Supporting characters on Will & Grace

This is a list of the supporting - major and minor recurring - characters on the NBC situation comedy Will & Grace, with information on each of them.

Supporting Characters

Family Members

Grace's Family

• Bobbi Adler, Grace's mother, played by Debbie Reynolds. Bobbi is an actress and singer, although her performances are generally with the Schenectady Players, changing gender roles, in plays such as Death of a Salesperson, The Music Person and Queen Lear. She has a constant desire to meddle in the lovelives of her daughters, is the creator of the Adler family "Told you so" dance, and can always be relied upon to have a song for every occasion. She has, in the past, shown perfect willingness for Will and Grace to get married, despite their sexuality differences.
• Martin Adler, Grace's father, played by Alan Arkin. Portrayed by his family as the stereotypical Jewish patriarch, Martin shows genuine affection for Grace, although remarks he has made suggest Joyce is his favorite. Has been known to pinpoint Grace's flaws without looking up from his Kojak and Baretta reruns.
• Janet Adler, Grace's older sister, played by Geena Davis. Janet lives in a van and designs jewelery. Her nickname for Grace is "smudge."
• Joyce Adler, Grace's younger sister, played by Sara Rue. It is suggested that she is mentally slow and that she was formally a binge eater.

Will's Family

• Marilyn Truman, Will's mother, played by Blythe Danner. A typical WASP, Marilyn regularly drinks, collects Lladro statues and treats them as if they were her children, and put up with her husband's regular affairs until their ultimate separation. She is not a fan of musical theater - once claiming that Les Misérables was unrealistic because "poor people don't sing that much" - but was impressed with Mamma Mia!.
• George Truman, Will's father, played by Sydney Pollack. He had trouble dealing with telling others of his son's sexuality, initially telling his friends Will was married to Grace.
• Sam Truman, Will's brother, played by John Slattery. He had a falling-out with Will over comments Will made about his wife, but reconciled after he had a one-night stand with Grace.
• Paul Truman, Will's brother, played by Jon Tenney. Paul has never really come to terms with his brother's sexuality. His wife, Peggy is played by Helen Slater.
• Tina, played by Lesley Ann Warren. George's mistress, she ultimately began a relationship with him after he separated from Marilyn, but was ultimately dismayed to learn that George was then seeing his ex-wife behind Tina's back.

Karen's Family

• Stan Walker, Karen's third husband, an unseen character. An obese man, Stan has worn a toupee since his teens. Stan has two children from a previous marriage to a woman named Kathy. Jailed for tax evasion in season four, Stan began an affair with a cafeteria worker named Lorraine and - after his release in season five - continued the affair, ultimately separating from Karen because of it. He died at the end of season five, but at the end of season seven he revealed himself to Will. He had faked his death and was hiding out with the aid of the government. Stan's popularity with fast food establishments led to Pizza Hut taking out a full-page ad in the New York Times to congratulate him on his release from prison; Taco Bell also did a flyover at his funeral.
• Mason Walker, Stan's son, another unseen character. He is known to Karen as "the fat one".
• Olivia Walker, Stan's daughter, played by Hallee Hirsh. Although she has had fun times with Karen, such as sticking food to the floor to see how long Mason will spend trying to eat it, she also has problems with her stepmother.
• Lois Whitley, Karen's mother, played by Suzanne Pleshette. A con artist who used Karen in her early schemes.

Jack's Family

• Judith McFarland, Jack's mother, played by Veronica Cartwright. Despite the obvious clues, Judith did not learn about Jack's sexuality until he was 30.
• Daniel McFarland, Jack's stepfather, played by Beau Bridges. Daniel always had trouble relating to Jack, due to his athleticism and Jack's lack thereof.
• Elliot, Jack's son, played by Michael Angarano. Shortly after learning of his biological father's death, Jack met Elliot - his biological son created from sperm Jack donated at age 17.
• Bonnie, Elliot's mother, played by Rosie O'Donnell. A lesbian, Bonnie was at first not happy with Jack taking a role in Elliot's life, until she told him the truth about herself: she's lesbian.

Friends

• Rob & Ellen, Will & Grace's close friends, played by Tom Gallop and Leigh-Allyn Baker. Ellen and Grace were best friends since college, as were Rob and Will, and the two couples have regularly played charades and other games during dinner parties. Grace, however, also slept with Rob in college, a fact that didn't come up until Rob & Ellen's wedding. The couple, however, did get married and have since had three children, the youngest named Roman (which is the name of Debra Messing's real-life son, born in 2004).
• Joe & Larry, Will & Grace's close friends, played by Jerry Levine and Tim Bagley. A gay couple, once party animals, Joe and Larry adopted a baby girl Hannah in season three.
• Val Bassett, a neighbour of Will & Grace, played by Molly Shannon. Slightly crazy and definitely alcoholic, Val originally befriended only Will, until Grace eventually discovered common interests with her. Both of them still consider her crazy, however.
• Beverley Leslie, a rival of Karen's, played by Leslie Jordan. A diminuitive social butterfly, the incredibly campy Beverley has been married for years and maintains a firm homophobic stance despite his own obvious sexuality. He once tried to steal Rosario away from Karen's employ, and delights in trying to make a public spectacle of Karen, just as much as she delights in doing the same to him. She even once broadcasted a statement attesting to his homosexuality over a loud-speaker system. After he demanded a public apology, she instead tricked him into screaming "I am a homosexual!" at a public function.

