Mckenna Grace is an American actress and singer/songwriter. She began acting professionally at the age of four, with her earliest roles including Jasmine Bernstein in the sitcom Crash & Bernstein (2012–2014) and Faith Newman in the soap opera The Young and the Restless (2013–2015). In 2018 and 2019, The Hollywood Reporter named her one of the top 30 stars under age 18.
She is known for her roles as Mary Adler in the 2017 film Gifted, Abigail Stone in the 2021 film Spirit Untamed, Phoebe Spengler in the 2021 film Ghostbusters: Afterlife, and Esther Keyes in The Handmaid’s Tale. For her performance in the 4th season, she received a Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series, becoming the first child nominated in the Guest category and 10th youngest individual acting nominee across all categories.
In 2020, Grace signed with Photo Finish Records, and in November 2021 she released her debut single “Haunted House” alongside an accompanying music video. While not originally written for Ghostbusters: Afterlife, the song was eventually added to the film’s soundtrack and used for the closing credits. When asked, Grace explained that the song was written during a rough period of her life in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, and that one “could take it as a breakup song, but it could also be about a friend or a family member or any kind of relationship that’s ended.”
In February 2022, Grace released her follow up single “Do All My Friends Hate Me?” along with a music video. In April, Grace released her third single “You Ruined Nirvana”, also with a music video. In July, Grace released her fourth single “Post Party Trauma”, but with a lyric video instead.
She was diagnosed with scoliosis at age 12, and in October 2022, she underwent spinal surgery to correct the curvature of her spine, which was over 45 degrees. Post-op, her spinal curvature is at only 6 degrees. In November 2022, Grace released her fifth single “Self Dysmorphia”, with the lyric video filmed by Grace, who was confined to her chair, after surgery to correct her scoliosis.
In January 2023, Grace released her sixth single “Ugly Crier” about her anxiety and the feelings of inadequacy, which she also explored in “Do all my friends hate me?”. Both songs reference a voice in her head telling her negative things about her worth.
