Grace Gummer

Biography

Grace Gummer is an American actress & Model. Grace is known for her roles such as- Rachel in Frances Ha (2012), Arabella Sours in The Homesman (2014), Julie Gelineau in Extant, Natalie Calimeris in Larry Crowne(2011), Dominique DiPierro in Mr. Robot, Kim Morgan in Dr. Death, Hallie Shea in The Newsroom.

Grace Jane Gummer was born on 9th May 1986 in New York City, New York, United States to Don Gummer(Father)- A Sculptor & Meryl Streep (Mother)- an actress. She grew up in Los Angeles & Connecticut.

Education

• High School: She was in athletics when she was in High school. She played Lacrosse and was captain of the swimming team in her High school. [5]
• Vassar College: Grace has a degree in Art History and Italian language from Vassar College, which is also the alma mater of her mother, she graduated in 2008.  She was part of the collaborative theater group- 'Woodshed Theater Ensemble' at the Vassar College. Speaking of her time at Cassar, she said "I just studied whatever I wanted and what I was interested in without the idea of it foreshadowing a career path... I got my theater fix being in Woodshed" [3]
  • Interning for Ann Roth: During the summertime, she worked for Ann Roth, a popular costume designer who has won Academy awards for her work in The English Patient (1996), and Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020). When Ann came to know about Grace's move to Italy the next year, she suggested that Grace works at Tirelli Costumi.
  • A year in Italy: She spent her junior year in Bologna, Italy. 
  • Tirelli Costumi Roma:  While in Italy; she worked for the Rome-based costume house Tirelli Costumi, a supplier of period costumes to motion picture productions and Opera houses. Speaking of her times at Tirelli, she said "I spent a lot of time sewing with little old Italian ladies who didn’t speak any English, steaming hats, mending gowns" [3]

Family

Grace Gummer and Family

Mother

Grace's mother Meryl Streep (b. 1949) is an actress herself, a very famous and arguably the best of her generation, her 20+ Academy award nominations and multiple wins, 30+ Golden Globes, and numerous others prove that.

Of all the three daughters, Grace comes close to Meryl in looks. Grace had played the younger version of the character Clara played by her mother in the movie The House of the Spirits(1993).

[Grace Gummer & Meryl Streep]

Father

Father Don Gummer is a sculptor. He has worked on table-top, wall-mounted, free-standing sculptures. He works with bronze, stainless steel, aluminum, stained glass, and others.

His works are installed at the Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio; Historic New Harmony, New Harmony, Indiana; Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, and numerous other places.

Speaking of her father, she has said "My dad's great. He's an amazing artist. A sculptor. He's wonderful and supportive. I love going to museums with him - we talk about... everything." [5]

[Don Gummer & Grace Gummer]

Siblings

She has three siblings- a brother and two sisters; 2 older and another younger. The order is as follows:

• Henry Gummer (born 1979)
• Mamie Gummer (born 1983)
• Grace Gummer (born 1986)
• Louisa Gummer (born 1991)

Brother

Henry Wolfe Gummer (b.1979), the lone male sibling, the oldest of Streep-Gummer siblings, is a musician and an actor. He is the co-founder of the New York indie-pop band Bravo Silva, the band has released EP titled 'July' and albums. His individual works include- The Blue House(2009), Wolfe Sings Field(2009),  Linda Vista(2011).

His work "Stop the Train" is included in the movie Julie and Julia(2009), which starred Meryl Streep as Julia Child.

[Grace Gummer & Brother Henry]

Sisters

Image: Gummer sisters- Grace, Louisa, Mammie

Mamie Gummer (b.1983) is the oldest of the Gummer Sisters. Following her mother, she too became an actress after graduating from the Northwestern University in theater and communications (2005). She has played the titular role in the CW medical drama series "Emily Owens, M.D.", She also has had the recurring role of Nancy Crozier in The Good Wife (2010-2015).

Louisa Gummer (b.1991), the youngest of the sisters is an actress and model. After graduating from the British American Drama Academy in Oxford and the Yale School of Drama (master of fine arts), she has taken up a career in acting. She is known for playing Marian Brook in the HBO Max series The Gilded Age.

Relationship- Marriage

Mark Ronson

Grace had been dating multiple Grammy award-winning musician Mark Ronson since 2020, they were first spotted on a dinner date in New York. There were rumors about their engagement ever since she was spotted wearing a diamond ring on her left hand.  Mark, who is a host on the podcast 'The Fader Undercover' announced his engagement on the show,  as per the reports by the People Magazine. 

After a year of dating, the two married on September 4, 2021. Mark posted the wedding pics on his Instagram account, along with the text "To my truest love... out of nowhere, you made 45 hands down the greatest year of my life. And I'm sure it took me 45 years to become the man worthy of your love. I hope I spend every one of these birthdays by your side till my last day. And beyond. Forever and ever yours" [4]

It is the second marriage for both. Mark was previously married to French actress Josephine de La Baume from 2011 to 2018.