Love Interests

• Nathan, played by Woody Harrelson. Grace's neighbour in season 3 became her boyfriend but they ultimately broke up.
• Barry, played by Dan Futterman. Karen set up her hopeless cousin Barry with Will shortly after he came out. Will and Jack soon undertook a Pygmalion-esque attempt at turning Barry into a gay man, ending when Will fell for Barry.
• Dr. Marvin "Leo" Markus, played by Harry Connick, Jr.. A Jewish doctor who met Grace when she ran into a lamppost, Leo soon charmed even Will, and ended up proposing to - and marrying - Grace. A supporter of Doctors Without Borders, Leo was rarely in the country and ultimately had a one-night stand in Cambodia that led to the demise of their marriage.
• Lyle Finster, played by John Cleese. The father of Stan's mistress oddly became Karen's fourth husband...for about twenty minutes until the couple realised how little they had in common outside of the bedroom.
• Vince D'Angelo, played by Bobby Cannavale. A police officer, but not a very good one, Vince met Will when the two went up against each other in traffic court over a ticket given to Karen. Vince was friends with Joe & Larry, and was Will's first long-term relationship in the series' run. They ultimately broke up after Vince lost several jobs in a row and needed some time alone.
• Stuart Lamarck, played by Dave Foley. A client of Will's who becomes Jack's longest relationship, until Jack cheats on him.
• Nick, played by Edward Burns. A greeting-card writer who falls for Grace when he meets her one Valentine's Day.
• Scott Woolley, played by Jeff Goldblum. The man who lost to Karen for School Body President, and has spent his life hatching schemes to ruin her. Sadly, his schemes are often poorly thought out and eventually Grace realises that he doesn't hate Karen, he loves her. However his attempts to woo her are as misguided as his previous ones. Woolley also has a horrible sense of word-play (i.e. Scotty Mammoth, Beam me up, Woolley.)
• Lionel Banks, played by Rip Torn. A bachelor who falls for Karen, under her alias Anastasia Beaverhausen, while Stan is in jail, and tempts her into having an affair.
• Tom Cassidy, played by Eric Stoltz. An old friend of Grace's, now married, who she reunites with in the season seven finale.
• Diane, played by Mira Sorvino. One of the three women Will has ever dated, the only one he ever slept with (although he left before she woke up the next morning).
• Claire, played by Megyn Price. One of the three women Will has ever dated. (The third being Grace)

Other Supporting Characters

• Harlin Polk, played by Gary Grubbs. A major client of Will's in season one, who ultimately fires him.
• Ben Doucette, played by Gregory Hines. The partner at Will's firm, he also dates Grace at one point, before eventually leaving her and the company.
• Mrs. Freeman, played by Jo Marie Payton. An executive assistant at Doucette & Stein, her most common phrase is "Mm-hmm."
• Zandra, played by Eileen Brennan. Jack's acting coach, a former Hollywood star. After Jack takes over her class, Zandra loses her interest in life and ends up in an actor's retirement village.
• Mr. Stein, played by Gene Wilder. The senior partner at Will's firm, an eccentric rarely seen man who takes a liking to Will.
• Darlene, played by Parker Posey. Jack's boss during his brief tenure at Barneys.
• Lorraine Finster, played by Minnie Driver. Stan's mistress, a cafeteria worker who instantly forms a hatred of Karen.
• Mr. Zamir, played by Marshall Manesh. A tenant in Will & Grace's building with a tendency to take off his shirt.
• Benjy, played by Brian Setzer. Beverley Leslie's assistant and toyboy.
• Joanne, played by Emily Rutherford. A student of Zandra's acting class, who becomes a devoted follower of Jack and his "McFarland method".
• Julius, played by Neil Vipond. Bobbi Adler's close friend and pianist.
• Nurse Sheila, played by Laura Kightlinger. A rather creepy nurse who works at the sperm bank, and thereafter seems to appear whenever Will goes into a hospital.
• Jennifer Lopez, as herself. An old friend of Rosario's from their days in the Bronx, Lopez agreed to sing at Karen's wedding to Lyle, and then took Jack under her wing as a backup dancer. Months later, however, after learning of her dog's death, Lopez received a badly timed song submission from Karen and Jack, leading her to fire the latter from her team.
• Dave, played by Matthew Botuchis. The only straight worker at OutTV, the gay network where Jack works in season seven. Jack, unimpressed with his heterosexuality, refers to Dave as "Elizabeth".
• Tim, played by Mark Harelik. A senior assistant at OutTV.
• Jimmy, played by Sam Pancake. A senior assistant at OutTV.
• Malcolm, played by Alec Baldwin. A suspicious type who assists Stan Walker in faking his death, and leading Will Truman to him.