Debra Messing stars as Laura Diamond on NBC's "The Mysteries of Laura."

Messing is best known for her role on NBC's Emmy Award-winning comedy series "Will & Grace." Messing captivated television audiences worldwide for eight seasons with her comedic brilliance as Grace Adler, an interior designer whose best friend and soul mate is gay. For her work on the popular sitcom, Messing won the 2003 Emmy Award and received five additional Emmy nominations. She earned a total of seven Golden Globe nominations, seven Screen Actors Guild nominations (winning the ensemble award in 2001), two American Comedy Award nominations and one individual People's Choice Award nomination. She also collected TV Guide's Actress of the Year in a Comedy Series honor in 2001.

Most recently, Messing was seen for two seasons (2012-13) on NBC's "Smash," which chronicled the struggles of getting a Broadway production up and running. The drama was executive produced by Steven Spielberg.

After "Will & Grace" ended its lengthy run, Messing starred in USA Network's six-hour television event "The Starter Wife." The miniseries, directed by Jon Avnet and based on Gigi Levangie Grazer's bestselling novel, drew 5.4 million viewers in its two-hour debut on May 31, 2007 to give the cable network its best launch for an original series in three years. It picked up 10 Emmy nominations, including one for Messing. She also received a Golden Globe nomination.

Messing reprised her role in the 2008 "The Starter Wife" series, for which she received another Golden Globe nomination. Previous TV credits include "Jesus," "Prey" and "Ned and Stacey."

Earlier this year, Messing appeared in the Manhattan Theater Club's winter production of "Outside Mullingar," opposite Brian F. O'Byrne. The play, which opened January 23, 2014 and had its final performance March 16, was nominated for a 2014 Tony Award for Best Play.

Messing portrayed Harper Pitt in the pre-Broadway workshop of Tony Kushner's Tony Award-winning play "Angels in America: Perestroika." She then left New York for Seattle to star as Cecily in "The Importance of Being Earnest," and upon her return, was cast as both Mary-Louise Parker's and Polly Draper's understudy in the New York premiere of John Patrick Shanley's critically acclaimed Off-Broadway play "Four Dogs and a Bone." She next went on to co-star in Paul Rudnick's Off-Broadway play "The Naked Truth."

Messing also co-starred with Maria Tucci in the highly acclaimed Off-Broadway production of Donald Margulies' "Collected Stories," which premiered at the Manhattan Theatre Club and was chosen as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.

On the big screen, Messing was last seen in "Nothing Like the Holidays" and "The Women," both of which were released in 2008. Messing's film work also includes two romantic comedies, "The Wedding Date," opposite Dermot Mulroney, and the box office hit "Along Came Polly," with Ben Stiller and Jennifer Aniston. In 2002, she co-starred in Woody Allen's comedy "Hollywood Ending."

Raised in a quiet community outside Providence, Rhode Island, Messing devoted much of her childhood to musical theater, which ignited her interest in the stage. She received her liberal arts education at Brandeis University, where she majored in theater arts. Messing spent half of her junior year studying in London's prestigious BESGL program that featured dramatic arts teachers recruited from distinguished institutions, such as The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, Cambridge University and Oxford University. Upon graduating summa cum laude from Brandeis University, she was accepted into NYU's elite Graduate Acting Program and received her MFA three years later.

During her free time, Messing supports charities such as global health organization PSI, Gay Men's Health Crisis, amFAR, HRC (Human Rights Campaign) and GLAAD, for which she has been honored several times because of the social awareness and tolerance that her participation in "Will & Grace" helped to establish. In 2004, Messing was honored by the Trevor Project at its Annual Cracked Xmas 7 charity event. Messing, along with Megan Mullally, was honored with the Trevor Life Award for her example of acceptance and support of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.

Messing narrated the PSI TV and online documentary special titled "View Change: HIV Prevention - Looking Back and Moving Forward." In 2009, Messing traveled with PSI to Zimbabwe, where she visited their programs in HIV/AIDS prevention and education, safe water and malaria.

In 2010, Messing taped the welcome speech for the XVIII International AIDS Conference, which took place in Vienna.