Grace Byers (née Gealey; born July 26, 1984) Note: While some sources give her birthplace as the Cayman Island, Gealey says she was born in Butler, Pennsylvania. See interview in LumiereMagazine.com, below. is a Caymanian actress, known for her role as Anika Calhoun in the

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

music-industry drama, ''

Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

''.

Early life

Grace Gealey was born in

Butler, Pennsylvania Butler is a city and the county seat of Butler County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located north of Pittsburgh and is part of the Greater Pittsburgh region. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 13,502. History Butler was na ...

July 26, 1984, and raised in the

Cayman Islands The Cayman Islands () is a self-governing British Overseas Territory—the largest by population in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, which are located to the ...

from infancy.Gealey in She knows sign language due to having deaf parents. After moving to the United States, she received her bachelor's degree in Theater Arts at the

University of South Florida The University of South Florida (USF) is a public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, and other campuses in St. Petersburg and Sarasota. It is one of 12 members of the State University System of Florida. USF is ...

in Tampa. Gealey later attended the

University of California, Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a public land-grant research university in Irvine, California. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, UCI offers 87 undergraduate degrees and 129 graduate and pr ...

, where she received her Master’s of Fine Arts in acting.

Career

Byers then moved to New York City, where she performed

Off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

, including in ''Venus Flytrap: A Femme Noir Mystery'', and ''

Rent Rent may refer to: Economics *Renting, an agreement where a payment is made for the temporary use of a good, service or property *Economic rent, any payment in excess of the cost of production *Rent-seeking, attempting to increase one's share of e ...

''. In 2013, she performed in the Chicago productions of ''

The Misanthrope ''The Misanthrope, or the Cantankerous Lover'' (french: Le Misanthrope ou l'Atrabilaire amoureux; ) is a 17th-century comedy of manners in verse written by Molière. It was first performed on 4 June 1666 at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal, Paris b ...

'' and ''

Tartuffe ''Tartuffe, or The Impostor, or The Hypocrite'' (; french: Tartuffe, ou l'Imposteur, ), first performed in 1664, is a theatrical comedy by Molière. The characters of Tartuffe, Elmire, and Orgon are considered among the greatest classical thea ...

''. In 2014, Gealey was cast as Anika Calhoun in the

musical prime time drama, ''

'' opposite

Terrence Howard Terrence Dashon Howard (born March 11, 1969) is an American actor. Having his first major roles in the 1995 films ''Dead Presidents'' and '' Mr. Holland's Opus'', Howard broke into the mainstream with a succession of television and cinema roles ...

and

Taraji P. Henson Taraji Penda Henson ( ; born September 11, 1970) is an American actress. She studied acting at Howard University and began her Hollywood career in guest roles on several television shows before making her breakthrough in '' Baby Boy'' (2001). Sh ...

. The series debuted on January 7, 2015. She left the series after four seasons in 2018. In 2017, Byers was cast as Kate, a jazz singer and lounge owner, in the indie thriller '' Bent''. In 2018, Byers published a children's book titled ''I Am Enough'', based on her experiences being bullied as a child for having deaf parents. She wrote it to empower children to love and accept themselves. From 2018 to 2019, Byers starred as Reeva Payge in the Fox superhero series '' The Gifted''. In 2021, she began starring as Quinn Joseph in the Amazon comedy series, ''

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan), ...

''.

Personal life

Byers became engaged to her ''Empire'' costar

Trai Byers Trai Byers (born July 19, 1983) is an American actor. He is best known for playing Andre Lyon in the Fox television series ''Empire'' (2015–2020). Early life Trai Byers was born in Kansas City, Kansas. After a year of high school in Kansas Ci ...

in 2015. She and Byers married on Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands on April 14, 2016. They are expecting their first child together.

Filmography

Film

Television

Bibliography

*I Believe I Can (2020) 9780062667137 *I Am Enough (2018) 9780062667120

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Byers, Grace 1984 births Living people American people of Caymanian descent American soap opera actresses American stage actresses 21st-century American actresses University of South Florida alumni Caymanian artists University of California, Irvine alumni Caymanian emigrants to the United States People from Butler, Pennsylvania Actresses from Pittsburgh