Grace Reiter Has Always Been Ready For Stardom

As a kid, Grace Reiter didn’t just have dreams of becoming an actor; she specifically wanted to be a Disney Channel star. “I fancasted myself as Cameron Boyce’s girlfriend in Jessie,” the 24-year-old comedian tells me over Zoom. “I also wanted to be on Good Luck Charlie because I had a crush on the brother [Bradley Steven Perry]. So really, I was just a hopelessly romantic child and wanted to be an actress so I could live out my fantasies on TV.”

The fame that comes with being a celebrity was also very appealing to the 10-year-old girl growing up in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. “I’d always pretend the Disney Channel was watching me, and they were going to be like, ‘We saw you dancing in your basement, and we’re giving you a show.’ And then I’d be like, ‘What? Me?’” Now living in New York City, Reiter is one step closer to her childhood dreams.

Reiter is currently starring in an off-Broadway parody of The Parent Trap, titled Ginger Twinsies, where she plays Chessy, the nanny and housekeeper. The show is executive produced by Elaine Hendrix, also known as Meredith Blake, whom Reiter describes as a “proud mom.” “The whole play is about a Meredith Blake redemption arc. She wasn’t the villain. Justice for Meredith Blake,” she says. “Her energy is just intoxicating and definitely what the cast needs, because it’s a hard show.”

When it was happening, I was like, ‘Yeah, kind of about damn time.’

Reiter began posting silly Vine-esque videos at home and with her friends on TikTok in 2018. “I had been making videos on Instagram for my friends, so I decided to post them on TikTok as well to see what it could do,” she says. Her first mega-viral moment happened in 2019 when she posted a Harry Styles fan-fiction parody. “That got me maybe a million likes and then a million followers,” she says. As a kid with big dreams, Reiter always knew this moment would come. “When it was happening, I was like, ‘Yeah, kind of about damn time.’”

Now, nearly six years later, the video has more than 15.1 million views, and Reiter has earned herself more than 3.4 million followers. That success helped Reiter sign with a manager, which she says is the moment when she felt like a real comedian. “I’ve always just been myself, but then when my manager would compliment me or compare me to someone I thought was out of my league comedically, I was like, ‘Oh, wait, she sees something in them, and she sees something in me.’” (She loves being compared to comedians Caleb Hearon and Brittany Broski.)

In 2023, she joined the Syracuse-based cast of the Saturday Night Live-inspired sketch comedy group American High. Since its start in 2017, American High has also produced movies like Big Time Adolescence, as well as the Hulu films Prom Dates and Summer of 69, in which Reiter has appeared. She says getting to be on set was a “dream come true” compared to making videos alone in her basement.

I got to know what's going on, girl. We got to get into it.

While the off-Broadway show is part of the reason why Reiter moved to NYC less than a year ago, the Big Apple offers more stand-up opportunities and open mics for the rising comedian. In March, Reiter launched her podcast, That’s Enough. Each week, she overshares her thoughts with guests like Connor Wood and Sabrina Brier.

“I had my Disney Channel dreams, but I also wanted to be a YouTuber,” she says. “I’m an open book, and YouTubers overshare online, so I thought, ‘I’ll overshare. I have no problem with that.’” That’s where the inspiration behind That’s Enough came from. “It comes from a place of wanting to be seen and understood, sharing things.” Her dream guest? JoJo Siwa. “I got to know what's going on, girl. We got to get into it.”

Keeping up with her podcast and off-Broadway debut, while continuing to post on TikTok, has been a lot for Reiter to juggle these past few months — especially for someone who admittedly isn’t as outgoing as her online persona. In August, she told Betches that she considers herself more “introverted or quiet,” and that calm demeanor comes through even on Zoom, where Reiter is relaxing at home in a pink hoodie with a Chipotle lunch delivery waiting to be enjoyed once the interview is over.

After a busy year filled with “pinch me” moments — including meeting Lin-Manuel Miranda and Andrew Scott — Reiter confesses she’s manifesting more balance in the next year. “I moved to New York, and it hasn’t been a year yet, but I would love to hit a year and be like, ‘OK, I’m settled. Here I am. This is home,’” she says.

Getting cast on Saturday Night Live or in a Marvel movie is also a dream of hers. Reiter has been invited to perform on Saturday Night Live showcases, which is an audition step for getting cast in the show. While she wasn’t announced as one of the newcomers to Studio 8H for the 2025 season, current cast member Chloe Fineman commented on a TikTok saying she’s also “manifesting” an SNL future for Reiter. “We will see,” Reiter says. “It is all up to powers outside of my control.”

In the meantime, Reiter is looking forward to a “long, successful run” of Ginger Twinsies. She’s also looking forward to sharing a Hunger Games parody she filmed for her birthday in May that she’s hoping to premiere on YouTube later this fall.

“I’m really excited for that,” she says. “I would love for that to be a birthday party thing I do, where I just make movies or remake parody movies that my friends and I love.” No matter how many followers she gets, at the end of the day, Reiter is still just the Disney Channel girl living out her fantasies on screen.