Facebook · IMDB · Instagram · TheMovieDB.com · X (Twitter)

Composer · crew · Producer · Actor

1955-02-21 · St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands · Male

69 series in the catalog

Allen Kelsey Grammer (born February 21, 1955)

is an American actor and comedian. He gained fame for his role as the Harvard-educated Boston psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane on the NBC sitcom Cheers (1984–1993) and its spin-off Frasier (1993–2004, and again from 2023–2024). With more than 20 years on air, this is one of the longest-running roles played by a single live-action actor in primetime television history. He has received numerous accolades including a total of six Emmy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, two Satellite Awards, two People's Choice Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award and a Tony Award.

Grammer, having trained as an actor at Juilliard and the Old Globe Theatre, made his professional acting debut as Lennox in the 1981 Broadway revival of Macbeth. The following year, he portrayed Cassio acting opposite Christopher Plummer and James Earl Jones in Othello. In mid-1983, he acted alongside Mandy Patinkin in the original off-Broadway production of Stephen Sondheim's musical Sunday in the Park with George. He has since starred in the leading roles in productions of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, My Fair Lady, Big Fish, and Finding Neverland.

In film, he is known for his role as Dr. Hank McCoy / Beast in the superhero films X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), The Marvels (2023) and Avengers: Doomsday (2026). His other roles include Down Periscope (1996), The Pentagon Wars (1998), and Swing Vote (2008). He is also known for his voice roles in Anastasia (1997), Toy Story 2 (1999), and as Sideshow Bob in The Simpsons (1990–present). He took guest roles in the sitcoms 30 Rock (2010–2012), Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (2016), and Modern Family (2017). For his performance as the corrupt mayor in the Starz political series Boss (2011–2012), he received a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama.

In early 2010, Grammer returned to Broadway in the musical revival of La Cage aux Folles, where he received a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical. In mid-2016, Grammer won a Tony Award for Best Musical as producer of a musical revival of The Color Purple. In early 2019, he starred as Don Quixote in a production of Man of La Mancha at the London Coliseum. In late 2023, The Telegraph described Grammer as one of "the finest actors" of his generation. He was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on May 22, 2001.

Early life, family and education

Allen Kelsey Grammer was born on February 21, 1955 in Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. Grammer's mother, Sally Cranmer (1928–2008), was a dancer who performed under the name of Sally Sullivan. His father, Frank Allen Grammer Jr., was a musician who owned a coffee shop, Greer's Place; he also owned and edited a magazine, Virgin Islands View. Kelsey had a younger sister, Karen, and four half-siblings from his father's second marriage.

Grammer's personal life has been shaped by many family tragedies. Following his parents' divorce, Grammer was raised in New Jersey by his mother and maternal grandparents, Gordon and Evangeline Cranmer. The family later relocated to Pompano Beach, Florida. When Grammer was twelve years old, his grandfather died of cancer. In 1968, his father was murdered in Saint Thomas during a wave of racial violence following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. In 1975, his sister was kidnapped, raped, and murdered in Colorado Springs, Colorado, by spree killer Freddie Glenn. In 1980, his two teenage half-brothers died in a scuba diving accident.

Grammer attended Pine Crest School, a private preparatory school in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It was there that he first began to sing and perform on stage. Grammer later won a scholarship to study drama at the Juilliard School, where he was a member of Group 6 from 1973 to 1975. However, after his sister's murder, Grammer failed to attend classes and was eventually expelled.

Grammer described himself as "a Caribbean kid", and he enjoys vacationing in the Bahamas, the US Virgin Islands, and British Virgin Islands.

Career

1977–1983: Theatre work and early roles

After leaving Juilliard, Grammer had a three-year internship with the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego in the late 1970s before a stint in 1980 at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. Grammer acted as the Burglar in the LA production of the George Bernard Shaw play Too True to Be Good in 1977. In 1980, he starred in the Roundabout Theatre Company's production of A Month in the Country. He made his Broadway debut in 1981 as "Lennox" in Macbeth, taking the lead role when Philip Anglim withdrew after receiving negative reviews. Grammer then played Michael Cassio in the 1982 Broadway revival of Othello, alongside Christopher Plummer and James Earl Jones. That same year he portrayed Codename Lazar in the Public Theatre production of the David Hare play Plenty. In 1983, he performed in the demo of the Stephen Sondheim–James Lapine production Sunday in the Park with George, starring Mandy Patinkin.

1984–1993: Breakthrough with Cheers

In 1984, Grammer first appeared as Dr. Frasier Crane in the NBC sitcom Cheers. Grammer's Broadway co-star and former Juilliard classmate, Mandy Patinkin, suggested Grammer to the New York casting director. He was supposed to appear for only six episodes, but ended up as a regular cast member. The character of Frasier first appears in the third season and continues to appear until the final season of the series in May 1993. Frasier Crane also had a crossover appearance in the 1992 Wings episode "Planes, Trains, & Visiting Cranes".

Grammer has provided the voice of Sideshow Bob on The Simpsons, starting in the 1990 episode "Krusty Gets Busted". He won a fifth Emmy Award for his work in the episode "The Italian Bob". Bob has appeared in twenty-three episodes of the show, the most recent being 2024's "The Yellow Lotus".

From April to June 1992, he played the title role in Richard II, staged at the Mark Taper Forum at the Los Angeles Music Center.

1993–2004: Stardom and acclaim with Frasier

In September 1993, the character became the protagonist of spin-off Frasier. In the show, Frasier has moved from Boston to Seattle and works as a radio psychiatrist alongside his producer Roz (Peri Gilpin). In addition to starring, Grammer also directed more than 30 episodes, and sang the closing theme "Tossed Salads and Scrambled Eggs". In 2001, he negotiated a $700,000-per-episode salary for Frasier. The show was nominated for, and won, numerous awards during its 11-year run, concluding in May 2004. The show met instant success, and received five Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Comedy Series. This record has never been broken, with Modern Family tying the record. Grammer himself received 10 Primetime Emmy Award nominations for his role in Frasier, winning four times, tying him with 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 20-year run playing Dr. Frasier Crane (in both Cheers and Frasier) ties a length set by James Arness in playing Marshal Matt Dillon on Gunsmoke from 1955 to 1975, but it was surpassed by Richard Belzer in playing Det. John Munch on Homicide: Life on the Street and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit since 1993. Then, in February 2021, it was announced that Grammer would reprise the character in a revival set to air on the streaming service Paramount+.

In 1995, Grammer voiced Dr. Frankenollie in the Mickey Mouse short Runaway Brain, and it was nominated for Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. He later starred in the lead role as Lt. Commander Thomas "Tom" Dodge in the film Down Periscope (1996), and voiced Vladimir "Vlad" Vasilovich in the 20th Century Fox's critically acclaimed animated movie Anastasia (1997). In 1999, Grammer voiced the main antagonist Stinky Pete in Pixar's Golden Globe Award-winning Toy Story 2 (1999). He also provided voice work for…