Will Truman
Encyclopedia
William Pierce "Will" Truman is a fictional character
on the American
sitcom Will & Grace
, portrayed by Eric McCormack
. He is a gay
lawyer
who lives in the Upper West Side
of New York City
with his best friend, Grace Adler
.
, Connecticut
, to WASP
parents Marilyn (Blythe Danner
) and George (Sydney Pollack
); he has two brothers, Paul and Sam. Will came out
in 1985, during college, when — after being accused of living in denial by Jack McFarland
, who refused to take it back — he found himself attracted to a poster of Kevin Bacon (he saw this as a sign that his relationship with Grace masked his true sexuality
).
After graduating from Columbia University
and NYU School of Law, he worked for a big-time law firm on track to make partner but decided to quit and start his own practice. This fell through in the show's second season, and he began working for Doucette & Stein, a firm that he worked for until the end of the seventh season. His next job was working for the mysterious Malcolm (Alec Baldwin
), but that came to an end when Malcolm revealed that he was an FBI agent. In the eighth season, Will took a job at the Coalition of Justice, a business providing legal support for people who cannot afford it, though he ultimately returned to Doucette & Stein, having taken back his old job after being offered a partnership by his new boss at the firm, played by Lily Tomlin
.
Will is usually the straight man of the show, being the most calm and down to earth in contrast to Grace's many neurotic tendencies, Jack's camp behavior and Karen's drunken snobbery. He also has a dry sense of humor, often making jokes about the other three characters.
.
Will has had romantic relationships with three women: Grace; his high-school girlfriend Claire (Megyn Price
); and Diane (Mira Sorvino
), the woman with whom he had a one-night stand
after he and Grace broke up. Diane is the only woman with whom Will has ever had sex, and, incidentally, was the only time Diane ever reached orgasm
.
At the beginning of the series, Will's most successful relationship with a man was said to have been with long-term boyfriend Michael (Chris Potter
), whom he was together with from 1989, to November, 1996. In the 2004-2005 season, however, he became involved in a serious relationship with a NYC police officer
named Vince D'Angelo (Bobby Cannavale
). Their relationship was put on hiatus after Vince, who lost two jobs in a row because he couldn't resist trying on gloves while on duty, needed to take some time off from the relationship. Towards the end of the final season (2006), the two reunited after Will's father's death. In the series finale
, it was revealed that he and Vince were raising a son named Ben, who eventually marries Grace and Leo's daughter, Lilah. Thus, by the end of the series, Will and Vince's relationship has been strong for nearly 20 years.
Much of the comedy on the show is at Will's expense. Many of the characters (especially Jack), play off his many unsuccessful relationships between Michael (and sometimes including the failure of that relationship) and Vince. Jack also has a thing for calling Will "fat and bald" (which he clearly isn’t), also claiming in a Season 4 episode that Will is "strange looking" and has an "odd kind of shellacked look" about him. However, on several occasions Jack has confessed his love for Will in different ways.
," and "Key Party." The conflicting nature of the air dates for these episodes puts his birthday somewhere between October and January, although October is the most probable. In two different episodes, Jack has said that Will is a Libra
, which means his birthday is between late September and mid October. It is therefore the most correct to think that Will was born in October.
Although there are a lot of signs that Will is born in 1966, some episodes say different. In a late 2005 episode, Will says that he is 41, which means that would have been born in 1964. But if so, he and Grace wouldn’t have been in college together, due to a 3-year age difference, so it is therefore believed that Will was exaggerating his age. He also says that he came out when he was 19. Will came out in November, 1985, and if he was born in 1964, that wouldn’t be correct. It is therefore believed that Will was born in October, 1966.
) so she could have a baby but Grace didn't want Claire to have a baby with Will because that would have ruined her "B-Plan".
In the final season, Will reunited with Vince and has a son, Ben, who Will fathered through artificial insemination with a young woman who sold her eggs for rent money. Ben only appeared in the series finale in 2006. He was raised by Will and Vince until he went to college and married Grace's daughter, Lila. This reunites Will and Grace. He was played by actor Ben Newmark.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
on the American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
sitcom Will & Grace
Will & Grace
Will & Grace was an American television sitcom that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 21, 1998 to May 18, 2006 for a total of eight seasons. Will & Grace remains the most successful television series with gay principal characters...
, portrayed by Eric McCormack
Eric McCormack
Eric James McCormack is a Canadian American actor, musician, writer and producer. Born in Toronto, he began his acting career performing in school plays at Stephen Leacock Collegiate Institute High School...
