Get ready to see Grace Kaufman everywhere! The actress made a major name for herself after starring in the February 2022 Apple TV+ movie The Sky Is Everywhere.
Based on the book of the same name by Jandy Nelson, the movie starred Grace as Lennie Walker, a teenager reeling over the death of her older sister, Bailey. Amid her grief, Lennie meets a new student named Joe Fontaine (Jacques Colimon) who helps her at a time when she needs it the most.
“I just felt the most honored that I was chosen to play a role that meant so much to me. And then, I started crying,” Grace told Entertainment Tonight in February 2022, about being cast as Lennie. The actress went on to further introduce her character to fans, saying, “After she loses Bailey, she finds it really hard to pursue the things that she’s passionate about. It’s really challenging for her to find that momentum.”
While Grace is no stranger to Hollywood, The Sky Is Everywhere marks her first major movie role.
“It was a little daunting at first, just knowing that I was going to be leading the whole project and I did feel a little bit of pressure and some weight on my shoulders,” the Man With a Plan star told PopSugar in February 2022. “I just so resonated with Lennie. I was reading the script about a teenage girl as a teenage girl, when we were in the middle of a pandemic and I myself was feeling so much confusion and isolation … just reading her journey and discovering more about her, I really did fall totally in love with her.”
Prior to starring as Lennie, the California native made guest-starring appearances on a few shows, like Jessie, Clarence and 2 Broke Girls, among others. Her TV credits also include main roles in The Last Ship, Whisker Haven and Man With a Plan. Playing Lennie, however, offered her the unique experience of really getting to know a character.
“Being a teenager is a very unique time in someone’s life because they’re trying to navigate what it is to be alive and find themselves and grow into an adult. Dealing with something so dark and one of the worst things a person can go through, it was interesting getting to delve into that,” Grace told W Magazine in February 2022. “I think I personally related to her in a lot of ways because we were filming in the middle of COVID. Loss was kind of a universally felt thing for everyone because it’s this new way of living. I was able to pour a lot of that into Lennie’s story that it was almost therapeutic. Another main theme is acceptance — we need to remember that life needs to be celebrated too. I think that’s what the film does very beautifully.”
Scroll through our gallery for everything you need to know about the actress.
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