Draft:Courtney Grace
 | Review waiting, please be patient.
This may take 5 weeks or more, since drafts are reviewed in no specific order. There are 2,577 pending submissions waiting for review.
Where to get help
How to improve a draft
You can also browse Wikipedia:Featured articles and Wikipedia:Good articles to find examples of Wikipedia's best writing on topics similar to your proposed article. Improving your odds of a speedy review To improve your odds of a faster review, tag your draft with relevant WikiProject tags using the button below. This will let reviewers know a new draft has been submitted in their area of interest. For instance, if you wrote about a female astronomer, you would want to add the Biography, Astronomy, and Women scientists tags. Editor resources
Reviewer tools
|
Courtney Grace | |
|---|---|
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 2023–present |
Courtney Grace is an American actress and former television journalist. She worked for about seven years as a reporter, producer and news anchor, most recently at WTSP in Tampa, Florida, before leaving the news business in 2023 to act full-time.[1][2] Her breakout role in a one-scene performance as an unnamed NBC News anchor towards the end of Steven Spielberg's 2026 science-fiction film Disclosure Day gained widespread attention and press coverage.[3][4]
Journalism career
[edit]Grace was a reporter, producer and anchor in local television news for about seven years. Her last on-air job was at WTSP, the CBS affiliate in Tampa.[1][2] She said she decided to leave the news business after a conversation with a mentor during an interview training. The mentor sensed that she didn't truly want to be a journalist and asked her what she really wanted to do. She replied: "I want to be an actress." Grace quit her job about a month after that fateful conversation in 2023 to start an acting journey. At that time, she had only a single $500 booking lined up.[5][4]
Acting career
[edit]Early roles
[edit]After leaving news business, Grace acted in several small television parts, including credits on Netflix’s Stranger Things and Sweet Magnolias, Hulu's Murdaugh: Death in the Family, Paramount+'s Tulsa King. She also appeared in David Michôd’s boxing drama Christy starring Sydney Sweeney as boxer Christy Martin.[1][2] Five of her first seventeen screen roles were playing journalist.[5]
Disclosure Day
[edit]Grace initially auditioned for another role in Disclosure Day, but didn’t get it. But casting director Cindy Tolan, who cast Rachel Zegler and Oscar winner Ariana DeBose in Spielberg's West Side Story, kept Grace in mind and proposed the NBC anchor role to her.[6]
The scene was shot in New York at 30 Rock, on an NBC set. Grace, who had spent years at a real news anchor desk, described the experience of filming on an NBC set as a full-circle moment.[7][4] She met Spielberg for the first time after filming her role had already started. Spielberg approved of her performance and encouraged her to keep going.[7][4]
In the finished film, Grace's character appears in the last several minutes. She is presenting a live broadcast about escalating tension on the Korean peninsula when the broadcast is interrupted. Footage released by the characters played by Emily Blunt and Josh O'Connor documenting decades of contact with aliens concealed by the U.S. government was then broadcast.[2][3][4] Over the course of the scene, the anchor moves from routine delivery to apology for the images, then to visible distress, before addressing the audience directly with the line "You are not alone."[3][2][4]
Grace first saw the completed film at a cast-and-crew screening in New York. She said she expected her scene to show up in the first half an hour of the film. She described the experience of waiting till the end of the film and then realizing the weight of her role in the film as being on two rollercoasters at once.[6]
Reception
[edit]Some of the coverage of Disclosure Day singled out Grace's performance. Writing for RogerEbert.com, Richard Roeper argued that casting a largely unknown actor was the right choice, since a famous actor "would have taken us out of the moment and shifted focus from the intensity of the scene in favor of us chuckling and nodding in recognition."[2] Slate described the ending as being "stolen by an unknown actor" and stated that the scene's plausibility was largely due to Grace's journalist background.[4] Variety noted that while Emily Blunt and Josh O’Connor received their fair share of recognition from critics, Grace had generated some of the strongest online buzz.[3]
Subsequent roles
[edit]In July 2026, Grace signed with Gersh for representation in all areas.[1] She is set to appear in Ally Clark, a thriller directed by Phillip Noyce, and starring Viola Davis for Amazon MGM Studios.[1]
Filmography
[edit]Film
[edit]| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Written in the Sand | Daniella Charles | |
| 2026 | Disclosure Day | NBC Anchor | |
| 2026 | Christy | Journalist | |
| 2026 | Wildcards | Amber Sterling | |
| 2026 | Still Hope | Doctor Bradshaw | |
| TBA | Ally Clark | Post-production |
Television
[edit]| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Fatal Attraction | Vanessa Williams | 1 episode |
| 2024 | Stalked by My Amish Boyfriend | Jenna | Television film |
| 2024 | Don't Let Him Find You | Jane Chance | Television film |
| 2025 | Beyond the Gates | Young Dani | 2 episodes |
| 2025 | Secrets to Kill For | Shanice | Television film |
| 2025 | Not My Family: The Monique Smith Story | Rubye | Television film |
| 2025 | Grosse Pointe Garden Society | Natasha | 1 episode |
| 2025 | Miss Governor | Reporter Debbie | Episode: "Vote for Me" |
| 2025 | Murdaugh: Death in the Family | News Host | Episode: "The Man in the Glass" |
| 2025 | Stranger Things | Nurse | Episode: "Chapter Six: Escape from Camazotz" |
| 2025 | Tulsa King | Reporter | Television film |
| 2026 | Sweet Magnolias | Courtney Sinclair | 5 episodes (season 5) |
- 1 2 3 4 5 Grobar, Matt (2026-07-21). "'Disclosure Day' Anchor Courtney Grace Signs With Gersh (EXCLUSIVE)". Deadline. Retrieved 2026-08-28.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Courtney Grace, "Disclosure Day," and the One-Scene Wonder". www.rogerebert.com. 2026-06-22. Retrieved 2026-08-28.
- 1 2 3 4 Minton, Matt (2026-06-17). "'Disclosure Day' Anchor Courtney Grace on Delivering That Final Broadcast and Quitting Her Job to Pursue Acting: 'It Felt Like Home'". Variety. Retrieved 2026-08-28.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Mack, David (2026-06-17). "Disclosure Day's Climactic Scene Is Stolen by an Unknown Actor Who Had No Idea Her Part Was So Big". Slate. ISSN 1091-2339. Retrieved 2026-08-28.
- 1 2 "Courtney Grace Left Her News Anchor Job 3 Years Ago to Pursue Acting, Now Stars in Spielberg's "Disclosure Day"". Yahoo Entertainment. 2026-06-16. Retrieved 2026-08-28.
- 1 2 Fuster, Jeremy (2026-06-18). "'Disclosure Day' Gave Former News Anchor Courtney Grace Its Most Emotional Moment, and She Didn't Even Know It". TheWrap. Retrieved 2026-08-29.
- 1 2 Price • •, Brian (2026-06-21). "Courtney Grace had no idea how critical her role would be before watching 'Disclosure Day'". NBC New York. Retrieved 2026-08-29.