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Background:
“I can remember before Will & Grace, I would go to the grocery store when I was
all sweaty and gross after step classes, and didn't care at all. Now that would
be tabloid fodder or something.” Megan Mullally.
Three-time SAG (Screen Actors Guild) and two-time Emmy winner Megan Mullally is
widely popular for playing the role of spoiled socialite turned Grace’s personal
assistant Karen Walker on NBC's hit sitcom “Will & Grace” (1998-2006). Adding to
her TV works, Mullally, who debuted as a call girl in Tom Cruise’s vehicle Risky
Business (1983), has appeared in films like Monkeybone (2001), Stealing Harvard
(2002) and Rebound (2005). She will lend her voice in the upcoming animated
comedy Bee Movie, alongside Jerry Seinfeld and Renée Zellweger.
The buxom, petite actress is also a talented singer. She is the lead singer of
an L.A band called The Supreme Music Program and has released two CD's with
them.
“I like to take chances, and that's the key to comedy -- dancing like an idiot
but doing it with wild abandon.” Megan Mullally.
Daddy’s Apple Eye
Childhood and Family:
“I guess I take after my dad; he was always a cut-up around the house.” Megan
Mullally.
The only child of actor Carter Mullally Jr. (a retired contract player at
Paramount in 1950s) and former model Martha Mullallym, Megan Mullally was born
on November 12, 1958 in Los Angeles, California. In 1965, with her father’s
career on the wane, Mullally's parents pulled up roots and moved to Oklahoma
City. There, she attended Casady High School and studied ballet and was a
soloist with Oklahoma City's Ballet Oklahoma. She also spent a few summers
studying at the George Balanchine's School of American Ballet in New York City.
Mullally then studied English and art history at Northwestern University in
Evanston, Illinois, where she met “ER” actress Laura Innes and have been friends
ever since. Mullally later dropped out to pursue acting.
In 1992, Mullally married CBS executive Michael Katcher but they divorced in
1996. September 20, 2003, she married for the second time, to actor Nick
Offerman (born on June 26, 1970). Mullally, an avid reader who loves gardening
and music, currently resides in West Hollywood, California, with her poodles,
Willa and Elmo.
“It doesn't matter who you love, it's that you love.” Megan Mullally.
The Megan Mullally Show
Career:
“I realized that my favorite ballet roles were the ones where I was required to
act. Having a mad scene and then dying on stage was the best part.” Megan
Mullally.
Inheriting acting talent from her actor father, Megan Mullally, who was
initially interested in classical dance, eventually had a desire to act. She
began appearing in student productions and became active in local theater. She
then headed to Chicago and spent six years as a stalwart regular in the city's
blooming theatrical community.
In 1981, Mullally made her TV debut in the CBS movie The Children Nobody Wanted
and won her first film role in 1983, as a call girl in Tom Cruise’s vehicle
Risky Business. Three years later, she relocated to Los Angeles and landed TV
series debut as regular as the divorced daughter of a best-selling author
(played by Ellen Burstyn) in the short-lived ABC sitcom "The Ellen Burstyn Show"
(1986-1987). She then found herself busy appearing as a guest on such popular
shows as "Murder, She Wrote," "China Beach," "Wings," "Seinfeld," "Herman's
Head" and "Batman." She also scored her second co-starring role, as an
overenthusiastic new nurse, on the Fox brief-running sitcom "Rachel Gunn, R.N."
After she lent her voice to Pebbles Flinstone in the ABC animated specials "I
Yabba-Dabba Doo!" and "Hollyrock-a-Bye Baby" (both in 1993), Mullally finally
achieved her long-awaited dream of appearing in Broadway musical when she was
cast as Marty in the 1994 revival of the Tony-nominated "Grease." The next year,
Mullally received applause for playing the demure secretary Rosemary Pilkington
who falls for Matthew Broderick’s J. Pierrepont Finch, in the highly-regarded
1995 revival of the 1961 musical, "How to Succeed in Business Without Really
Trying." She also continued appearing on such popular TV shows as “Frasier,”
“Ned and Stacey” (which starred future “Will & Grace” co-star Debra Messing)
“and Mad About You.”
