Topher Grace
Topher Grace (born
Christopher Grace on
July 12,
1978) is an
American actor, perhaps best known for playing the lead role on the situation comedy
That '70s Show as
Eric Forman during the show's first seven seasons.
Early life
Grace was born in
New York City, New York to John Grace (a
Connecticut-based business executive) and Patricia (an office worker and assistant to the schoolmaster of the New Canaan Country School in
New Canaan, Connecticut); he has a sister, Jenny. Grace grew up in
Darien, Connecticut, where he knew actress
Kate Bosworth and was sometimes babysat by actress
Chloe Sevigny, who also later appeared with him in high school stage plays. He chose to go by the name
Topher in high school, after becoming frustrated with his full name being abbreviated as
Chris, so he dropped the
Chris and kept the
Topher.
Grace attended the
Brewster Academy in
Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, where he was noticed by the producer of
That '70s Show (whose daughter also attended the school) while playing the leading role of
Pseudolus in a local stage production of
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.
Career
Grace was cast as
Eric Forman on
Fox's That '70s Show, which debuted in
1998. The
sitcom was successful and Grace became well known amid
television watchers; he played the role until
2005, after which he left the series in order to pursue feature film work. The series was renewed for another season despite his absence.
Grace briefly attended college at the
University of Southern California, but left during his freshman year to concentrate on his television work and to pursue a career in film. He played a prep school drug addict in director
Steven Soderbergh's
Traffic (2000), as well as had uncredited cameos in Soderbergh's
Ocean's Eleven (2001) and
Ocean's Twelve (2004). He also appeared in director
Mike Newell's
Mona Lisa Smile (2003).
|
Topher Grace in the film In Good Company, 2004 |
In 2004, Grace had the starring role in two major feature films; he played the leading roles in the
Robert Luketic directed
Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! and the
Paul Weitz dramedy,
In Good Company, in which he played an ambitious but troubled corporate executive. In the same year, Grace also starred the film,
P.S., which received only a limited theatrical release.
Grace's work in
P.S. and
In Good Company was recognized by the
National Board of Review of Motion Pictures in the category of "Breakthrough Performance by an Actor". In 2005, Grace hosted
Saturday Night Live. He is currently filming a role in
Spider-Man 3, directed by
Sam Raimi. He will be portraying Eddie Brock (aka the malevolent symbiote,
Venom), a fan-favorite
Spider-Man villain.
Grace will soon also star in
The Crusaders, a drama about the 1954
Brown v. Board of Education decision. He will play real-life civil rights lawyer
Jack Greenberg, opposite
Terrence Howard, who will play
Thurgood Marshall.
Footnotes
Interviews
*
New York Magazine interview (January 24, 2005)
*
IGN Films interview (December 22, 2004)
*
Cinema Confidential interview (October 19, 2004)
*
BlackFilm interview (October, 2004)
*
About.com interview (January, 2004)
External links
*
*
Topher Grace at
TV.com
