State of Grace
Encyclopedia
State of Grace is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 comedy-drama
Comedy-drama
Comedy-drama is a genre of theatre, film and television programs which combines humorous and serious content.-Theatre:Traditional western theatre, beginning with the ancient Greeks, was divided into comedy and tragedy...

 series that ran for two seasons on the Fox Network's Fox Family
ABC Family
ABC Family, stylized as abc family, is an American television network, owned by ABC Family Worldwide Inc., a subsidiary of the Disney-ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company...

 channel during 2001 and 2002.

Plot

It is centered on two 12-year-old girls from very different backgrounds, Hannah and Grace, who are best friends. Hannah is from a middle class Jewish family and lives with her parents, her grandmother, and her uncle. Her parents are the owners of a furniture factory in the fictitious town of Ashmore, North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

, where they have recently moved to from Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

. Grace is from a wealthy Catholic family and lives with her mother, a socialite. Typically, they are depicted as more intelligent, thoughtful, funny, and rebellious than other children of their age. Set in 1965, the show was compared by some to another look-back-through-the-years show, The Wonder Years
The Wonder Years
The Wonder Years is an American television comedy-drama created by Carol Black and Neal Marlens. It ran for six seasons on ABC from 1988 through 1993. The pilot aired on January 31, 1988 after ABC's coverage of Super Bowl XXII....

. Fred Savage
Fred Savage
Fredrick Aaron "Fred" Savage is an American actor, director and producer of television and film.He is best known for his role as Kevin Arnold in the American television series The Wonder Years and as the grandson in The Princess Bride...

, the star of that hit ABC series, even appeared in the series' final episode.

The theme song is the original version of: "Do You Believe in Magic
Do You Believe in Magic (song)
-Track listings:-Release history:-Chart performance:...

" by The Lovin' Spoonful
The Lovin' Spoonful
The Lovin' Spoonful is an American pop rock band of the 1960s, named to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. When asked about his band, leader John Sebastian said it sounded like a combination of "Mississippi John Hurt and Chuck Berry," prompting his friend, Fritz Richmond, to suggest the name...

. The show was taped at Ren-Mar Studios
Ren-Mar Studios
Ren-Mar Studios was a rental studio located at 846 N. Cahuenga Blvd. in Hollywood, California, on premises that were formerly the home of Desilu Productions. It was first built in 1915 as Metro Pictures Back Lot #3, and has been used for a wide variety of film and television production, and the...

 stage 4.

Main cast

  • Alia Shawkat
    Alia Shawkat
    Alia Martine Shawkat is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Maeby Fünke in the Fox series Arrested Development.- Personal life :...

    : (12-year-old Jewish-American girl Hannah Rayburn)
  • Mae Whitman
    Mae Whitman
    Mae Margaret Whitman is an American television, movie and voice actress. She is known for her role as Ann Veal in the TV series Arrested Development, her role as Amber on the TV series Parenthood, her role as Roxy Richter in Scott Pilgrim vs...

    : (12-year-old Emma 'Grace' McKee, Hannah's best friend)
  • Dinah Manoff
    Dinah Manoff
    Dinah Beth Manoff is an American stage, film and television actress and television director best known for her roles as Elaine Lefkowitz on Soap, Marty Maraschino in the film Grease, Libby Tucker in both the stage and film adaptations of I Ought to Be in Pictures, for which she won a Tony award,...

    : (Evelyn Rayburn, Hannah's mother)
  • Michael Mantell
    Michael Mantell
    Michael Mantell is an American actor. He has had many small parts in American movies and television shows, including Eight Men Out , Bart Got a Room, Ocean's Thirteen, Thank You for Smoking, Angel, How I Met Your Mother, Love and Marriage, and The West Wing...

    : (David Rayburn, Hannah's father)
  • Faye Grant
    Faye Grant
    Faye Grant is an American film, television and theatre actress.-Career:Her first television role was on the TV series The Greatest American Hero as "Rhonda Blake"...

    : (Tattie McKee, Grace's mother)
  • Jason Blicker
    Jason Blicker
    Jason Blicker is a Canadian film and television actor. He has had several small roles in television series including recurring roles on Robocop, F/X: The Series, State of Grace, NYPD Blue, Boston Legal as well as roles films such as Half Baked , The Day After Tomorrow and Hidden 3D .-External links:...

    : (Uncle Heschie, Hannah's uncle)
  • Erica Yohn
    Erica Yohn
    Erica Yohn is an American actress. She has had many small parts in American movies and television shows, including ER, Murphy Brown, Quantum Leap and Kojak. She has also had recurring roles on State of Grace, Beverly Hills, 90210, and Picket Fences.-External links:...

    : (Grandma Ida, Hannah's grandmother)
  • Frances McDormand
    Frances McDormand
    Frances Louise McDormand is an American film and stage actress. She has starred in a number of films, including her Academy Award-winning performance as Marge Gunderson in Fargo, in 1996...

    : (Narrator, voice of Adult Hannah)

Guest stars

  • Bryan Neal: (Walker Adams, Grace's older half-brother)
  • Bonnie Bailey-Reed (Shirley, Rayburn's receptionist)
  • Carl M. Craig (Greer, the McKees' chauffeur)
  • Patricia Forte (Cookie, the McKees' maid)
  • Tom Verica
    Tom Verica
    Tom Verica is an American actor and director, known for his role of Jack Pryor on the NBC drama American Dreams. He played Astronaut Dick Gordon in the HBO miniseries From The Earth To The Moon...

     (Tommy Austin, Tattie's fiancé)
  • Adrian Neil (Nigel Grenville III, Tattie's friend)

Cast collaborations

The two main actresses, Shawkat and Whitman, went on to co-star on Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...

's Arrested Development. Shawkat was in the main cast and Whitman was a recurring guest star in season two and the beginning of season three (2004–2005). Shawkat played Maeby Funke on the show, while Whitman played Ann Veal, the girlfriend of Maeby's cousin George Michael Bluth (Michael Cera
Michael Cera
Michael Austin Cera is a Canadian actor best known for his roles in Arrested Development, Youth in Revolt, Superbad, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist and Juno. Cera received the 2008 Canadian Comedy Award for best male performance for his work in Superbad.-Early...

). Shawkat, Manoff and Mantell would later have roles in the film Bart Got a Room
Bart Got a Room
Bart Got a Room is a 2009 comedy film written and directed by Brian Hecker, and stars Steven Kaplan, Alia Shawkat, William H. Macy, and Cheryl Hines. Also appearing in the film are Ashley Benson, Brandon Hardesty, Kate Micucci, Jennifer Tilly, Dinah Manoff and Chad Jamian Williams as Bart. The film...

.

Awards

The series was created by Brenda Lilly and Hollis Rich and was recipient of many awards including The Parents Television Council, the Humanitas Award, and a Jewish Image Award.
Shawkat and Whitman were both nominated for the Young Artist Award
Young Artist Award
The Young Artist Award is an accolade bestowed by the Young Artist Foundation, a non-profit organization founded in 1978 to recognize and award excellence of youth performers, and to provide scholarships for young artists who may be physically and/or financially challenged.The Young Artist...

for the Best Performance in a TV Comedy Series - Leading Young Actress in 2002.
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