[Grace Gummer & Mark Ronson wedding]

Tay Strathairn

Tay Strathairn is a musician and the son of actor David Strathairn. Tay and Grace first met on the sets of the movie "The River Wild", which had both David and Meryl in the cast.  Grace was 7 and Tay was 13 at the time. The two were first reported to have been dating since 2017.

Grace and Tay had a secret marriage on July 10, 2019. The two separated on August 21, 2019, just 42 days after the wedding.  It is believed that grace filed for the divorce on March 23, 2019, citing "irreconcilable differences" in the Los Angeles superior court. The court finalized the divorce in August 2020.

[Grace Gummer & Tay Strathairn]

Career

The House of the Spirits(1993): Grace made her debut in acting in the 1993 romantic drama "The House of the Spirits". Grace played the role of a younger version of the adult character Clara del Valle, she was just 6 years old. The role of Clara was played by her mother Meryl Streep. An interesting thing to note is that Grace used an alias of "Jane Gray" for the movie.

Interning for Zac Posen: She worked as an intern for the American fashion designer Zachary Posen's design department.

Dia Beacon: She has worked as a docent at Dia Beacon, a museum for the Dia Art Foundation's collection.

The Sexual Neuroses of Our Parents (2008): After Grace's return from Italy (where she spent a year studying Italian and working at Tirelli Costumes), a friend of Grace's asked her if she would help design costumes for an off-off play titled 'The Sexual Neuroses of Our Parents', a comedy play by Swiss playwright Lukas Bärfuss. Grace read the play, and instantly she recognized that it was something she would want to be in it, as an actress. She went for the auditions as an actress and got selected for the protagonist role of Dora.

TeenNick:  She worked as Anna Moore on the TeenNick (Nickelodeon) series Gigantic for 18 episodes, from 2010 (October 8) to 2011.

In the 2010 Crime Thriller Meskada written and directed by Josh Sternfeld, Grace played Nat Collins, it also featured Nick Stahl, Rachel Nichols, Kellan Lutz, Jonathan Tucker and others.

In the Short romance film Bashert (2010) directed by David Frigerio, Grace played Abby. 

In the 2011 stock market themed investment bank crisis movie Margin Call written and directed by J.C. Chandor, She had a small role of Lucy, the scenes were deleted in the final cut, the movie featured heavy weights like Zachary Quinto, Stanley Tucci, Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany, Jeremy Irons and others.

In Larry Crowne (2011), the comedy drama with Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts in the lead, Grace played Natalie Calimeris. 

Gigantic (2010)

In the TeenNick comedy-drama Gigantic, Grace played the lead role of Anna Moore, a 17 year old teen who lives in Hollywood with her famous parents John Moore and Jennifer Moore. and the younger brother Walt Moore (Tony Oller).

Anna has romantic feeling for Joey Colvin (Ryan Rottman), the two have a short relationship until she leaves for Australia, while she is in Australia he has a fling with Lulu, who has a son from the relationship

The series ran for 18 episodes.

In the 2012 Romantic Comedy featuring Greta Gerwig, Mickey Sumner, Adam Driver, Michael Zegen, she played Rachel, a fellow dancer in the same company the titular character Frances is also part of. Frances becomes Rachel's roommate.

In the musical drama Smash she appears twice, once in each of the first 2 seasons, as Katie Rand, the daughter of Eileen Rand (played by Anjelica Huston). 

In the 2013 conspiracy thriller Zero Hour spanning 13 Episodes, Grace appeared in the role of FBI agent Paige Willis in six episodes (s1e3-s1e8)

In the 2014 western drama The Homesmandirected by Tommy Lee Jones, she appeared in the role of Arabella Sours. Tommy Lee Jones, Hilary Swank, Miranda Otto were in the cast. Arabella is a woman in the 1830s who loses three of her children to diphtheria, Arabella gets kidnapped, kills her kidnapper, 

In the 2014 Romantic comedy "Learning to Drive", she plays Tasha. Patricia Clarkson, Ben Kingsley play the lead roles. Tasha is the daughter of protagonist Wendy and Ted (Jake Weber)

The Newsroom

In the HBO  political drama series created by Aaron Sorkin, she plays Hallie Shea, a reporter with the Mitt Romney campaign in seasons 2 and 3. Aaron Sorkin had written a joke about the character Hallie Shea being an alumnus of Vassar College. Grace approached him and told him she is actually from Vassar college, he was surprised and wasn't aware of the fact.

In the Horror Sci-fi American Horror Story, she played Penny in Seasons 3 and 4. 

In the 2015 short movie The Long Development directed by Nicole McDonald, Grace along with Britt Bogan and Mark Noseworthy appeared in the lead cast

In the 2015 romantic comedy Jenny's Wedding, she played Anne Farrell, the sister of protagonist Jennifer's sister, wife of Frankie (Houston Rhines), daughter of Eddie and Rose.

