Messing refuses to change hair colour

Rex Features

Debra Messing has claimed that she will never change back to her natural hair colour because it will damage her career.

The Will & Grace actress revealed that colouring her hair red for an early movie role coincided with an upturn in her fortunes.

She explained: "My first movie was A Walk In The Clouds with Keanu Reeves and they wanted me to be a 1940s harlot and they said, 'We want you to be blonde.' And I said, 'OK, I'm an Eastern-European Jew - if you make me blonde, I will look like a heroine addict...'

She added: "[The colourist] poured this bright Tahitian red colour... I started getting work immediately. I could not get a job as a brunette."