. Family Law
(Debuts Monday, 10 p.m. ET, CBS) Husband and wife practice law together. Marriage ends. He takes everything except her fabulous wardrobe. And that's just the pilot.

8. Once and Again
(Debuts Tuesday,10 p.m. ET, ABC) Should have been titled fortysomething.

9. Get Real
(Wednesdays, 9 p.m. ET, Fox) Snarky, know-it-all kids, bickering parents -- and they call TV viewing escapism?

10. Popular
(Debuts Sept. 29, 9 p.m. ET, WB) Exactly why we're glad we're not in high school anymore.

-- Michele Hatty