Grace Byers

Grace Gealey is an American actress who became a breakout star in 2015 for her role as Anika Calhoun on Fox's music drama "Empire" (Fox, 2014-). Despite being born in Pennsylvania, Gealey moved with her parents to the Cayman Islands, where she would stay throughout the remainder of her formative years. Having always nurtured a desire for performance, Gealey moved back to the States at the age of 18 to enroll in the theater program at the University of South Florida in Tampa. She received her Bachelor's degree in Theater Arts four years later, and soon after headed west to California to enroll in the University of California Irvine's graduate program in acting. After receiving her MFA from U.C. Irvine, Gealey relocated to New York City to became a professional stage actress. She soon started landing roles in several Off-Broadway plays like "Venus Flytrap" and "Rent." It was also during this time that Gealey started nabbing parts in nationally-aired commercials for companies like K-Mart. Gealey moved once again to Chicago to take part in that city's thriving theater scene. Despite her many successes in the theater world, however, Gealey longed to act in movies and on TV. By the mid-2010s she started auditioning for television roles, and was fortunate enough to be cast in the hit music drama "Empire" in 2014. "Empire" was Gealey's first ever screen role, and when the show debuted in the winter of 2015 it proved to be the breakout network hit of the year.