Why Fans Are Absolutely Fascinated By Empire Standout Grace Byers
There is a whole lot to love about the "Empire" standout Grace Byers. Not only is she drop-dead gorgeous and an immensely talented performer, but she is also an accomplished author and a vocal advocate for a number of important causes. It is no wonder that fans have been drawn to Byers ever since she made her big splash as antagonist Anika Calhoun — or as we will always know the character, "Boo Boo Kitty" — in Fox's hit drama "Empire." "Empire" was her first screen credit, and she knocked it out of the park as one of the show's best villains that we could not help but root for despite her wicked ways.
After her "Empire" character was killed, Byers moved on to a main role on another Fox show, "The Gifted," which aired from 2017 to 2019 (Byers joined in 2018). She has a handful of other credits, but Byers' current role is perhaps our fave — spoiled but sweet Quinn Joseph on Amazon Prime's "Harlem," which feels very much like a current-day "Sex and the City" but with women of color and queer women at the forefront. Quinn is an incredibly nuanced character, and we love how Byers has been able to show off her comedy chops alongside her dramatic ones. Off-screen, she has been busy as well these last few years, building a family, writing kids' books, doing philanthropy, and learning to prioritize self-care. Here are some of the reasons why fans are absolutely fascinated by the multi-talented Grace Byers.
She moved to the Cayman Islands as a baby
You would not know it from her character on "Empire," who did not share her accent, but Grace Byers grew up in the Cayman Islands. Per Ebony, Byers was born in Pennsylvania to an Afro-Caribbean mother and a Caucasian-American father. She moved to the Cayman Islands when she was only two years old and lived there full-time until she left for college. Though she takes much pride in being biracial and multicultural, Byers has learned to adapt her way of speaking for the screen so as to accommodate her characters who may not share these identities. On a 2015 episode of "The Meredith Vieira Show," Byers pulled out her real accent for the host. "I have a very strong accent; I just learned how to do this one very well," she explained.
Byers gets to bring her own background into her character on "Harlem," as showrunner Tracy Oliver used her Caymanian heritage as inspiration for the character of Quinn. "Growing up in the Cayman Islands and living the island life, I'm very in close touch with my Caymanian roots," Byers told Variety. "And so [Tracy] was like, 'I really want to lean on that history of yours and bring it into the colors of 'Harlem' because there is such a concentrated cultural amount of people here from the Caribbean.' I loved that idea." Byers' character on "Harlem" is Jamaican and Caymanian, and though she does not use her own accent, Jasmine Guy plays Quinn's mother, Patricia, with a heavy Jamaican inflection.
She married an Empire co-star
Grace Byers's life changed when she landed a plum role on the Fox hit "Empire," which began airing in 2015. And so did her name! Byers was born Grace Gealey and was credited as such when the show first started. But she now goes by the surname Byers after meeting, falling in love with, and then marrying her "Empire" co-star Trai Byers. Things escalated rather quickly after Us Weekly revealed the pair were dating in March 2015. Per People, they were engaged by July of that year but did not discuss the engagement publicly until October 2015. Us Weekly reports that Trai proposed on Grace's 31st birthday, which would have fallen on the 26th of the month.
Byers got married in April 2016 in the Cayman Islands. Two years later, she left "Empire" — when her character was killed off — while her husband remained on the show until it ended in 2020. And though Byers did not often have scenes with her husband, she has gushed about his acting in the moments they did share. "I love being able to work with him. Also, when we do have a scene together, it's an honor for me. Relationship aside, I think he's a phenomenal actor and a wonderful partner to play opposite of," she told Ebony. "I know every scene we've had so far has been very dramatic and kind of a downer, but I always have a ball."
She and her husband starred in a tourism campaign
When they married in 2019, Grace Byers and her husband decided to do it on Grand Cayman, the largest of the Cayman Islands. Per TMZ, their wedding was held at a mansion, and only those closest to the couple were invited. But the small guest list certainly has nothing to do with Byers hiding her love of the islands, as she has been upfront about how much the Caymanian culture means to her. Her husband Trai must feel similarly since the pair appeared in an official tourism campaign for the British territory together, located in the West Caribbean. "We can't imagine a more fitting ambassador to showcase the Cayman Islands' unmatched wedding and honeymoon offerings than Grand Cayman's own, Grace Byers," said Caymanian Director of Tourism Rosa Harris (via Cayman Islands Chamber of Commerce).
