The Cast of 'Will & Grace': Where Are They Now?

Debra Messing as Grace Adler

After picking up smaller roles on a handful of TV series, including Prey, Messing landed the role of the titular Grace, an interior designer, and quickly clicked with costar McCormack.

"I read the script and it was so great," she recalled to PEOPLE in 2006. "Eric and I tested together and immediately made each other laugh." Despite wanting a break after the heaviness of working on Prey, "I said to myself, 'Maybe this can work.' "

It did: she earned five Emmy nominations and one win (in 2003) for her work, in addition to a Screen Actors Guild Award with the whole cast.

Following the series finale, she went on to films including The Wedding Date and Lucky You in addition to series like The Starter Wife, Smash, The Mysteries of Laura and Ned and Stacey, plus two Broadway shows. She joined her Will & Grace costars for the series revival from 2017 to 2020.

Messing, 55, has one child, a son, with ex Daniel Zelman.

Eric McCormack as Will Truman

McCormack had been working steadily in TV and movies for 10 years before taking on the role of lawyer and Grace's bestie and roommate, Will.

"I get a lot of letters from young gay men who consider Will a role model," McCormack — who almost didn't take the role — told PEOPLE in 2000. "I think he is: He's a fully out and proud gay man who at the same time functions in straight society."

McCormack won an Emmy for the part in 2001, and joined his castmates for the 2017 to 2020 revival in addition to hosting a rewatch podcast with Hayes (who had never watched!) in 2023.

Following the series' end, he stayed busy on TV shows including Trust Me and Perception in addition to Broadway productions of The Music Man, The Best Man and The Cottage.

McCormack, 60, has been married to Janet Holden since 1997; together they have one son.

Sean Hayes as Jack McFarland

Like his costars, Hayes had a handful of smaller roles under his belt when he joined Will & Grace as struggling actor and friend to Will, Jack.

"I would say we educated America [about gay issues] without them knowing it and without us really knowing it," Hayes told PEOPLE in 2006. "I am truly honored if I helped raise people's consciousness."

His work earned him a staggering seven consecutive Emmy nominations and one win, in addition to four Screen Actors Guild Awards.

Will & Grace opened the doors to TV and movie roles in Win a Date with Tad Hamilton and Sean Saves the World, plus stage work that won him a 2023 Tony Award for Good Night, Oscar. He also returned for the Will & Grace revival and subsequent rewatch podcast with McCormack.

In 2014, he wed music producer Scott Icenogle. "Took us 8 years but we did it!" the 53-year-old captioned a photo from the day.

Megan Mullally as Karen Walker

Coming off runs on The Ellen Burstyn Show and Rachel Gunn, R.N., in addition to playing Marty in Broadway's Grease, Mullally often stole scenes as the over-the-top Karen, a friend to Jack and assistant to Grace.

She actually first auditioned for the part of Grace; when she didn't land the role, she took some time to come around to the thought of playing Karen.

"We told her she had to come and audition for the network the next morning, and she didn't show up," creator Max Mutchnick told PEOPLE. "We called to ask where she was, and she said, 'I just made eggs. I don't want to leave the house until I've had my eggs.' " Eventually, she showed up and the rest — including her seven consecutive Emmy nominations and two wins — is history.

Like her colleagues, she hasn't slowed down, returning to Broadway in Young Frankenstein and It's Only a Play and starring on endless TV shows, including Party Down, Bob's Burgers, The Great North, Children's Hospital and husband Nick Offerman's show, Parks and Recreation.

She also returned for the Will & Grace revival and earned another Emmy nomination for her work. Next up, the 64-year-old features in the starry Dicks: The Musical.

Harry Connick Jr. as Leo Markus

Connick Jr. was already an established star — see Hope Floats, My Dog Skip or any of his musical albums — before he joined the cast in 2002 as Grace's eventual husband, Dr. Leo Markus.

"The magic of the first [run] was a result of an enormous amount of variables: the director, the cast, the writers, the set," he recalled in a 2018 interview with Fox 5. "It's the best writing on TV."

Following the series, he joined the judging panel on American Idol alongside Keith Urban and Jennifer Lopez, and launched an eponymous daytime talk show in 2016.

The 56-year-old has continued making music in the years since, in addition to making an appearance on the Will & Grace revival and playing Daddy Warbucks in 2021's Annie Live! Like his costars, he's spent time on Broadway, earning Tony nominations for The Pajama Game and Thou Shalt Not.

He and wife Jill Goodacre, who have three daughters together, have been married for almost 30 years.

Bobby Cannavale as Vince D'Angelo

Cannavale joined the cast in 2004, after wrapping runs on Third Watch and Trinity, stepping in as police officer Vince, Will's on-again, off-again love interest.

In a late 2022 interview with Seth Meyers, Cannavale said he's still stopped on the street by fans who want to talk Will & Grace; he also won an Emmy for his role.

He's appeared on everything from Boardwalk Empire (for which he won another Emmy) and Sex and the City to more recent miniseries including Nine Perfect Strangers and The Watcher. He's also starred in five Broadway plays, earning Tony nominations for two: Mauritius and The Motherf---er with the Hat.

Cannavale, 53, has been with actress Rose Byrne since 2012; together they have two young sons. He also has an adult son, Jake, from a previous relationship.

Shelley Morrison as Rosario Salazar

Morrison had a lengthy television career — notably on The Flying Nun — prior to Will & Grace, on which she played Karen's beleaguered but hilarious housekeeper, Rosario.

"Everybody in Hollywood wanted to be on that show because it said something," Morrison said in a 2013 interview with ET. "It was lightning in a bottle. And we all had each other's back."

Outside of lending her voice to Handy Manny, she didn't act much following Will & Grace, and retired prior to the series' revival.

Morrison died on Dec. 1, 2019, at 83 years old.

“Shelley’s greatest pride as an actress was in playing the indomitable Rosario, in a comedy series that furthered the cause of social equity and fairness for LGBTQ people," her longtime husband Walter Dominguez said in a statement when sharing the news of her death. "She also took pride in portraying a strong, loving yet feisty Latina character. She believed that the best way to change hearts and minds was through comedy."

Leslie Jordan as Beverley Leslie

Jordan, too, had been working in television for years on series including Bodies of Evidence, Hearts Afire and Reasonable Doubts before signing on to Will & Grace in 2001 as Karen's devious rival.

"They didn’t even audition me," he recalled to Today in 2022. "They go, ‘Yep. That's it. You're it.' "

He won an Emmy for his guest role, and came back for a few episodes of the revival, also picking up parts on American Horror Story, The Cool Kids and Call Me Kat. He found a new following amid the COVID-19 pandemic for his hilarious Instagram posts, too.

In October 2022, Jordan died in a car crash in Hollywood after an apparent medical emergency. He was 67 years old.