Extant

In the CBS sci-fi thriller Extant, she appears as Julie Gelineau in 26 episodes. Halle Berry and Goran Visnjic play lead roles of Molly Woods and her husband Dr. John Woods. Grace plays Jules, an assistant of John Wood's in the Humanichs Project.

The mysterious sci-fi series revolves around the story of scientist Molly, her space travel and return, mysterious pregnancy after long years of infertility.

In the TV movie Confirmation directed by Rick Famuyiwa, she played Ricki Seidman

In the Amazon original series Good Girls Revolt, she played Nora Ephron in 3 of the episodes. 

Mr. Robot

She was given the Robot to rehearse with for the TV Series Mr. Robot. She had previously appeared in many scenes of "Larry Crowne" with Rami Malek, who went on to play the titular role in "Mr. Robot". Her character Dominique on the show Mr. Robot has tattoos on her arms.

She appears in a total of 31 episodes.

In the 2018 comedy movie The Long Dumb Road, she plays Nina.

In the 2018 short film That's Harassment, written and directed by Sigal Avin, in the 26 minute short movie, she appears alongside Emmy Rossum, Harry Lennix, David Schwimmer, Zzie Beetz, Cynthia Nixon and others

In the 2018 crime drama featuring Daniel Radcliffe in the lead, she plays Jen.

In the 2019 comedy movie Standing Up, Falling Down, the story of  stand-up comedian returning to his hometown, she played Megan.

In the sci-fi drama The Hot Zone featuring Julianna Margulies, Tony Goldwyn, Noah Emmerich, Daniel Dae Kim and others, she plays Melinda Danport.

In the 2020 mini series "A teacher", she played Chloe in the episode nine (s1e9), Chloe was brought as a potential date to Eric Walker (Nick Robinson) by his friends.

In the Peacock crime thriller series Dr. Death, she played Kim Morgan, one of the main characters alongside Joshua Jackson, Christian Slater, Alec Baldwin, Dominic Burgess, Celestina Harris, Molly Griggs and others. She appears in six episodes of the first season.

Let the right one in

In the vampire horror drama of 2022, she plays Claire Logan, one of the main roles. Claire Logan is brought in by the parents of the kids that have become vampires. Demian Bichir plays Mark Kane. Anika noni Rose plays Naomi cole, Madison Taylor Baez plays Eleanor Kane, Ian Foreman plays Isaiah Cole. She appears in all 10 of the episodes of the series

Filmography

Movies

TV Series

Stage

Facts & Trivia

• Ancestry: Grace is of English, German, Irish, Norwegian, and Swiss descent. Her father has Norwegian, English, and French ancestry. Her mother has German, Swiss, English, Irish, Scottish, and French ancestry.
• Debut before birth: Her mother Meryl was pregnant with Grace when she was working on Heartburn, does that count?
• She has a startling resemblance to her Mom (When she was young), She sounds like her mom a bit too. She gets told that every day by strangers. Her sister Mamie sounds even more like Meryl Streep.
• Daily beast, New York Times and New Yorker are her sources of News along with a couple of mobile apps.
• She wanted to be an Olympic swimmer while growing up. She watches the games obsessively.
• She spent some time with the FBI agents to play her part as the agent on-screen.
• She is good at impersonating other people.
• As a young girl, she did ice cream scooping & babysitting. [5]
• She has appeared in Foam, B & W Magazines.
• She has appeared on Tv shows of- Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, and Seth Meyers among others.
• She likes her hair colored Red.
• She wants to work for directors- Paul Thomas Anderson, and Kelly Reichardt. Carey Mulligan, Sarah Paulson, and Claire Danes are among her favorite contemporary female directors.
• She likes Vintage clothes.
• She has been critical of President Donald Trump's presidency
• People often confuse her for her elder sister Mamie Gummer.

Quotes

• We are still in the Obama Days (on the Mr. Robot Show) and everything is better.
• I met Anthony Bourdain today, I almost threw myself on him and peed my pants, it just happens. He has the best job ever, he is so good at it.
• It is tiring to hear people tell me I look like my mother, it is who I am so whatever..
• My friends and my family are very supportive of what I do.
• There's something magical about theater. You can live the character every single day to the point where you become that person.
• I'm a little nutty.
• As soon as I went to college, drank beer, and gained 10 pounds I gave up on swimming.
• I'll do whatever I can get my hands on that means and says something important to the world.
• Be yourself, don't worry about all the other bulls**t. Just do what you love, and if it makes you happy, that's the most important thing.
• The arts have always been in and around my life. [4]
• The club of silence surrounding sexual harassment is disgusting. It must be broken. Be loud. Be brave. We are all listening.
• I trust the power of women.

Awards

Sources

1. Grace Gummer info on Wikipedia
2. Grace Gummer movie info on IMDB
3. Grace Gummer, alumni of Vassar.
4. Mark Ronson's Instagram post revealing the wedding to Grace Gummer.
5. IMDb bio
6.