The Stunning Transformation Of Kelsey Grammer's Daughter, Greer
Kelsey Grammer has been in the spotlight for decades, getting his breakout role on "Cheers" in 1984 and becoming beloved for the show's spin-off "Frasier" several years later. He's a household name, at least to those born in or before the '90s, but his children are slowly achieving greatness as actors, as well. Greer Grammer is the sitcom star's second eldest daughter, and like her older sister Spencer, she's grown up to be gorgeous.
In September 2021, Grammer spoke with Fox News about how he helps his kids with their work as actors and his pride in them. "Once in a while, they've asked me a specific question about a character or something like that, and I try to just impart to them what I think is the best way to go about working on a role. ... Greer is really independent in terms of her approach to things. And she's pretty self-contained. So she's great."
With her famous father to look up to, Greer has become a phenomenal performer in her own right. From her upbringing in Los Angeles to her pageant days, early roles, and finally working with the "Frasier" star himself, here's the stunning transformation of Kelsey Grammer's daughter, Greer.
Greer Grammer was born in 1992
On February 15, 1992, Kandace Greer Grammer was welcomed to the world by her famous dad and his girlfriend, hair stylist Barrie Buckner. Later, the former "Cheers" star would have five more children, making Grammer a half-sibling to six. The young actor goes by her middle name, which she revealed had a special meaning in a December 2009 post on X, formerly Twitter. "Watching a movie w/ Greer Garson in it. She's the actress I was named after. She's absolutely radiant. I can only hope to live up to the name," Grammer wrote.
According to the "Awkward" actor, her childhood was surprisingly normal, considering her parents were in the entertainment industry. As Grammer told Glamour in August 2015, "It wasn't until I was older that I realized who [my dad] was or why people would ask for his autograph and take pictures. For the most part, I had a regular childhood. Sometimes, though, I would wonder if people wanted to be my friend because they liked me or because of who my dad was."
Grammer says she's dealt with that wariness for a long time but has learned to figure out who's a genuine friend. The actor added that she'd never thought of taking her mom's last name because the alliterative element of her double "G" name sounds nicer than Greer Buckner.
She became involved in theater as a kid
The entertainment industry runs deep for Greer Grammer, as her mom, dad, and many of her siblings have become involved with it in some form. In fact, since she was young, she's had a passion for acting. During an interview in January 2012 with The Odyssey Online, Grammer explained, "I grew up on sets and wanted to go into the family business. As a kid, I would always dress up and felt a need for acting."
She was in her first play at the age of 5 and caught the acting bug quickly. Grammer began taking acting, voice, and dance lessons, eventually studying musical theater at Idyllwild Arts Academy during her first two years of high school. Having decided to pursue acting as a career, Grammer returned to Los Angeles and was homeschooled for her junior and senior years of high school. The time and dedication she spent paid off by 2010, when she booked her first on-screen role.
Greer Grammer competed in pageants
Given her natural poise and confidence on stage, it's no surprise that Greer Grammer competed in beauty pageants as a teenager. While speaking with NewBeauty in April 2021, the actor described how she became involved in the competitions. "I adored doing pageants, and it wasn't ever something that I thought I was going to do. I was 15, I had a friend who was doing them, and I was intrigued.
"My thinking was, 'Let me try it for life experience. I want to just say I did a pageant.' I ended up winning my first one, and I just continued to compete for years because I really liked it," she explained. The first pageant Grammer entered was Miss Teen Malibu, and after collecting that title, she went on to place in the top 10 of the Miss California Teen pageant four years in a row.
Although childhood beauty pageants tend to carry a stigma, Grammer has spoken very fondly of her time as a contestant. "It's competitive, but I learned so much confidence from pageants, and it has helped me — not only in terms of how the world goes but also in acting," she added during her interview.
She got her start on iCarly
When Greer Grammer was 16 years old, she finally got an agent and by 2010 she had landed her first on-screen role. The actor had a minor part in one of Nickelodeon's most popular shows of the time: "iCarly." Off the back of her cameo, Grammer went on to appear in the dramatic indie film "Almost Kings" before she finally secured what would be her breakout role.
Grammer had a lot to prove, as her dad has a lot of kids who have expressed an interest in acting. Not to mention, her name obviously carries a lot of weight compared to other up-and-comers, which she spoke about with The National Desk in October 2016. "I'm compared to my dad all the time, and I go into casting offices, and I'll have people be like, 'Oh! You're Kelsey's daughter,' and it's just such a name to live up to. Especially in comedy, drama not as much because most people know him for Frasier and his comedy. So, it's really tough, and I have a lot to live up to, but he's proud of me," Grammer remarked.
