Kelsey Grammer

Allen Kelsey Grammer was born on February 21, 1955, in Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, to Sally Cranmer, a dancer who performed under the name Sally Sullivan, and Frank Allen Grammer Jr., a musician who owned a coffee shop called Greer's Place and edited a publication called Virgin Islands View. Following his parents' divorce, Grammer was raised in New Jersey by his mother and maternal grandparents before the family relocated to Pompano Beach, Florida. He attended Pine Crest School, a private preparatory school in Fort Lauderdale, where he first began performing on stage. He subsequently won a scholarship to the Juilliard School, where he was a member of Group 6 from 1973 to 1975, though he was eventually expelled after failing to attend classes following the murder of his sister. His early life was marked by a series of family tragedies: his grandfather died of cancer when Grammer was twelve; his father was murdered in Saint Thomas in 1968; his sister was kidnapped and murdered in Colorado Springs in 1975 by spree killer Freddie Glenn; and his two teenage half-brothers died in a scuba diving accident in 1980.

After leaving Juilliard, Grammer completed a three-year internship at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego before a stint at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis in 1980. His stage work during this period included the Roundabout Theatre Company's production of A Month in the Country in 1980 and the role of the Burglar in a Los Angeles production of George Bernard Shaw's Too True to Be Good in 1977. Grammer made his Broadway debut in 1981 as Lennox in a revival of Macbeth, assuming the title role after Philip Anglim withdrew following negative reviews. The following year he appeared on Broadway as Michael Cassio in a revival of Othello, performing opposite Christopher Plummer and James Earl Jones. In 1983, he took part in the demo production of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's Sunday in the Park with George, an off-Broadway project in which he appeared alongside Mandy Patinkin.

Grammer's Broadway career extended from 1981 to 2015 and included starring roles in Finding Neverland and La Cage aux Folles in addition to his earlier appearances in Macbeth and Othello. He returned to Broadway in early 2010 in the musical revival of La Cage aux Folles, earning a Tony Award nomination for Best Leading Actor in a Musical. In mid-2016, he received a Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical as a producer of a revival of The Color Purple. Beyond Broadway, his stage work has included leading roles in productions of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, My Fair Lady, Big Fish, and a 2019 production of Man of La Mancha at the London Coliseum, in which he starred as Don Quixote.

Grammer first appeared as Dr. Frasier Crane on the NBC sitcom Cheers in 1984, initially contracted for six episodes before becoming a regular cast member through the series finale in May 1993. The character was introduced in the third season, and Patinkin, Grammer's former Juilliard classmate and Broadway co-star, had recommended him to the New York casting director. In September 1993, the character moved to the spin-off series Frasier, in which Grammer also directed more than 30 episodes and performed the closing theme, "Tossed Salads and Scrambled Eggs." The show ran for eleven seasons, concluding in May 2004, and received five Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Comedy Series. Grammer received ten Primetime Emmy Award nominations for his work on Frasier, winning four times, tying Carroll O'Connor, Michael J. Fox, and Jim Parsons for the most wins for Primetime Emmy Award for Best Actor in a Comedy Series. His combined run playing Dr. Frasier Crane across both Cheers and Frasier spanned more than twenty years. A revival of Frasier began airing on Paramount+ following an announcement in February 2021, with Grammer reprising the role from 2023 to 2024. Across his career, Grammer has accumulated six Emmy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a Tony Award.

In television beyond Cheers and Frasier, Grammer starred as a corrupt mayor in the Starz political drama Boss from 2011 to 2012, a performance for which he received a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Television Series Drama. He also took guest roles in 30 Rock from 2010 to 2012, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt in 2016, and Modern Family in 2017. He has voiced Sideshow Bob on The Simpsons since the 1990 episode "Krusty Gets Busted," appearing in more than twenty episodes of the series, with his most recent appearance in the 2024 episode "The Yellow Lotus." He won a fifth Emmy Award for his Simpsons work in the episode "The Italian Bob."

In film, Grammer starred as Lt. Commander Thomas Dodge in Down Periscope in 1996 and voiced Vladimir in the animated feature Anastasia in 1997. He voiced Stinky Pete in Pixar's Toy Story 2 in 1999 and portrayed Dr. Hank McCoy, also known as Beast, in X-Men: The Last Stand in 2006, X-Men: Days of Future Past in 2014, and The Marvels in 2023. His other film credits include The Pentagon Wars in 1998 and Swing Vote in 2008. Grammer was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on May 22, 2001.