Megan Mullally

Megan Mullally is an American actress born on November 12, 1958, in Los Angeles, California. She is best known for playing Karen Walker on the NBC sitcom Will & Grace (1998–2006, 2017–2020). Her performance earned her eight Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, winning in 2000 and 2006. She also received seven consecutive Screen Actors Guild Award nominations for her role, winning three times, as well as four Golden Globe Award nominations.

The only child of Martha and Carter Mullally Jr., a contract actor with Paramount Pictures, Mullally moved to Oklahoma City at age six. She studied ballet from a young age, performing with the Oklahoma City Ballet during high school and attending the School of American Ballet in New York City. After graduating from Casady School, she studied English literature and art history at Northwestern University. While in college, she began performing in Chicago theater productions and eventually left the university to pursue an acting career.

Mullally made her television series debut in 1986 on The Ellen Burstyn Show. Throughout the late 1980s and 1990s, she appeared in guest roles on sitcoms and television series including Seinfeld, Frasier, Wings, Mad About You, and Murder, She Wrote. Her major breakthrough arrived in 1998 when she was cast as Karen Walker in Will & Grace, a character she portrayed throughout its original run and reprised during its three-season revival from 2017 to 2020.

Following Will & Grace, Mullally hosted the syndicated talk show The Megan Mullally Show from 2006 to 2007. She subsequently starred as a series regular on show formats such as In the Motherhood, Party Down, Childrens Hospital, and Breaking In. Her recurring and guest television appearances include playing Tammy Swanson on Parks and Recreation, Dana Hartz on Happy Endings, Aunt Gayle on Bob's Burgers, and Jean on The Umbrella Academy. In film, she has appeared in titles such as Risky Business, Smashed, The Kings of Summer, Why Him?, Lemon, Summering, and Dicks: The Musical.

In addition to screen roles, Mullally has maintained an active career in stage performance and music. She made her Broadway debut in the 1994 revival of Grease, later appearing in Broadway productions of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Young Frankenstein, and It's Only a Play, as well as off-Broadway productions like Annapurna. As a singer, she leads the band Supreme Music Program and formed the musical duo Nancy and Beth, which has toured nationally and internationally. In 2018, she co-authored the New York Times bestseller The Greatest Love Story Ever Told with her husband, actor Nick Offerman.