David Alan Grier is a Tony-winning actor and an acclaimed comedian. But he recently admitted that he missed out on some major roles.
During an appearance on TODAY with Jenna and Sheinelle, Grier told Jones and guest co-host Justin Sylvester about roles he passed on, including starring in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.
“Ace Ventura was a script that was passed around. I think when they came to me, they said me and Rob Schneider,” Grier said. “And I passed on it, because it was a bad script.”
Grier said that Carrey jumped at the opportunity because he would have”total freedom” in the role.”
“He took that script and reinvented it,” Grier noted. “That’s why it was so successful.”
Sylvester then mentioned how Grier “fumbled George Costanza.”
”You could have been on Seinfeld,” Grier confirmed that he did audition for the role that was famously played by Jason Alexander. While reading the script with Jerry Seinfeld, he thought, “this man can’t act, it’s not funny, this will never be a hit.”
“I was like, ‘This show is going to suck. This will never go,” Grier said at the time. He also noted that while he auditioned for the role, it was never offered to him. When Seinfeld became a hit, he finally realized his vision for the show.
“I was like, ‘S—, I should’ve been better and why the f— did I blow off that audition,” Grier recalled. “It was like, ‘So what?’ Right over my head.”
Although he may have missed out on some roles, Grier has played some legendary characters. On In Living Color, he played the hilariously inept blues musician Calhoun Tubbs and the “two snaps and a circle” art critic Antoine Meriweather. Grier also played the cantankerous patriarch, Joe Carmichael, on The Carmichael Show and is currently playing Dr. Ron in the 2024 series, St. Denis Medical.