KAREN WALKER (I luuuuuve her!!lol)
Megan Mullally.
Although she tries to keep her age secret, her good friend Jack McFarland revealed that she was 42 in 2001, meaning she was born in February 1959. She has been married four times ? her first husband's surname was St. Croix, her second was named Popeil (a reference to the American culinary businessman/entrepreneur of the same name), her third was Stan Walker (married since 1995), and she was married for twenty minutes to Lyle Finster (John Cleese) in 2004, although she is still married to Walker (see below), who has two children of his own, Olivia and Mason. Karen also goes under the alias "Anastasia Beaverhausen", and, by her own words, she used the alias Pilar Palabundo to "beat up businessmen for cash in Chinatown". Her real name may not in fact be Karen, as she changes her name from time to time to throw off the "Feds". Her mother refers to her as "Kiki", which was her nickname.
Karen, originally meant to be a supporting character on the show, has emerged as a favorite of viewers and thus made more of a focal point on the show. She was briefly a multi-millionaire thanks to her marriage to obese and extremely wealthy husband Stan Walker until discovering he was broke.
To entertain herself, Karen took a job as personal assistant to Grace Adler (of the show's title). Though she never accomplishes any work (she cannot name a computer or a fax machine), she does not quit because the job gets her "away from Stan and the kids", as she once told an intern. Grace does not fire her because Grace's business benefits from Karen's social contacts; Karen also pays for Grace's health insurance. For a long time, Karen never cashed any of the paychecks she was given because she didn't need to, instead keeping them in a box on her desk because she thought they were "pretty pieces of paper". Once when Stan stopped giving her an allowance, she cashed all her paychecks at once, nearly bankrupting Grace (Karen paid the money back in the end). Karen and Grace became very close over the years and Karen's love/hate relationship with Will even turned to friendship. She also developed a best/romantic friendship with Jack McFarland, an effeminately gay struggling actor.
Karen's popularity on the show grew mostly from her one-liners, zingers, and straight-forwardness. She is an emotionally complex character wrapped in a facade of disinterest for other people's problems, selfishness and greed. Often indulging in pills and booze, Karen makes observations on others with an emotionless and often cruel eye. (For instance, when a pregnant woman glanced at her in a store, she torted "What are you looking at prego?! Boy, I tell you...fat people are so insensitive"; once she said to Jack "Honey, you know what's really funny? Poor people with big dreams.") Compared to the pilot episode, Karen now has a much higher-pitched manner of speaking. She is also known for the excessive use of the word "honey" in her speech and for her "killer rack."
Karen's childhood was a rocky road thanks in part to her unstable relationship with her mother, Lois Whitley (played by Suzanne Pleshette), a con artist who incorporated her young daughter into her schemes. Karen is often cruel to her staff at home, training them to run when she enters a room, and firing someone to make herself feel better. Other times she chews them out, but somehow this comes across as an act of affection.
Karen met Stan Walker in 1985, brushing off three simultaneous relationships (with Martina Navratilova, Sultan Habibi Shoshani Padush Al-Kabir, and a gentleman named Clayton) to be with him only to learn that he was married. After going through two other marriages, she finally got together with Stan ten years later. At some point before this, she also agreed to appear non-naked as the star of the fetishistic porn film, Next to Godliness - a dominatrix flick.
There have been many hints that Karen may have lesbian or bisexual tendencies, as she has little sexual feelings for her husband (although this may be due to his obesity). She occasionally has semi-sexual encounters with Grace (mostly kissing and touching) at work. In one episode, she claimed that "I woke up with red hair on my pillow and lesbian porn in the VCR," after which Grace looks awkward. She also had the abovementioned relationship with Navratilova (who was apparently straight before they met) and was once mocked by a roommate (played by Madonna) for her "weird, creepy bisexual vibe." Also, in a sixth-season episode, Karen said to a lesbian realtor, "Stay back, bulldozer, I'm engaged." To this, the realtor replied, "You were last time, too." In addition, Megan Mullally has expressed her own feelings of bisexuality.
