Adam Keith Grace (born May 16, 1975) is an American actor, magician, and musician best known as a founding member of the rock/Americana band Truth & Salvage Co. He began his acting career in the 1995 Broadway show Busker Alley at the St. James Theater in New York City.
Grace's other film and television appearances include the 2003 film Shade, Union Jack on Channel 4, The Sharon Osbourne Show, the Court TV series Fake Out, The Takedown, as well as Last Call with Carson Daly, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, other films, commercials, and television shows.
Grace was also a professional magician and inventor of magic tricks. Currently Grace is the Founder of Conjuror Community, an online club for magicians and performers.
Early years
Grace was born in Louisville, Kentucky and was raised in Tupelo, Mississippi by his mother, Maxine Grace, and father Keith Grace, a Baptist minister. Grace also started in magic at age 6, after being fooled by his father's "Kit Kat" trick. At age 7, his mother enrolled him in piano lessons. Grace spent his childhood studying music, magic and acting, performing in his first stage play at age 6.
By age twelve, Grace was performing magic shows publicly, with the help of his assistant, Kirk. His first public magic show was for a local cub scout group in Tupelo. In his early performance years, Adam would make many appearances on several local and regional Television shows like The Morning Show and The Noon Show. As a result of that exposure, Grace would go on to perform his magic show at corporate events and parties around the Tri-State area under the stage name Adam "Amazing" Grace.
Grace graduated Tupelo High School in 1993 where he found his love for theater and music. While a student there he performed in many musicals and plays and was encouraged to pursue a career as an actor by one of his high school teachers, Debby Gibbs, who also led the school's drama department. She also cast him in the lead role of Harold Hill in a production of The Music Man While in high school, Grace was also the 1993 DECA Mississippi state president.
After graduating from high school, Grace attended the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York City. While there he landed his first part in the Broadway show Busker Alley.
Career
Grace was relatively unknown until he moved to Los Angeles, CA in 2001 and joined forces with musician Gary Jules as pianist and organist. That year, alongside Gary Jules, Grace would become a staple performer at the legendary "Tuesday's at the Hotel". This live musical series was responsible for founding the Hotel Cafe sound. Over the next few years, The Hotel Cafe would become one of LA's most legendary music venues, featuring performers like: Adele, The Lumineers, Chris Martin of Coldplay, John Mayer, Mumford and Sons, Ray Lamontagne, Damien Rice, Katy Perry, and many more.
During Grace's time with Gary Jules, they had a hit song Mad World which was released through Sanctuary Records on 15 December 2003, in time for the race for the UK's Christmas number one, beating "Christmas Time (Don't Let the Bells End)" by the Darkness to take the title the following week. Mad World was also used in 2005 as the soundtrack for the opening section of the Season 6 episode "Room Service" of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. Mad World would go on to be featured in the film Donnie Darko and The Crazies as well as many television shows such as General Hospital, Without a Trace, The O.C., Smallville, Jericho, and many more. The music video for Mad World was directed by Michel Gondry.
Grace would go on to play piano on "BIRD", the first full-band release from Gary Jules and the Group Rules. The album is composed of songs written mostly during the now infamous GJGR "Tuesdays at the Hotel" residency at the Hotel Cafe in Hollywood CA.
In 2003, Grace appeared on the Channel 4 show Union Jack where he sawed Jack Osbourne in half. That same year Grace performed and appeared on The Sharon Osbourne Show performing magic for the Osbourne's Family Christmas.
In 2004, Grace was as a magic consultant for the television show Mondo Magic as well as the 2005 season of Criss Angel Mindfreak.
In 2005, Grace appeared on the Court TV television shows "Fake Out" and "The Takedown" as well as Dave Chappelle's Block Party, also known as Block Party.
In 2008, Grace made an appearance on the June 11th episode of Last Call with Carson Daly. In 2010, Grace appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! where Sharon Osbourne was coincidentally also a guest that evening.