Per that same article, the advertisements were created by the Department of Tourism and featured everywhere, from luxury publications to a Times Square digital billboard. They focused on romance, specifically, and ran for over a year between 2017 and 2018. "Being from the Cayman Islands, my Caymanian roots are extremely important to me, which is why it was a natural fit to team up with my friends at the Department of Tourism to help introduce others to the place I am so proud to call home," Byers told DuJour. "Whether looking to celebrate a special anniversary, occasion, or plan a wedding, I promise that couples will fall head over heels for the Cayman Islands."
She is expecting her first child
When one's career is on the rise, it can always be hard to decide on a family planning strategy that does not interfere with professional success. Like many millennials, Grace Byers waited until her late 30s to have a child, first establishing herself professionally and taking the time to make sure all pieces felt right. At 38, the actor is now expecting her first child with her 39-year-old husband. Because of the timeline, it is unlikely that the pregnancy affected the filming of "Harlem's" second season, due out on February 3, 2003.
Byers is not one for splashy announcements, so it was not surprising when she made reference to her pregnancy in the most nonchalant way. In October 2022, the actor posted an Instagram photo of herself cupping her belly while standing beside her husband in celebration of his role in the revival of the play "The Piano Lesson." "Words absolutely fail when it comes to describing how deeply and overwhelmingly proud we are of you," Byers captioned the photo, alluding to her and the baby's pride. She also noted her pregnancy in a November post, wherein she discussed the ways her life was changing amidst her changing body. We don't know exactly when Baby Byers is due but expect them to arrive before summer 2023.
Both her parents are deaf
When the coming-of-age film "CODA" came out in 2021, it marked the first time that many Americans had ever heard the acronym for Children of Deaf Adults, which is what CODA stands for. In fact, most of us have probably never given much thought to these individuals or the unique ways that their lives might differ from ours. Grace Byers is a CODA, and it is something she has spoken about at length in many interviews. She often lists this identity up there with her biracial and multicultural identities when describing herself and said on the "Tamron Hall Show" that it was not until her mother came to school that she realized she was different.
On a 2015 episode of "The Doctors," Byers said her mother lost her hearing around age two, while her father was born deaf, so she knew nothing different than a household where sign language was the norm. When "CODA's" Troy Katsur won his Oscar in March 2022, Byers took to Instagram to discuss what the film meant to her. "Growing up as a CODA, I was always hyperaware of my parents' deafness. In our environment, it was a culture that few understood and even less were a part of, so, as a child, I constantly shied away from it," she wrote. "To see a film like @codamovie and to witness space being carved out for it — for the awareness of Deaf culture — brings tears to my eyes."
She writes children's books
Grace Byers's experience with bullying led her to become a children's book author focused on empowering kids and increasing their self-esteem. Published by HarperCollins, her first book — entitled "I Am Enough" — was released in 2018 and became a #1 New York Times bestseller. Byers once explained her reason for writing the book in a Netflix Jr. video series celebrating Black Voices. "I wrote this book because when I was about eight or nine years old, I wanted to see more books with images and with words that made me feel like I could do anything," she said in the clip posted to YouTube.
Byers wrote a second book, "I Believe I Can," in 2020, and this one too focuses on empowerment and positive self-image. But whereas her first book aimed to talk to kids about their identity, Byers told People that her second book is more about helping them realize their possibilities. "I'm convinced that books like 'I Believe I Can' are so essential to the ever-evolving minds of our children today," she said. "My goal with 'I Am Enough' was to help show children who they are. Now with 'I Believe I Can,' I want them to know what they are capable of limitless potential." It is a powerful message that we can definitely get behind.
She has worked with a number of charitable organizations
Grace Byers does not just write children's books about self-worth and limitless potential, but she has also made it her mission to promote these things by way of her charitable endeavors. According to her website, Byers became involved with Saving Our Daughters, an anti-bullying organization, in 2015. She is particularly involved with the organization's "Saving Our Cinderellas Arts Program," through which she donated hundreds of her books to girls in New York City and Chicago (and hosted discussion sessions), per the Saving Our Daughters website. "This program, using the Arts, has proven to be a remarkable vehicle for change," Byers wrote on her website, "After learning all of this and more, I found that SOD's platform touched me deeply, as a bi-racial, multi-cultural CODA (Child Of Deaf Adults) that personally experienced a childhood heavily weighted by the effects of bullying."
In addition to her work with Saving Our Daughters, Byers also speaks at many charity events. For instance, in 2019, she was the keynote speaker at the Life Lessons Luncheon, a fundraiser for the Texas Eating Disorder Foundation (previously The Elisa Project) in Dallas, Texas, per Culture Map Dallas. Two years prior, she was a keynote speaker for the University of South Florida's Women in Leadership & Philanthropy event, according to the Tampa Bay Times. As an alumnus of the school, Byers was a natural fit for the job, and the Tampa Bay Times notes that she was the first graduate ever to come back and speak to this particular group.