Her relationship with her maid Rosario Salazar, whom she met and hired in 1985 and for whom she even arranged a marriage with Jack to help her get a green card, is very close. Although the duo often bicker and fight, it is only part of the bond they share. In the beginning of the series, it seemed that Rosario didn't speak much English, and Karen had a hard time communicating with her. Karen's way of giving Rosario orders was to add the letter "O" to the end of every word she'd say (example: "Enougho with the April Fresho. *hangs up the phone* Right now she's calling me a bitcho"). In another example of miscommunication, Karen used to end phone calls with Rosario by saying "hola," which means "hello" in Spanish and not "goodbye." When Rosario was first seen on-camera at the end of the first season, it was revealed that she spoke English quite well, and that Karen was being patronizing.
With other staff and help, Karen is deliberately patronizing, referring to them solely by their title both in conversation and to their face: "Driver", "Butler", "Pharmacist", "Back-Up Pharmacist", etc.
Karen's arch rivals include, but are not limited to, Beverley Leslie (played by Leslie Jordan), Candice Bergen (the actress, whom Karen refers to as "Candy"), Marlo Thomas (Karen hates her and her husband, Phil Donahue, who both apparently live in her apartment building), Scott Woolley (until he fell in love with her; played by Jeff Goldblum), and Candace Pruitt (whom Karen refers to as "Candy" Pruitt; played by Christine Ebersole), who once expressed her thoughts that Karen's voice sounded "like someone strangling an old macaw".
Sometimes Karen unintentionally reveals to her friends a softer side that is carefully hidden. In one such incident, Karen's husband has a heart attack and may die. Karen discovers that her friends have placed a bet to see who can get her to cry first, so she elaborately punishes each of them by leading them on to think she might break down in their presence. In the end, she has an actual breakdown over the incident, which Grace stumbles in on and consoles her during.
For the first few seasons of the show, Karen lived with husband Stan Walker. An obese man whose business possibly keeps Taco Bell and Pizza Hut afloat and who has been wearing a toupee since his teens, Stan was an unseen character during the show's run, despite being mentioned in many episodes. His two children, Mason (known to Karen as "the fat one") and Olivia, by Stan's previous wife (described by Karen in one episode as "that bitch Kathy!"), were often in the incompetent care of Karen.
In the fourth season, Stan was jailed for tax evasion and told Karen to date other men. She could not bring herself to do so until she met rich bachelor Lionel (Rip Torn), but just as their affair began Stan was released from jail. However, after Karen caught him with his mistress Lorraine Finster (Minnie Driver) - a cafeteria worker at the prison - the couple separated and Karen moved into a ritzy hotel. After beginning divorce proceedings at the end of the fifth season, Stan died suddenly.
During season six, Karen pursued romantic liaisons and ended up marrying Lyle Finster (John Cleese), Lorraine's father. However, after twenty minutes of marriage - a sudden ceremony in Las Vegas ? she asked for a divorce.
Karen has been the head of Walker, Inc. since her husband's death. However, at the end of season seven, it was revealed that Stan faked his death and had been in hiding. Karen began dating Malcolm (Alec Baldwin), a government agent who had helped Stan do this. However, she ultimately reconciled with Stan, and Malcolm left on a government mission to Sri Lanka. Later in the eighth season, however, Karen and Stan experienced significant marriage difficulties. They finally chose to divorce, only for Karen to learn - in the show's series finale - that his money was borrowed, and she was broke.
Karen then pressured Jack into a relationship with Beverly Leslie, who was wealthy enough to support Jack and in turn keep Karen in the lifestyle to which she was accustomed. Conveniently, the diminutive Leslie left his millions to Jack before being swept off a high balcony by a strong gust of wind. Jack then became the 'sugar daddy' in his relationship with Karen, which has otherwise not changed. The series finale showed that - for at least twenty years later - Karen lived with Rosario and Jack in a happy relationship reminiscent of their old days and, thanks to plastic surgery, she had also not aged a day.
