Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce has done some TV work before in stints like Saturday Night Live and in the comedy series Moonbase 8, but the 34-year-old is now set to make his major acting debut in a scripted TV show in Ryan Murphy's upcoming horror series Grotesquerie.
In preparation for Kelce's foray into Hollywood, his mom, Donna Kelce, shared the advice she gave to her son as she prepared to watch the show for the first time.
She told Variety:
“I know he wanted to do this, and I know he can manifest things."
“He has no fear of trying things, and he has no fear of failure.”
She added:
“You know, sometimes parents want to fix things for their kids. But sometimes it’s better to just let them fail."
"You learn the most from things you don’t do well. Hopefully, if this is something he wants to do, he’ll get better at it.”
Social media users agreed with Mama Kelce's realistic observation and wisdom.
Kelce beamed about her son at the show's premiere.
"This is something that's unfamiliar to him," she said about playing a character besides appearing as himself in TV cameos.
"I know it's something he's always wanted to do."
She continued:
"I think he just wants everybody to see [the show] at the same time and see how it goes."
Kelce, who is also the mother of Travis' older brother, retired NFL star Jason, previously touched on her youngest son tackling acting.
She told USA Today:
"He's one of those types of individuals who's kind of like a chameleon."
"He can be with people of varying different walks of life and fit in. He's always been able to do that, and I think he has a lot to draw from with all of the individuals that he's been around."
Grotesquerie's co-star and executive producer Courtney B. Vance admitted that Travis' casting “just helps” the show.
Speaking to Variety, Vance said of Taylor Swift's main man:
“I mean it would be one thing if he wasn’t a nice guy. But really, he’s a nice guy.”
"It helps everybody. Ryan [Murphy] is all about publicity, and he does it better than anyone.”
According to the show's premise, Grotesquerie follows detective Lois Tryon (played by Niecy Nash-Betts), who "must work with Sister Megan, a local nun, to figure out the source of a series of heinous crimes that is affecting both their community and their personal lives."
The "murder-thriller kaleidoscope" show also stars Nicholas Alexander Chavez of Murphy’s “Monsters” and Broadway’s Micaela Diamond.
Kelce appears in a several-episode arc in a role Variety described as a "charming—if not porny—bed nurse."
The FX show premiered on September 25, 2024.
