Eric James McCormack (born April 18, 1963[2]) is a Canadian and American actor known for his roles as Will Truman in the NBC sitcom Will & Grace, Grant MacLaren in Netflix's Travelers, and Dr. Daniel Pierce in the TNT crime drama Perception.

He left Ryerson University in 1985 to accept a position with the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, where he spent five years performing in many stage productions.

In addition, he starred as Dr. Daniel Pierce for three seasons of the TNT crime drama Perception, and provided the voice of "Lucky" on The Hub's Pound Puppies.

From 2009 to 2010 he starred as Dr. Max Kershaw, the psychiatrist turned boyfriend of Julia Louis-Dreyfus' title character in The New Adventures of Old Christine.

[15] McCormack moved to Los Angeles and made his US television debut in a 1991 episode of the CBS crime series Top Cops.

[14] In an interview with The Guardian in 2003, he admitted to auditioning "two or three times" for the part of Ross Geller for the situation comedy Friends, which ultimately went to David Schwimmer.

[19] He was cast in the 1997 made-for-television movie Borrowed Hearts, where he portrayed a selfish businessman who learns to love, and in the HBO film Exception to the Rule, in which he played a cheating husband.

[15] Originally, McCormack was scheduled to appear as a series regular in the NBC sitcom Jenny, but was fired after the pilot due to the network cutting his character.

[21] McCormack received his breakthrough role in 1998 when he was cast as gay lawyer Will Truman on the NBC sitcom Will & Grace.

John Carman of the San Francisco Chronicle commented that McCormack and costar Debra Messing (who played Will's best friend Grace Adler) worked "nicely" together.

[25] For the performance, he earned four Emmy Award nominations (2000, 2001, 2003, 2005), one of which resulted in a win (2001), for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series.

Film critic Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times wrote that McCormack and Weigel "both make a strong impression".

[31] In 2000, McCormack appeared in the ABC television movie The Audrey Hepburn Story, portraying actor Mel Ferrer.

[32] During the 2001 Broadway season, McCormack briefly portrayed Professor Harold Hill (replacing Craig Bierko) in the Susan Stroman revival of The Music Man at the Neil Simon Theatre.

[33] In August 2002, as part of the Hollywood Bowl's summer concert series, he reprised the role of Harold Hill for a one-night only appearance in which he and other actors recreated the songs from the production.

[34] McCormack hosted the fourth episode of the 28th season of the sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live on November 2, 2002.

The new show has been branded as a "reboot", or "revival", taking place 11 years after the original series' finale episode, with McCormack reprising his role of Truman.

[42] After Will & Grace ended McCormack starred on the New York stage opposite Fran Drescher, Judy Reyes, Brooke Smith, and Maura Tierney in Neil LaBute's off-Broadway play Some Girl(s) at the Lucille Lortel Theatre.

[45] The series debuted to ambivalent reviews,[46] with Matthew Gilbert of The Boston Globe commenting that Lovespring International is "a lively little cable exercise in over-the-top characters, bad taste, satire, and political incorrectness.

"[51] Robert Bianco of USA Today commented, "The central cast is completed by... poor Eric McCormack as a crusading, coke-addicted journalist who spends the second half of the movie playing Rambo in the desert.

[58] Trust Me debuted to very positive reviews, with Tim Goodman of the San Francisco Chronicle writing that "the series is surprisingly solid.

"[59] Mary McNamara of the Los Angeles Times wrote that McCormack and Cavanagh "manage to keep their characters sharply defined but low-key.

[63] When asked about his interpretation on the character, McCormack commented that his first instinct was to make Ted Lewis more alien, sounding like Spock.

[64][65] In May 2009, he portrayed "El Gallo" in Reprise Theatre Company's revival of the 1960s musical The Fantasticks at UCLA's Freud Playhouse.

On September 30, 2009, he guest-starred on the police procedural drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in the second episode of its 11th season playing an owner of a dating website.

[76] In October 2010, it was reported that he would star in a new TNT television drama, Perception, playing a crime-solving neuroscientist named Dr. Daniel Pierce, who works with the federal government to solve cases using his knowledge and imaginative view of the world.

From March 6 through July 8, 2012, he played the role of Senator Joseph Cantwell in the Broadway revival of Gore Vidal’s The Best Man.

[98] McCormack sang both the American and Canadian national anthems at the 2004 NHL All-Star game in St Paul, Minnesota.