“A lot of times the funniest characters are those who don’t know that they’ve
got it all wrong. Karen is completely confident that her way is the right way.”
Megan Mullally (on what attracted her to play Karen Walker on “Will & Grace”).
In 1998, Mullally's dedication and focus finally paid off. She nabbed the role
of Karen Walker, a spoiled multi-millionaire who works as Grace’s personal
assistant, on NBC’s popular sitcom “Will & Grace.” Karen was originally meant to
be a supporting character on the show. But since it has emerged as a viewers’
favorite, the character then was made more of a focal point on the show. The
series, also starring Sean Hayes, Debra Messing and Eric McCormack, was a major
ratings success and catapulted Mullally into the spotlight. Mullally, who was
paid $80,000 per episode for the show, has won two Emmys, three Screen Actors
Guild awards and an American Comedy award.
“She was likeable in that she was happy and filled with joy. She was very
childlike and that part of her could pop out at any moment. And although she had
so many despicable behaviors, she never had any ill will towards anyone and was
always trying to do the right thing. So it put a weird spin on her as a
character.” Megan Mullally (on what made Karen such a funny character).
During her “Will & Grace” stint, Mullally could be seen playing the
long-suffering wife to Stanley Tucci in the HBO biopic Winchell (1998) and acted
in the ensemble of Speaking of Sex (2001; premiered at the Chicago Film
Festival). She portrayed Brendan Fraser's self-absorbed sister in Henry Selick's
live-action/animated film Monkeybone (also in 2001; based on Kaja Blackley's
graphic novel "Dark Town"), had a featured role in Bruce McCulloch's crime
comedy Stealing Harvard (2002) and was cast as a junior high principal in Steve
Carr's basketball comedy Rebound (2005; opposite Martin Lawrence). She will
provide her voice in directors Steve Hickner and Simon J. Smith's upcoming
animated comedy Bee Movie, alongside Jerry Seinfeld and Renée Zellweger.
Adding to her acting career, Mullally is also a singer and is the lead singer in
her own group called The Supreme Music Program. With her band, Mullally has
released two critically heralded albums: The Sweetheart Break-In and Big as a
Berry. She has recorded a duet with Carly Simon, on the track “The Right Thing
To Do,” from the “Will & Grace: Let the Music Out!” soundtrack. She also has
sang for M&M's candies ads and the website cheaptickets.com. In Los Angeles in
1999, Mullally showed off her singing talent by opening her own one-woman stage
show, the musical “Sweetheart.”
“Will & Grace” ended in May 2006 and Mullally is set to start hosting a
syndicated talk/variety show called “The Megan Mullally Show.” In the show that
debuts September 18, 2006 on NBC, Mullally will have funnyman Will Ferrell as
her first guess.
Being asked about why she jumped into talk show, Mullally explained: “I loved
talk shows growing up. When I was old enough to stay up that late I use to watch
Johnny Carson and Merv Griffin and variety shows like Carol Burnett and the
Smothers Brothers. Then I sat in for David Letterman and really liked it. I
wasn't nervous at all. Also, it was so satisfying playing the character of Karen
that after eight years I didn't have a real big desire to play another
character. So when NBC-Universal called about doing a talk show, it was an offer
I couldn't refuse.”
Awards:
- Emmy: Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, "Will & Grace,"
2006
- Screen Actors Guild: Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a
Comedy Series, "Will & Grace," 2004
- Screen Actors Guild: Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a
Comedy Series, "Will & Grace," 2003
- Screen Actors Guild: Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a
Comedy Series, "Will & Grace," 2002
- Screen Actors Guild: Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy
Series, "Will & Grace," 2001 (shared with Sean Hayes, Eric McCormack and
Debra Messing)
- American Comedy: Funniest Supporting Female Performer in a TV Series,
"Will & Grace," 2001
- Emmy: Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, "Will & Grace,"
2000
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