. He is a gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
who lives in the Upper West Side
Upper West Side
The Upper West Side is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, New York City, that lies between Central Park and the Hudson River and between West 59th Street and West 125th Street...
of New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
with his best friend, Grace Adler
Grace Adler
Grace Elizabeth Adler-Markus is a fictional character on the American sitcom Will & Grace, portrayed by Debra Messing. She is a Jewish interior designer , living in New York City with her gay best friend Will Truman...
.
Fictional character history
Will was born on October 23, 1966 in BridgeportBridgeport
Bridgeport is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Connecticut.Bridgeport may also refer to:-Places:In Canada:* Bridgeport, Nova ScotiaIn the United States:* Bridgeport, Alabama* Bridgeport, California, in Mono County...
, Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
, to WASP
White Anglo-Saxon Protestant
White Anglo-Saxon Protestant or WASP is an informal term, often derogatory or disparaging, for a closed group of high-status Americans mostly of British Protestant ancestry. The group supposedly wields disproportionate financial and social power. When it appears in writing, it is usually used to...
parents Marilyn (Blythe Danner
Blythe Danner
Blythe Katherine Danner is an American actress. She is the mother of actress Gwyneth Paltrow and director Jake Paltrow.-Early life:...
) and George (Sydney Pollack
Sydney Pollack
Sydney Irwin Pollack was an American film director, producer and actor. Pollack studied with Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City, where he later taught acting...
); he has two brothers, Paul and Sam. Will came out
Coming out
Coming out is a figure of speech for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people's disclosure of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity....
in 1985, during college, when — after being accused of living in denial by Jack McFarland
Jack McFarland
John Philip "Jack" McFarland was a fictional character on the American television sitcom Will & Grace, played by Sean Hayes.-Character personality:...
, who refused to take it back — he found himself attracted to a poster of Kevin Bacon (he saw this as a sign that his relationship with Grace masked his true sexuality
Sexual orientation
Sexual orientation describes a pattern of emotional, romantic, or sexual attractions to the opposite sex, the same sex, both, or neither, and the genders that accompany them. By the convention of organized researchers, these attractions are subsumed under heterosexuality, homosexuality,...
).
After graduating from Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
and NYU School of Law, he worked for a big-time law firm on track to make partner but decided to quit and start his own practice. This fell through in the show's second season, and he began working for Doucette & Stein, a firm that he worked for until the end of the seventh season. His next job was working for the mysterious Malcolm (Alec Baldwin
Alec Baldwin
Alexander Rae "Alec" Baldwin III is an American actor who has appeared on film, stage, and television.Baldwin first gained recognition through television for his work in the soap opera Knots Landing in the role of Joshua Rush. He was a cast member for two seasons before his character was killed off...
), but that came to an end when Malcolm revealed that he was an FBI agent. In the eighth season, Will took a job at the Coalition of Justice, a business providing legal support for people who cannot afford it, though he ultimately returned to Doucette & Stein, having taken back his old job after being offered a partnership by his new boss at the firm, played by Lily Tomlin
Lily Tomlin
Mary Jean "Lily" Tomlin is an American actress, comedienne, writer, and producer. Tomlin has been a major force in American comedy since the late 1960's when she began a career as a stand up comedian and became a featured performer on television's Laugh-in...
.
Will is usually the straight man of the show, being the most calm and down to earth in contrast to Grace's many neurotic tendencies, Jack's camp behavior and Karen's drunken snobbery. He also has a dry sense of humor, often making jokes about the other three characters.
Relationships
Will's relationship with his parents was always prone to issues, particularly his father, who, though outwardly supportive of Will's sexuality, was uncomfortable with his son's sexuality for years. In season eight, the two had a fight in which George confessed he wished Will wasn't gay. A few days later, having not spoken with Will since the fight, George died of a heart attackMyocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
.
Will has had romantic relationships with three women: Grace; his high-school girlfriend Claire (Megyn Price
Megyn Price
Megyn Price is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Claudia Finnerty on the sitcom Grounded for Life and Audrey Bingham on the CBS sitcom Rules of Engagement.- Biography:...
); and Diane (Mira Sorvino
Mira Sorvino
Mira Katherine Sorvino is an American actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Mighty Aphrodite and is also known for her role as Romy White in Romy and Michele's High School Reunion.- Early life :Sorvino was born in Tenafly, New Jersey...