She can sing and dance
Grace Byers is a true triple threat, with singing and dancing skills to match her acting prowess. According to an interview she did with Imagista, Byers started playing the piano at age five, so she has long been musical. Per Cayman 27's "Daybreak," Byers participated in the National Children's Festival of the Arts and realized she was comfortable on stage by age five or six. She then honed her skillset as an undergraduate theatre arts major at the University of South Florida and, afterward, did a Master of Fine Arts at the University of California Irvine, per the Cayman 27 and UC Irvine websites.
Though many know Byers for her television roles, Byers has many stage credits under her belt, including starring in a Chicago production of "Rent" at the American Theatre Company and appearing in "Venus Flytrap" at the Workshop Theater Company Main Stage Theater in New York City. It is interesting that Byers's first screen role was on a TV show featuring singing, yet she played one of the few characters who never performed. "Even though I do sing, you know, I have so much more fun when I dance," Byers told host Rachael Ray on her talk show (her character, Anika, did get to dance). Besides, Byers did get to sing on-screen when she played a singer named Kate in the 2018 film "Bent." "I hadn't sung in a long time and was a little terrified of the idea," she admitted to Imagista.
She originally wanted to teach drama
We hate to imagine it, but Grace Byers was once on track to become a drama teacher rather than a performer. That was the original plan when she set off for the University of South Florida at age 18, mostly because she did not see acting professionally as a possibility. "I thought it was an American thing and an island girl was not going to do anything like that ... and for such a small country, the industries that are more prominent are hospitality and tourism, finance, banking. Another one was education," she told Ebony in 2015. "So I originally went to school to be a drama teacher because I thought, 'well, this is the only way that I could be saturated in this environment all the time.'"
According to the Ebony article, Byers was convinced to try performing as a profession by a comment made by a freelance director for a performance she did halfway through college. "That's what prompted the master's degree because I was thinking about this from an educational point of view. And now, I need to look at it from an actor's point of view. So I'm not done with my training; let me continue," she explained. In an interview with Cayman 27's "Daybreak," Byers said she took some time to truly think about her direction after the comment, but when more and more people started telling her to go for it, she eventually listened.
She considered a career as an interpreter before landing Empire
It might seem like success came overnight for Grace Byers, given that her first TV role is what brought her fame. That is only half the story, though, because Byers had been struggling for years before her big breakthrough. She told the blog "Going Beyond" that she had multiple "survival jobs" in retail and customer service to support herself while she gave acting a real shot — and that she was about to give up the dream for good before Lee Daniels took a shot on her. "Ultimately, I didn't want to spend the rest of my life making a living doing something I wasn't passionate about (i.e., my survival jobs)," she explained. "So, with over 25 years of ASL and deaf community experience, I heavily considered a career as a full-time ASL interpreter. Then, I booked Empire."
According to an appearance on the "Tamron Hall Show," while she was a struggling actor, Byers often had to resort to eating sparingly to save money. She said that she even once sold a dresser — one of her only pieces of furniture — for $50, but the woman told her to keep the extra 10. "I was like, 'Oh, my gosh!' and with that money, I bought, you know, bread and peanut butter and jelly and Ramen noodles so that I could have two meals a day for a week," she said. We are glad she did not give it all up to become an interpreter, but we definitely understand why she was considering it.
The pandemic made her commit to cultivating joy
Grace Byers always comes across as energetic and cheerful in interviews, but even she needs to work at being happy. In fact, she told "The Real" co-hosts that during the COVID-19 pandemic, she decided to commit herself to "cultivating joy" in her life. "Two things really stand out for me when it comes to cultivating joy, and one is intentionality, and the other is boundaries," she explained. In an interview for the blog "Going Beyond," Byers admitted that she struggled with boundaries in the past, opening herself up to hurt and strife.
Not only did Byers start trying to bring more joy into her own life, but she also got into the idea of bringing joy to her "Harlem" character, Quinn. Quinn is the hopeless romantic of her friend group and, though she has her struggles, is rather chipper at the end of the day. "I loved portraying Quinn's joy. In a way, that was cathartic for me because as soon as my own moments of joy come around, I tend to quickly tuck them away in order to focus on the next issue at hand," Byers told PopSugar in an interview. "But to freely take part in Quinn's joy felt strange and exhilarating, and it made me realize how much I needed to sit in and create room for my own."
