Grace Phipps (born May 4, 1992), known professionally as Gracie Gillam, is an American actress, singer, and dancer. She is best known for starring in the Disney Channel Original Movies Teen Beach Movie and Teen Beach 2 as Lela, as well as starring in the fourth season of The Vampire Diaries as April Young.
Early life Gillam was born in Austin, Texas, to Kate (née Van Gelder) and Gilliam Phipps. She has a younger brother named Liam.
She was raised in Boerne, Texas and San Antonio, Texas. 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. As of 2016, she was an undergraduate student at Columbia University.
In 2010, she won the Las Casas Performing Arts Scholarship Competition. A Los Angeles agent signed Gillam after seeing her star as Rizzo in a theater production of the musical Grease.
Career
Acting Following her 2010 high school graduation, Gillam moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in acting. After seven days there, she landed the prime role as 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, Gillam was cast as April Young, a recurring character in The CW's supernatural drama The Vampire Diaries, and appeared in 10 episodes of the fourth season.
In 2013, Gillam 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, Gillam appeared in three episodes of the ABC TV comedy series Baby Daddy as Megan, the love interest of Ben (Jean-Luc Bilodeau), 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, Gillam 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, Gillam 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, the Fantasia International Film Festival, and FrightFest.
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 CSI: Cyber 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.
She appeared on the Syfy TV series Z Nation as Sgt. Lilly from 2017 to 2018.
Music The Teen Beach Movie soundtrack, which entered the Billboard 200 chart at number eight in July 2013, was released featuring songs performed by Gillam, 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.
Personal life Before 2017, Gillam was credited professionally under her birth name, Grace Phipps. She revealed that the change was due to the fact that she had "always wanted a stage name" and is based on "Gilliam," a family name.
In November 2017, Gillam began dating actor and Z Nation'' co-star Nat Zang. In January 2022, Gillam announced their engagement. They were married in May 2023 in Arizona.
Filmography + Film Year Title Role Notes 2011 Fright Night Bee 2013 The Signal Zoe Short 2015 Dark Summer Mona Wilson Some Kind of Hate Kaitlin Tales of HalloweenAlice 2019 The Lost Weekend Maggie MaeShort 2021 Superhost Rebecca2023Murder at the Murder Mystery PartyJade Jensen2024Who's WatchingKrista
+ Television 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 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 moeuhane (Broken Dreams)" 2015 CSI: Cyber Vanessa Gillerman Episode: "Selfie 2.0" Teen Beach 2 Lela TV film; Disney Channel Original Movie Scream Queens Young Mandy Greenwell Recurring role2017–18 Z NationSgt LillyMain cast (Season 4–5)2020 Stolen In Plain SightMelissa TV film: Lifetime Movie Network Original Movie
Discography
Soundtrack albums + List of albums, with selected chart positions Title Album details Peakchartpositions US USOSTBEL CAN FRANL NZSPA UK Teen Beach MovieReleased: July 16, 2013 Formats: CD, digital download Label: Walt Disney 3 1 176 14 76 56 30 15 36 Teen Beach 2 Released: June 23, 2015 Formats: CD, digital download Label: Walt Disney 10 1 — — 129 — — 67 — "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory.
Singles + List of singles, with selected chart positions Title Year Peak chart positions Certifications Album USSongs of Ross Lynch on Billboard: Hot 100: Bubbling Under Hot 100: USHeat.List of Lynch's albums and singles on Billboard: Austin & Aly: Teen Beach Movie: Austin & Aly: Turn It Up: IRL UK "Cruisin' for a Bruisin'"(with Ross Lynch & Jason Evigan) 2013 82 6 90 117 RIAA: GoldTeen Beach Movie "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory.
Other charted songs + List of singles, with selected chart positions Title Year Peak chart positions Certifications Album US Bub. USHeat.USKid USHoliday UK "Like Me"(with Ross Lynch, Maia Mitchell, & Spencer Lee) 2013 1 10 3 — 177 Teen Beach Movie "Falling For Ya"23 2 — — — RIAA: Gold "Meant To Be"(with Ross Lynch, Maia Mitchell, Spencer Lee and Garrett Clayton) ——5—— "Coolest Cats In Town"(with Spencer Lee and Jason Evigan——20—— "Gotta Be Me"(with Ross Lynch, Maia Mitchell, Garrett Clayton, John DeLuca & Jordan Fisher) 201523 — 3 — — Teen Beach 2 "Best Summer Ever"(with Ross Lynch, Maia Mitchell, Garrett Clayton, Jordan Fisher, John DeLuca and Chrissie Fit) ——5—— "That's How We Do"(with Ross Lynch, Maia Mitchell, Garrett Clayton, Jordan Fisher and John DeLuca) ——4—— "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory.
References
External links