), the woman with whom he had a one-night stand
One-night stand
Originally, a one-night stand was a single theatre performance, usually by a guest performer on tour, as opposed to an ongoing engagement. Today, however, the term is more commonly defined as a single sexual encounter, in which neither participant has any intention or expectation of a relationship...
after he and Grace broke up. Diane is the only woman with whom Will has ever had sex, and, incidentally, was the only time Diane ever reached orgasm
Orgasm
Orgasm is the peak of the plateau phase of the sexual response cycle, characterized by an intense sensation of pleasure...
.
At the beginning of the series, Will's most successful relationship with a man was said to have been with long-term boyfriend Michael (Chris Potter
Chris Potter (actor)
Christopher Jay "Chris" Potter is a Canadian actor, musician and pitchman. He is primarily known for his roles on soap operas and prime-time television. Potter is known for his roles as Peter Caine, on the popular 1990s crime drama, Kung Fu: The Legend Continues, Dr...
), whom he was together with from 1989, to November, 1996. In the 2004-2005 season, however, he became involved in a serious relationship with a NYC police officer
Police officer
A police officer is a warranted employee of a police force...
named Vince D'Angelo (Bobby Cannavale
Bobby Cannavale
Robert M. "Bobby" Cannavale is an American actor known for his leading role as Bobby Caffey in the first two seasons of the television series Third Watch. He also had a recurring role as Officer Vince D'Angelo on the comedy series Will & Grace.-Early life:Cannavale grew up in Union City, New...
). Their relationship was put on hiatus after Vince, who lost two jobs in a row because he couldn't resist trying on gloves while on duty, needed to take some time off from the relationship. Towards the end of the final season (2006), the two reunited after Will's father's death. In the series finale
Series finale
A series finale refers to the last installment of a series with a narrative presented through mediums such as television, film and literature. In many Commonwealth countries, the term final episode is commonly used in regards to a television series...
, it was revealed that he and Vince were raising a son named Ben, who eventually marries Grace and Leo's daughter, Lilah. Thus, by the end of the series, Will and Vince's relationship has been strong for nearly 20 years.
Much of the comedy on the show is at Will's expense. Many of the characters (especially Jack), play off his many unsuccessful relationships between Michael (and sometimes including the failure of that relationship) and Vince. Jack also has a thing for calling Will "fat and bald" (which he clearly isn’t), also claiming in a Season 4 episode that Will is "strange looking" and has an "odd kind of shellacked look" about him. However, on several occasions Jack has confessed his love for Will in different ways.
Birthday and age
Throughout Will's life, every birthday has ended with someone - or everyone - else stealing the limelight. This is the plot of several episodes of the show, including "Will On Ice," "Gypsies, Tramps and WeedGypsies, Tramps and Weed
"Gypsies, Tramps and Weed" is the seventh episode of the third season of the American television series Will & Grace. It was written by Katie Palmer and directed by series producer James Burrows. The episode originally aired on the National Broadcasting Company in the United States on November 16,...
," and "Key Party." The conflicting nature of the air dates for these episodes puts his birthday somewhere between October and January, although October is the most probable. In two different episodes, Jack has said that Will is a Libra
Libra (astrology)
Libra is the seventh astrological sign in the Zodiac, originating from the constellation of Libra. In astrology, Libra is considered a "masculine", positive sign. It is also considered an air sign and is one of four cardinal signs...
, which means his birthday is between late September and mid October. It is therefore the most correct to think that Will was born in October.
Although there are a lot of signs that Will is born in 1966, some episodes say different. In a late 2005 episode, Will says that he is 41, which means that would have been born in 1964. But if so, he and Grace wouldn’t have been in college together, due to a 3-year age difference, so it is therefore believed that Will was exaggerating his age. He also says that he came out when he was 19. Will came out in November, 1985, and if he was born in 1964, that wouldn’t be correct. It is therefore believed that Will was born in October, 1966.
Children
Will almost donated sperm to his high school girlfriend Claire (Megyn PriceMegyn Price
Megyn Price is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Claudia Finnerty on the sitcom Grounded for Life and Audrey Bingham on the CBS sitcom Rules of Engagement.- Biography:...
) so she could have a baby but Grace didn't want Claire to have a baby with Will because that would have ruined her "B-Plan".
In the final season, Will reunited with Vince and has a son, Ben, who Will fathered through artificial insemination with a young woman who sold her eggs for rent money. Ben only appeared in the series finale in 2006. He was raised by Will and Vince until he went to college and married Grace's daughter, Lila. This reunites Will and Grace. He was played by actor Ben Newmark.