Greer Grammer became involved in music
Like many successful Hollywood performers, Greer Grammer is multi-talented and has been open about her love of singing for years. This talent came handy when she fell in love with theater, and, as Grammer told Young Hollywood in August 2015, she performed in the musical "Annie" around three times. "I did musical theater my whole life ... that is what got me into acting. And then I went to boarding arts high school, and I was a musical theater major there, and we did a ton of shows and we had private voice lessons," she explained.
Aside from her performances on stage, Grammer has taken to social media to share many of the cover songs she's recorded. Her videos include covers of everything from "This Kiss" by Faith Hill to Lady A's "Need You Now." Many of Grammer's songs have country themes, and she's often performed alongside fellow singer and musician Brian Logan Dales of pop band The Summer Set.
Her breakout role was on MTV's Awkward
MTV used to be best-known for their music-related content, and over time, reality shows took over. But in the '10s, there was a wave of scripted television on the network, including classics like "Teen Wolf," "Scream," and of course, "Awkward" which ran from 2011 to 2016. The series catapulted the careers of stars like Ashley Rickards, Beau Mirchoff, and Jillian Rose Reed, and it's also where Greer Grammer got her first big break.
In June 2014, the actor told The Credits about how she managed to join the cast of "Awkward," saying, "I had an audition for the pilot, and I walked in there in boots, leggings, and a plain t-shirt, and every other girl was in a sundress and looked adorable. I thought, 'I'm not going to get this.' So I did the scene twice, and they told me I was very funny. I left and said, 'Okay, that's not happening.'" To her surprise, Grammer got the call a few weeks later that she'd landed the part of Lissa Miller, the somewhat ditzy best friend of mean-girl Sadie Saxton.
In speaking with TV Tango in April 2014, Grammer gave her own perspective on Lissa. "This is the thing I've said since Season 1. Lissa gets categorized as being dumb, but she's not. She's naive and very simple-minded, but she's not dumb. She understands what's going on, but she just gets confused because she's so naive," the actor explained.
She graduated from USC in 2014
Although Greer Grammer initially considered going to college in New York, she fell in love with the University of Southern California (USC), and it was the only school she applied to. "I loved USC because it's close to Hollywood and is an incredible, prestigious school. I wanted to have an ideal college experience, be in a sorority, and have a football team," the actor told The Odyssey Online in January 2012. Thankfully, Grammer was admitted, allowing her to focus on her budding acting career simultaneously.
Unsurprisingly, she majored in theater and joined a sorority, Kappa Kappa Gamma. Grammer continued, "Through Kappa, I've made lifelong friendships. I have my friends from the industry and from home, but my sorority sisters are special in a different way. I can be fun and goofy with them, and they support me by watching 'Awkward.'" Continuing her work on the MTV show wasn't easy once Grammer enrolled in school, as she'd be on set late into the night, then have to rise early for her 9 am classes, but she relished the challenge. The actor graduated from USC in 2014 with a degree in Theater Arts.
Greer Grammer was crowned Miss Golden Globe in 2015
In 1962, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) began a longstanding tradition of nominating a celebrity's kid as Miss Golden Globe. The honor involved handing out awards at the Golden Globes and escorting award winners off the stage and was seen as a distinguished position that could boost the winner's career. Previous honorees have included Laura Dern ('82), Freddie Prinze Jr. ('96) when they began including men, and Dakota Johnson ('06).
When the news broke in December 2014 that Greer Grammer was crowned 2015's Miss Golden Globe, the actor stated, "It's truly an honor to be included in this experience that so many incredible men and women have been a part of. ... It still hasn't really hit me that I will be up there [on stage] with so many amazing people I have looked up to for so long."
The award show went smoothly for the most part, but as exciting as the Golden Globes were for Grammer, she elaborated on what she wished she'd done differently while speaking with Glamour in August 2015. "Stand up straight! And don't slouch! ... At one point I walked out and Kevin Hart and Salma Hayek were doing my introductions, and I did this hunch thing like shrugging my shoulders. I guess I thought it looked cute, like I was being grateful, but it didn't; it just looked weird," she explained. Unfortunately, the HFPA tradition was discontinued in 2021.
She returned to the stage with The O.C. Musical
Greer Grammer has a knack for theater, given her prior training and degree, so it was no surprise that she'd shown enthusiasm about getting back into stage productions while speaking with StageBuddy.com in June 2014. "I absolutely want to do everything! I would love to do theater in New York, I'd like to spend some time doing that in New York because I'm obsessed, but I honestly really, really like TV," she said. The actor's love of both theater and television was a clear sign that she was destined to work on something unique, so when director Jordan Ross approached her about "The O.C. Musical," she had to say yes.