She originally wanted a different part on Harlem
Having seen Grace Byers in the role of Quinn Joseph on "Harlem," we cannot imagine anyone else playing the part. We also cannot quite picture Byers occupying any of the other three main roles, even though she originally wanted one of them over Quinn. According to Byers, via an interview she did with W Magazine, anchor character Camille was her first choice at the beginning. "I had asked them if I could read for Camille as well, but when I got into the room and started auditioning as Camille, I didn't feel the sparks. As much as I had rehearsed it and was prepared and felt great, the connection with Camille didn't happen," she said.
One thing that made Byers hesitant about playing Quinn was her wealth (due to her family money), as she told PopSugar she was afraid of getting typecast for playing only financially privileged women. But when she read for the role, she said things immediately clicked into place. "As soon as I started reading Quinn, something happened in the room. I felt it, they felt it, and I said to myself, 'Oh my God, I am hopelessly deeply in love with Quinn Joseph,'" Byers told Variety. For her part, showrunner Tracy Oliver has spoken about the show's "magic" being due to the casting of the main ensemble (via Goldderby).
She loves affirmations and practices self-care
Grace Byers made a proclamation that she wants to integrate more joy into her life, and clearly, she has an idea of the little things that can help her to do so on a base level. The actor is a huge fan of affirmations, for example, and told W Magazine that she usually consumes three or four affirmations on a typical day. "There's an app I'm using right now called the I Am app, and I love it. You can schedule when you get affirmations throughout the day, and it asks you the categories of what you want to focus on," she said in the December 2021 interview. "No matter what I'm doing, even if I'm in the middle of a conversation, I'm like, 'Hold up.' I will read it and consume it and actually make a commitment to say it out loud so that it's not just a passing thought."
Beyond her affirmations, Byers seems to have a thorough morning routine that sets her up for a successful day. Per her blog, each morning also includes stretching, drinking 10 to 12 ounces of water, some lemon tea, and lighting an intention candle. Byers has also blogged about her love of supplements, healthy eating, facial masks, and exfoliation, and she's huge on microneedling, per W Magazine. "I love skincare, especially anything that's not invasive. Microneedling brings out the natural qualities and aspects of your own skin," she said. Finally, reading and old reruns of "The Golden Girls" keep Byers happy.
She is very religious
Perhaps Byers' biggest secret to creating a life filled with joyfulness is her spiritual and religious beliefs, which help to center her and keep her feeling connected. Byers told the blog "Going Beyond" that it was her faith that kept her going during her darkest days when she was a struggling actor with little to eat and crippling depression. "The only thing that pulled me out of all of it was my faith in God. I wandered away numerous times, thinking I could handle it all on my own. But, every time, I came back to Him searching for respite and hope and finding it in His presence," she said. In an interview with Imagista, Byers reiterated how she feels religion saved her during this time and that she finds her value through God.
Byers is highly religious, so it makes sense that she married an equally religious person. Her husband Trai has also professed his love of God in interviews and even told Glamour that a shared belief system is at the core of his relationship. "My personal life is personal, and I keep my private life private, but she and I ... obviously, we have similarities like anybody else, and we share a strong love and passion for God, which is necessary for both of us," he told the magazine. In September 2016, both Grace and Trai Byers joined a panel on faith and love run by the Los Angeles Sentinel Newspaper.
She adores her Harlem co-stars
We hear so many horror stories about co-stars who can't stand each other, which can be especially stressful in a TV scenario where multiple seasons are involved. Lucky for Grace Byers, the "Harlem" set seems to be quite a fun place to work, and, by her own admission, the four main cast members all adore each other. "We all really wanted to make this show wonderful and relatable, and we all have each other's backs," Byers told the ladies of "The Real." "It was a truly joyous experience." In addition to her co-stars, Byers also praised showrunner Tracy Oliver in the interview.
While the majority of Byers' scenes are with one or more of the other leads, her character's complex relationship with her mother means that she also works opposite actor Jasmine Guy quite often. "Jasmine is incredible. We have a blast together," Byers said in a Variety interview. "The layers that she brought to Quinn's mom, Patricia, they were just really amazing. And I think that it really informs a lot in the room." Social media posts also point to a harmonious and rather jubilant set — like the playful TikTok video Byers posted about working on her birthday, featuring cast and crew members. She has also professed her love for her castmates in posts of them at a party for their show and of them in a spread for Entertainment Weekly. Co-star Meagan Good posted the same photoshoot with similar words of praise for her "sistership."