Grace Phipps
Grace Victoria Phipps, also known professionally as Gracie Gillam, is an American actress, singer, and dancer.
Grace Phipps is well known for starring in the Disney Channel movies Teen Beach Movie and Teen Beach 2. In 2011, soon after graduating from high school, Phipps starred in the prime role as Bee in the 2011 movie remake of the 1985 horror film Fright Night, a DreamWorks movie. That year, she also originated the role of Amy in The Nine Lives of Chloe King, an ABC Family series. She was cast as edgy beauty April Young in The Vampire Diaries in 2012, appearing in 10 episodes in season four.
In 2013, she starred as Lela in Teen Beach Movie, the second-highest rated cable movie in television history, and a Disney Channel Original Movie. Her song "Cruisin' for a Bruisin'", with Ross Lynch and Jason Evigan, reached number 82 on the Billboard Hot 100 that year. In 2015, she starred, again as Lela, in teen musical Teen Beach 2, which premiered as the most-watched cable movie of 2015.
Phipps has also appeared in the comedy series Baby Daddy, in the fantasy-horror TV series Supernatural, and in teen sitcom Austin & Ally. She has also acted in black comedy-horror TV series Scream Queens, in horror comedy Tales of Halloween, in the police procedural drama TV series and Hawaii Five-0, and on the cover of the June/July 2015 issue of Girls' Life.
Early life
Phipps was born in Austin, Texas, to Kate and Gil Phipps. She has a younger brother.She was raised in Boerne, Texas, and San Antonio, Texas, where she graduated from Robert E. Lee High School's North East School of the Arts, where she majored in musical theater and graduated summa cum laude. She is currently an undergraduate student at Columbia University.
In 2010, she won the Las Casas Performing Arts Scholarship Competition. A Los Angeles agent signed Phipps after seeing her star as tough girl Rizzo in a theater production of the musical Grease.
Career
Acting
Following her 2010 high school graduation, Phipps moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in acting. After seven days there, she landed the prime role as spunky Bee in the DreamWorks 2011 major movie remake of the 1985 comedy horror film Fright Night. That year, she also originated the regular role of Amy in the ABC Family fantasy drama series The Nine Lives of Chloe King. The series was cancelled after one season.In 2012 through 2013, Phipps was cast as April Young, a recurring character who plays an edgy natural beauty in The CW's supernatural drama The Vampire Diaries, and appeared in 10 episodes of the fourth season.
In 2013, Phipps appeared as cute biker girl Lela, in an Annette Funicello impression, in Teen Beach Movie, a Disney Channel Original Movie, singing and dancing along with Ross Lynch and Maia Mitchell. The movie, with an audience of 13.5 million viewers, was the second-highest rated cable movie in television history. Phipps had a number of featured solos, including the song "Falling for Ya".
Also in 2013, Phipps appeared in three episodes of the ABC TV comedy series Baby Daddy as Megan, the love interest of Ben, in the fantasy-horror TV series Supernatural as Hael, and in the short The Signal as Zoe. The following year, Phipps appeared in Disney's teen sitcom Austin & Ally episode "Directors & Divas", as diva movie star Brandy Braxton.
In 2015, Phipps starred and reprised her role as fiercely independent and brassy biker chick Lela in a sequel teen musical, Teen Beach 2, along with Ross Lynch, Maia Mitchell, Garrett Clayton, and John DeLuca. It premiered with 5.8 million viewers, as the most-watched cable movie of 2015.
Also in 2015, Phipps starred in the horror movie Dark Summer, playing the part of Mona Wilson. She also played the lead role of a troubled teen cheerleader named Kaitlin in the emotional horror/slasher film Some Kind of Hate, which was featured in the 2015 Stanley Film Festival.
That year, she also appeared in three episodes of the black comedy-horror TV series Scream Queens on Fox as Mandy, and was a beauty gangleader named Alice in Paul Solet's punk rock revenge segment of horror comedy Tales of Halloween. In addition, she appeared in the police procedural drama TV series as Vanessa Gillerman, and in the police procedural TV series Hawaii Five-0 as Erica Young. She was also featured on the cover of the June/July 2015 issue of Girls' Life.
Phipps starred with Spencer Breslin and Sierra McCormick in the 2016 horror movie Some Kind of Hate, which played at the Stanley Film Festival, the Fantasia International Film Festival, and FrightFest.
She currently appears in the Syfy TV series Z Nation as Sgt. Lilly.
Music
The Teen Beach Movie soundtrack, which entered the Billboard 200 chart at number eight in July 2013, was released featuring songs performed by Phipps, including her as a main artist in the song "Falling for Ya" and featured in the songs "Cruisin' for a Bruisin'", "Like Me", "Meant to Be", and "Coolest Cats in Town". "Cruisin' for a Bruisin'" and "Falling for Ya" topped Billboard's Kid Digital charts for weeks, with "Falling for Ya" reaching number 25 on the Heatseekers Songs chart and number 66 on the Hot Digital Songs chart. In 2014, Phipps appeared in the Austin & Ally episode "Directors & Divas" and performed "The Pilot and the Mermaid" with Ross Lynch.In 2015, her song "Gotta Be Me" from Teen Beach 2 was nominated in the Teen Choice Awards as the Choice Song from a Movie or TV Show; she sang the song with Ross Lynch, Maia Mitchell, Garrett Clayton, John Deluca, and Jordan Fisher.
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2011 | The Nine Lives of Chloe King | Amy Tiffany Martin | Main role |
| 2012–13 | The Vampire Diaries | April Young | Recurring role |
| 2013–15 | Baby Daddy | Megan | Recurring role |
| 2013 | Teen Beach Movie | Lela | TV film; Disney Channel Original Movie |
| 2013 | Supernatural | Hael | Episode: "I Think I'm Gonna Like It Here" |
| 2014 | Austin & Ally | Brandy Braxton | Episode: "Directors & Divas" |
| 2015 | Hawaii Five-0 | Erica Young | Episode: "Wawahi moeʻuhane " |
| 2015 | Vanessa Gillerman | Episode: "Selfie 2.0" | |
| 2015 | Teen Beach 2 | Lela | TV film; Disney Channel Original Movie |
| 2015 | Scream Queens | Young Mandy Greenwell | Recurring role |
| 2017–18 | Z Nation | Sgt Lilly | Main cast |