[IMG:L]When Kelsey Grammer’s new sitcom Back to You joins Fox’s lineup this fall, he’ll be the second member of his family to star in a current series. “It might be the first time that a father and daughter have their own shows on TV on different networks at the same time,” observes 23-year-old Spencer Grammer, whose college-set ABC Family series Greek premieres July 9 at 9/8c.
Grammer plays Casey, the popular, ambitious golden girl of Zeta Beta Zeta sorority, none too thrilled that her dorky younger brother has enrolled at her school and plans to pledge a fraternity. Next in line for the sorority’s presidency—provided she snags a certain well-connected new member—she dates a big-shot frat president, whom she discovers has cheated on her.
“She’s dating him because he represents all the things she wants long-term in goals and career and she’s going to have to decide whether or not to stay with him,” says Grammer, who had no sorority experience at New York’s Marymount Manhattan College, where she studied theater. Nevertheless, she relates to Casey’s situation and “the struggle with her own identity, what she wants vs. who she is and what she wants personally. Those are things everyone struggles with. You have to make sacrifices in your personal life in order to accomplish goals in your career. You give up time with friends and family and relationships suffer from it.”
Close with her dad, Grammer dissects the pros and cons of growing up with a famous father. “I guess the hardest part for me in dealing with that was I always wondered whether people liked me for me or they liked me for my dad,” she reflects. “You come to terms with that. You start to figure out who you are as a person and that’s something Greek deals with too. It’s about finding your own identity. You get the chance to be somebody new in college—everyone has that chance. And for me it was a similar thing—who was I going to be when dad wasn’t around?”
Then there are the expectations. “People are going to always talk. ‘She’s Kelsey’s daughter.’ It’s always going to be that. But at the same time, you can show people who you are. And I’ll always be who I am, independent of him.” Also, she reminds, a famous name will get you just so far: “You have to get the job at the end of the day. It’s been a blessing, too,” she adds. “Without my dad being who he is I don’t know if I would have gone into the entertainment business.”
Growing up on sets with Kelsey, “I was there watching him, and I loved it. The idea that you could be successful in this industry wasn’t something that was unattainable to me because my father did it too and that was part of my choosing it. But also, I learned so much from him. He used to bring early version tapes home so I grew up around that, watching cuts and reading scripts, so it’s very familiar to me.”
Heading east for college, she stayed when she landed a six-month stint on As the World Turns. “I was really young so it was hilarious playing a doctor on a soap. It was amazing training because it’s the hardest work as an actor because you work every day and it’s so fast. Everything is easy after that. It’s really demanding.”
Two weeks after that gig ended, Grammer tested for and got cast in Greek, adding to a resume that also includes the movies Beautiful Ohio and Descent, and appearances on Law & Order: SVU, Third Watch, Clubhouse, and The Bedford Diaries. “It’s so surreal to drive onto a studio lot for my show, not visiting dad,” she says happily.
But she’s also a realist, and says that her father voiced concerns along those lines. “It’s a different industry for women than it is for men—it’s hard to be successful and empowered and strong, and I think he was worried about me. He wanted to make sure that I chose to be an actress because it was something that I truly wanted more than anything else.”
Grammer has taken the Hollywood veteran’s advice to heart. “My dad always said that at auditions you should give them a moment of truth, so I would always give a part of myself, be vulnerable—that’s what it’s about. If you can’t be real and honest you’re not really showing the power of what acting is. You have to keep it real. But it’s also about bringing joy to people. Ultimately that’s what we do, we make TV and hope people watch it.”
As for her own TV-watching preferences, “When I was a kid I watched The X-Files all the time. Of course I watched my dad’s shows, Cheers and Frasier. My go-to show was The O.C. for a while. I also loved Deadwood a lot–it was really amazing. And Entourage is brilliant.”
While she’s working long days on Greek, which shoots in Los Angeles, “I usually have one day off a week when I go do stuff, see my friends if I can, I go to the chiropractor, the psychiatrist, the things that are important to me,” Grammer says. She’s become close with co-stars like Amber Stevens, whose father is actor –announcer Shadoe Stevens. “All the girls never really had a lot of girlfriends growing up and so now we hang out, we have girls’ night, we watch movies,” she notes.
Having recently ended a two-year relationship, “I’ve been seeing somebody, nothing serious. I’m young,” she reminds, adding, “It’s hard to meet people you connect with and also have the same goals in mind. And when you’re working it’s hard to make time. I’m just working on Greek right now and trying to get myself together.”
Grammer actually thrives on the unpredictability of the entertainment business. “You never know what’s gonna happen and I love that,” she says, but concedes it makes it a bit tricky to plan for the future. “So I think whatever happens, happens,” she muses. “Life is the greatest gift of all, and you have to roll with the punches.”
