State of Grace (TV series)

Plot

The series centers on Hannah Rayburn, a 12-year-old Jewish girl from a middle-class family, and her best friend Grace McKee, a 12-year-old Catholic girl from a wealthy family. Hannah's family recently moved from Chicago to Ashmore, North Carolina, where her parents own a furniture factory.

Grace lives with her socialite mother. The girls are portrayed as more intelligent, thoughtful, funny, and rebellious than other children their age. The show was compared by some to The Wonder Years.

Cast and characters

Dinah Manoff plays Evelyn Rayburn, Hannah's mother; Michael Mantell plays David Rayburn, Hannah's father; Alia Shawkat plays Hannah Rayburn; Erica Yohn plays Grandma Ida; Jason Blicker plays Uncle Heschie; Faye Grant plays Tattie McKee, Grace's mother; Mae Whitman plays Emma 'Grace' McKee; Frances McDormand is the narrator as adult Hannah; Bryan Neal plays Walker Adams; Bonnie Bailey-Reed plays Shirley; Carl M. Craig plays Greer; Patricia Forte plays Cookie; Tom Verica plays Tommy Austin; Adrian Neil plays Nigel Grenville III. Shawkat and Whitman later co-starred on Fox's Arrested Development.

Did You Know?

• The series received 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 for Best Performance in a TV Comedy Series – Leading Young Actress in 2002.
• Shawkat, Manoff and Mantell later had roles in the film Bart Got a Room.