JACK McFARLAND
Sean Hayes.
A "campy" gay man, Jack has always had a passion for acting and the theater, although many people doubt his abilities in this area. Very whimsical, he changes careers rapidly from Banana Republic and Barneys New York salesman to acting teacher to student nurse (which may be a nod to Scrubs, which Sean also guest-starred in) to surfer to back-up dancer for Jennifer Lopez and Janet Jackson. Although he considers all his relationships serious, only one lasted longer than a few weeks (with Stuart, a client of Will's played by Dave Foley), and even that one ended with Jack's cheating.
Jack is unashamedly vain and self-absorbed, with an adoration of all gay icons, particularly Cher, of whom he has a rare doll. (He met her once, although he mistook her for a drag queen and declared, "You're not that great, Mr. Sister. I do a better Cher than you." It was only when she slapped him and exclaimed "Snap out of it!" that he realized and promptly fainted.) He also collects clippings of celebrities' hair, including a complete collection from the four main actresses on The Golden Girls, as well as Bernadette Peters and ? as of season seven ? Patti LuPone. He is also decidedly hyperactive and air-headed, causing Will to once refer to him as "Jumping Ferret Jack," and another time thinking that he had set Will and himself up on dates with twins, but soon realizing it was just one guy taking his glasses on and off.
Jack was raised by his mother Judith (Veronica Cartwright) and stepfather Daniel (Beau Bridges). His mother did not know he was gay ("How could she not know? What is she, headless?" Karen demanded), and his stepfather was not close to him. He claims to have come out as early as preschool. While he was in high school, Jack befriended college student Will Truman (Eric McCormack) and helped Will realize his own homosexuality. They have been best friends ever since.
When the series begins, Jack is homeless and moving in with Will, but when Will takes in his other best friend Grace Adler (Debra Messing), Jack agrees to sublet Grace's apartment ? although Will, Karen, and his mother pay the rent. (In "Moveable Feast Part 1," it emerged that each of the three pays one half of the cost, meaning that Jack is actually collecting one and a half times the actual amount of his rent.)
Since the first season, Jack has established a close bond with alcoholic socialite Karen Walker (Megan Mullally), who chooses to work merely as a source of distraction. At the end of season one, Jack agrees to marry Karen's maid Rosario (Shelley Morrison) in order to secure her green card. After a year together, the marriage is annulled when Rosario wants to date Karen's gardener.
In season three, Jack undertakes a search for his real father, which ends when he discovers that his father died. Jack does, however, meet Elliot (Michael Angarano), his own biological son, whom he fathered by depositing at a sperm bank as a teenager so that he could buy a coat. He later discovers that the boy's mother Bonnie (Rosie O'Donnell) is a lesbian; she was a nurse at the sperm bank who stole Jack's deposit and was inseminated with it.
Jack's most consistent vocation results from his taking over the class of his acting teacher Zandra (Eileen Brennan) after she is fed up with his lack of talent. After taking everyone's money and leaving, another student takes over the class and begins teaching the "McFarland method" ("acting is attracting") without Jack's knowledge. He trains to be a student nurse, but ultimately gives it up when, during Karen's fourth wedding, he meets Jennifer Lopez and becomes her back-up dancer (and, for a short time, Janet Jackson's back-up dancer), a career that fizzles as well.
In the seventh season, Jack embarks on a proper career as a producer on OutTV, a new gay television network. By season's end, his profile rises to the point that he is given a talk show of his own to host.
In season eight, Jack loses his job at the network after he speaks out against the new right-wing ownership of the show, which has given him a conservative cohost named Amber Louise (played by Britney Spears). Shortly after this, he auditions for a role on a television show and - going against his natural over-dramatic acting style - he ends up getting the lead role of Chuck Rafferty, a straight alcoholic cop.
In the show's series finale, Jack is shown to have lived with Karen for the rest of his life after the show ended, still close to her.
