Christopher John "Topher" Grace (born July 12, 1978) is an American actor, best known for playing the lead role of Eric Forman on the long-running Fox live-action sitcom That '70s Show, and the villain Eddie Brock, Jr./Venom in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 3.

Biography

Early life

Grace was born in New York City, New York, the son of Patricia, an office worker and assistant to the schoolmaster of the New Canaan Country School in New Canaan, Connecticut, and John Grace, a business executive. He has a younger sister, Jennifer. Grace grew up in Darien, Connecticut, where he knew actress Kate Bosworth, as well as Opie & Anthony producer Nathaniel Bryan and was sometimes babysat by actress Chloë Sevigny, who also later appeared with him in high school stage plays. He chose to go by the name Topher in high school after becoming frustrated with his full name being abbreviated as Chris.

Grace attended the Fay School in Southborough, Massachusetts, The Neighborhood Playhouse in New York and Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire--where he was noticed by the producer of That '70s Show (whose daughter also attended the school) while playing the leading role of Pseudolus in a local stage production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.

Career

Grace was cast as Eric Forman on Fox's That '70's Show, which debuted in 1998. The sitcom was successful and Grace became well known among television watchers; he played the role until the seventh season, after which he left to prepare for his upcoming film, Spider-Man 3. The series was renewed for another season despite his absence before its ending in 2006. Grace would make a very brief guest appearance in the last episode.

Grace briefly attended college at the University of Southern California, but left during his freshman year to concentrate on his television work and to pursue a career in film. He played a prep school student who uses cocaine and introduces his girlfriend to heroin in director Steven Soderbergh's 2000 film Traffic, as well as having uncredited cameos as himself in Soderbergh's Ocean's Eleven, and its 2004 sequel, Ocean's Twelve. "The joke is that you’re supposed to play the worst version of yourself and I don’t think too many people are comfortable with that. I never thought for a second that people were really going to think that’s what I was like. I think that people will know that I was faking it in those movies," he told Flaunt magazine in 2007. He planned to cameo in Ocean's Thirteen but due to his filming Spider-Man 3 he had to drop out. He also appeared in director Mike Newell's 2003 film Mona Lisa Smile.

In 2004, Grace had the starring role in two major feature films; he played the leading roles in the Robert Luketic-directed Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! and the Paul Weitz dramedy, In Good Company, in which he played an ambitious but troubled corporate executive. That same year, Grace also starred in the film P.S., which received only a limited theatrical release. Grace's work in P.S. and In Good Company was recognized by the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures in the category of "Breakthrough Performance by an Actor".

In 2005, Grace hosted Saturday Night Live.

In 2007, Grace portrayed Eddie Brock / Venom in Spider-Man 3, directed by Sam Raimi. It is unknown if he will reprise the role in the possible Venom movie spin-off. Grace himself was a fan of the comics, and read the Venom stories as a kid. Grace is set to appear in the 1980s retro comedy Kids in America. Grace co-wrote the script and will be co-producing the film. In addition, he will soon star in The Crusaders, a drama about the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision, playing real-life civil rights lawyer Jack Greenberg, opposite Terrence Howard, who will play Thurgood Marshall.

Personal life

Grace has dated several actresses that include his co-star Laura Prepon. He also dated Anne Hathaway and Ginnifer Goodwin in 2002. Grace recommended Goodwin for the part of Cathy in Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! after they had broken up, and the two are still good friends. He also dated Ivanka Trump in 2006, and in early 2007 he briefly dated actress Emmy Rossum. He dated his Kids in America co-star, Teresa Palmer, in mid-to-late 2007.

Filmography

Film
Year	Film	Role	Other notes
2000	Traffic	Seth Abrahams	SAG Award (won)
2001	Ocean's Eleven	Himself	Uncredited Role
2002	Roberto Benigni's Pinocchio	Lucignolo - Leonardo	(English voice)
2003	Mona Lisa Smile	Tommy Donegal
2004	Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!	Pete Monash	Teen Choice Awards (nominated-3)
	P.S.	F. Scott Feinstadt	NBR Award (won)
	Ocean's Twelve	Himself	Uncredited Role
	In Good Company	Carter Duryea	NBR Award (won)
2007	Spider-Man 3	Edward Brock Junior / Venom	Teen Choice Awards (nominated-2)
2008	Kids in America	Matt Franklin	Also executive producer
2009	Coxblocker	William Cox
	The Crusaders	Jack Greenberg
Television
Year	Title	Role	Notes
2003	King of the Hill	Chris	Voice Role Episode: Mega Dale
2005	Stella	Older Kevin	Episode: Paper Route
1998-2006	That 70's Show	Eric Forman	Teen Choice Awards (nominated-6) Young Artist Award (nominated) Young Hollywood Award (won)
2008	The Simpsons	Donny	Voice Role Episode: The Debarted

Awards and nominations

2008 MTV Movie Awards

• Nominated: Best Villain, in "Spider-Man 3" (2007)

National Board of Review, USA

• Won: Best Breakthrough Performance by an Actor, In Good Company (2004)

Screen Actors Guild Award

• Won: Outstanding Performance by the Cast of a Theatrical Motion Picture, Traffic (Shared with cast, 2001)

Teen Choice Awards

• Nominated: Choice Movie: Rumble, Spider-Man 3 (Shared with Tobey Maguire, James Franco, and Thomas Haden Church, 2007)
• Nominated: Choice Movie: Villain, Spider-Man 3 (2007)
• Nominated: Choice Movie Actor - Comedy, Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! (2004)
• Nominated: Choice Movie Hissy Fit, Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! (2004)
• Nominated: Choice Movie Liplock, Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! (Shared with Kate Bosworth, 2004)
• Nominated: Choice TV Actor - Comedy, That '70s Show (2004)
• Nominated: Choice TV Actor - Comedy, That '70s Show (2003)
• Nominated: Choice TV Actor - Comedy, That '70s Show (2002)
• Nominated: Choice TV Actor - Comedy, That '70s Show (2001)
• Nominated: Choice TV Actor - Comedy, That '70s Show (2000)
• Nominated: Choice TV Actor - Comedy, That '70s Show (1999)

Young Artist Awards

• Nominated: Best Performance in a TV Series - Young Ensemble, That '70s Show (Shared with cast, 1999)

Young Hollywood Awards

• Breakthrough Performance - Male, Traffic (2001)

References

External links

• Topher Grace at the Internet Movie Database
• IGN Films interview (December 22, 2004)
• About.com interview (January, 2004)