When the television series "The O.C." premiered in 2003, it had countless fans, including Grammer, who related most to Marissa Cooper (played by Mischa Barton). The actor spoke about how she landed the role during her August 2015 interview with Glamour, saying, "One day [Ross] asked if he could get a recording of me singing 'Champagne Supernova,' and he came back and said, 'We want you to be Summer!' I was so happy but a little sad at first that I wasn't Marissa. I was told all the time I look like Mischa Barton." The musical premiered in September 2015, and despite not being thrilled with her role at first, Grammer did a stellar job and received high praise.
Her next recurring role was on The Middle
Greer Grammer had secured some work while starring on "Awkward," including movies "Chastity Bites," "An Evergreen Christmas," and a few episodes of "Melissa & Joey." Perhaps because of her growing filmography and determination to continue acting, she thankfully landed her next recurring role by the time her role on MTV came to an end in 2016.
While speaking with The National Desk in October 2016, Grammer was asked about her next project. "Right now, I'm actually starring in 'The Middle.' I got a recurring role on that, so I'm playing Axel's new love interest. So I'm really excited for everyone to meet my character, April, and make opinions of her," she teased. Grammer appeared in seven episodes of the show as yet another somewhat dimwitted character, similar to her role on "Awkward." Playing the stereotypical "dumb blonde" twice in a row could've trapped Grammer as a typecast actor, but she luckily broke out of the mold after a few more projects.
Greer Grammer had a minor role in The Last Summer
After getting a couple more movies under her belt, Greer Grammer landed a small part in the Netflix rom-com "The Last Summer." The film centered around teens navigating new and old relationships in their final summer before college, with Grammer playing Christine.
In March 2021, Grammer appeared on "The Libby O Show" to discuss why she's drawn to particular roles, like the one in "The Last Summer." She explained, "I love comedy. I always make jokes that I can't cry on cue, so drama and me were just never supposed to get along. ... My dad's an actor; he is also famous for comedy, so I think it just runs in my blood." Grammer went on to say that she tries to stick with comedic roles because dramas tend to be so much more difficult in terms of preparation and the headspace an actor has to get into.
Although her role in the Netflix movie was minor, it wasn't the last time Grammer would find herself working with the streaming platform. In fact, by 2021, she would be the face of one of Netflix's most-watched movies of the year, and it wasn't as one of her usual comedic roles.
She starred in Netflix's Deadly Illusions in 2021
Grammer Greer branched out from her usual roles to star in Netflix's "Deadly Illusions" in 2021, alongside Kristin Davis. She starred as Grace, a nanny hired to take care of Kristin Davis' character's kids, in the seductive mystery drama. Despite the movie receiving poor reviews (a 13% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes), it was the most-watched film on Netflix during its first weekend.
In April 2021, Grammer told NewBeauty all about her experience on "Deadly Illusions," saying, "That's the thing about acting that I love: You get to figure out different facets of people and their personalities. I've never gotten to play a role like this — I usually play ditzy, blonde characters, and I'll play them forever — but to get to play somebody who has so many different sides was so cool." Another exciting aspect of filming for Grammer was to be able to work with Davis. She described co-starring with her as "a dream come true," as she's a "Sex and the City" fan and considers herself a Charlotte.
The "Awkward" star elaborated on how Davis made her feel comfortable during the intimate scenes they had to shoot together. "She did such a good job at making me feel right at home the minute we met. ... I can't imagine doing those scenes with someone who I didn't like or feel comfortable with," Grammer explained. "Deadly Illusions" catapulted her career even further, and Grammer was labeled the "breakout star" of the movie.
Greer Grammer will join the Frasier reboot
There's something so wholesome about children collaborating with their famous parents on projects, especially when they don't get to see too much of each other. In a since-deleted TikTok post, Greer Grammer shared a sweet video of her trip to New York with her dad. She captioned the video, "Growing up, I didn't spend a lot of time with my Dad. And as I get older time seems to move faster it feels like there is less and less of it. So any time we get to spend together ... is so special and precious to me" (via People).
In June 2024, it was announced that Kelsey Grammer would be uniting on screen with his daughter at long last, as she would be making an appearance on Season 2 of the "Frasier" reboot. Greer plays Alice, the daughter of Peri Gilpin's character Roz, who was first introduced in Season 5 of the original show.
Kelsey is excited to share the screen with his daughter, as he told Variety at the time: "It's really something that a child would follow in their father's footsteps. ... I never wanted to force them into the industry or intrude too much into their process. Because it's a bit of a mixed blessing to have my last name. People take it out on you. You get some attention, maybe, because of it. And there's a split as to whether or not it's good or bad."