Debra Messing:
Dr. Sloan Parker
Perhaps best known to television audiences for her role as Stacey Colbert on the comedy "Ned and Stacey," Debra Messing has also starred in the feature film "A Walk in the Clouds" and appeared on stage in "Collected Stories."
Raised in a quiet community outside of Providence, Rhode Island, Messing had an idyllic upbringing. The daughter of singer Sandy Simons (of the Brooktones, the short-lived, albeit successful group of the late 1950's) and a business executive father, she devoted much of her childhood to musical theater, performing in numerous school productions.
Messing graduated from Brandeis University with a B.A. in theater arts. She spent half of her junior year studying at London's prestigious B.E.S.G.L. (British European Studio Group, London) program which featured dramatic arts teachers recruited from a variety of distinguished institutions. After graduating Summa Cum Laude from Brandeis, Messing was accepted to NYU's Graduate Acting Program where she received her M.F.A.
Messing's additional theater credits include the off-Broadway productions of "The Naked Truth" and "Four Dogs and a Bone," "The Importance of Being Earnest" at Seattle's Intiman Theater and the pre-Broadway workshop of "Angels in America: Perestroika," playing Harper Pitt. Soon after her success off-Broadway, she landed a recurring role on "NYPD Blue," as Gail O'Grady's conniving sister, Dana Abandando.
Most recently, Messing finished filming a co-starring role in Woody Allen's untitled Fall Project and, last year, she starred in "McHale's Navy."
A New Yorker at heart, Messing currently divides her time between New York and Los Angeles. During her free time, she supports such charities as The Gay Men's Health Crisis, AmFAR and Best Friend's Pet Sanctuary.