Topher was raised in Darien, Connecticut, but his acting career began with musical productions of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and The Pirates of Penzance at Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire. He was discovered in 1998 while performing in a high school production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum by That ’70s Show producers Bonnie and Terry Turner. A few months later, they asked him to audition for the series. It was his first professional audition, and Grace got the job playing Eric Forman on the brand new sitcom. Although he’d already begun studies at the University of Southern California, he put his schooling on hold for the time being. The show was a hit, and two years later, Grace made his big screen debut in a serious role as a drug user in the hard-hitting Oscar-nominated feature film Traffic (2000). He won a Young Hollywood Award for Breakthrough Performance and shared a Screen Actors Guild Award with the rest of the cast.
His next big movie role was in Mona Lisa Smile (2003), co-starring with Julia Roberts, Julia Stiles and Kirsten Dunst, then he moved up to leading man status playing Pete Monash, the guy who’s secretly in love with a girl who wins a date with a movie star in Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! (2004). Topher, who won’t discuss his love life with the press, enjoys traveling. Born in New York City, he currently makes his home in Los Angeles.