Claire Coffee is one of the most well-known Portland Oregon actresses thanks to her work on the hit television show Grim which was filmed here from 2011-2017.
Like many actors and actresses who have filmed in Portland over the years, Claire decided to move here with her husband and young son in 2015 and her career continues to thrive as Portland has quickly become one of the most popular filming locations in the United States.
About Claire Coffee
Claire Coffee stars in NBC's hit drama series Grimm as the seductive villainess Adalind Schade, nemesis to Nick Burkhardt (David Giuntoli).
In addition to acting, Coffee writes a fun and relatable fashion blog called Full Disclothesure. The blog chronicles the nitty-gritty reality of her red carpet "moments" and offers time-saving beauty, fashion and lifestyle hacks for the modern girl.
Her acting credits include recurring roles on "Franklin & Bash," and the acclaimed NBC drama "The West Wing." She has guest starred on long-running shows such as "Royal Pains," "The League," "CSI," "Psych," "Bones" and "Cold Case." Coffee played the title character in the Lifetime holiday movie "Holly's Holiday," and recently starred opposite Anthony Rapp in the indie film musical "Grind." She also created and starred in the web series "Chelsey and Kelsey Are Really Good Roommates," which won Best Mobile Series at ITVFest in Los Angeles.
Coffee was born in San Francisco and grew up performing in the regional theaters of Northern California, notably Mountain Play, Marin Civic Light Opera and The Western Stage. She graduated from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, with a Bachelor of Science degree in theater.
Things You Didn't Know About Grimm
Inspired by the iconic Grimm fairy tales, the show is about Nick Burkhardt, a Portland Oregon homicide detective who learns that he's actually a Grimm, a "guardian" who is responsible for keeping the balance between mythical creatures and humans.
The show almost came to screens in 2008…
Grimm had been in development for a while before it finally reached screens in 2011. As far back as 2008, a drama based on the Brothers Grimm from Stephen Carpenter was in development, but sadly that version of thing got nixed due to the writers' strike. Fortunately, the idea was from dead…
The producers chose Portland because of its parks…
Fairy tales are quite often set in the woods and so anywhere Grimm would be set needed there to be a lot of woods nearby. For that reason, producers choose Portland and the shooting opportunities that the plentiful forests in the city's two largest parks, Washington Park and Forest Park, provided.
The Brothers Grimm actually have some descendants in Portland…
The producers didn't know this when they picked Portland, but, as it turned out, there's Grimm history in the Oregon city. At Comic-Con in 2013 during an open Q&A, someone in the audience from Portland informed the show's writers, producers and cast that descendants of the Brothers actually reside in the city. One hell of a coincidence eh?
That stained glass on Monroe's door, it's very specific…
Nick's confidante and close friend Monroe has a very specific stained-glass display on his front door. It's a stained glass rendering of a wolf no less, makes sense, given his unique abilities…
There have been three spin-off novels…
The show's success has led to backers looking for spin-offs and, naturally, they looked to the literary world. Three novels, all written by different authors and set in the world of Grimm have been published so far and there are plans for more…
There was a comic too…
A companion comic book series was launched in 2013, it ran for 12 issues before ending in April of 2014.
Some big actors have made guest appearances…
As shows go, Grimm, isn't that old, but it's still found time to get airtime to a few big names for one-off appearances. Angel star Amy Acker appeared in series one, while Buffy The Vampire Slayer star and Acker's co-lead in Joss Whedon's Much Ado About Nothing Alexis Denisof then made an appearance in series three. Also, back in series two, Reg. E Cathey, star of The Wire and House of Cards, turns up for a key appearance as Baron Samedi, a homage to the Bond villain of the same name.
Not every episode takes after the Brothers…
There have been 88 episodes of Grimm now and there are more on the way, this has meant producers and writers have started to try and come up with their own narratives as they're simply running out of stories…
Bree Turner and Claire Coffee were only supposed to make a few appearances…
Cast as the helpful Rosalee and the dastardly Adalind respectively, both Turner and Coffee weren't expected to be long-term castings for the show, but the producers liked them so much they bumped up to regulars in the show's second season.
Love has blossomed for Nick and Juliette offscreen too…
They met playing a long-term couple on the show and now life has imitated reality for stars Bitsy Tulloch and David Giuntoli as they're now together offscreen as well.
Grimm Helped To Put Portland on the Map for popular filming locations in the United States
What's great about Grimm, besides the cool storylines, is that the show put Portland on the map and made our city attractive to producers and directors who are looking for new, visually stimulating locations to film, compared to the well-known locations used in Southern California and other states.
Since it premiered back in 2011 Grimm has been the one show that's continued to stick around and according to Bruce Lawson, a key grip on Grimm, the show was the "little show that could" because it continued to stick around over the years in spite of cancellation rumors from network big wigs.
Portland Oregon Locals Worked on the Grimm Set
Even after its last episode, Grimm will continue to be one of the most watched shows online and with all of the trivia about the show what most fans don't know is that the crew who worked on the show were mostly all Portland locals.
Many of the people who worked on Grimm have chosen to stay in Portland Oregon thanks to the creative environment of the city and even though most of them don't have similar big budget production jobs lined up yet after Grimm, Oregon Film is working hard on attracting more directors, producers, and companies to consider filming their shows in the Portland Oregon area.
Learn More About PDX People
To learn more about cool PDX People like Claire Coffee click here, or bookmark this website, for our latest issue of People from Portland Oregon.
Emma McIlroy – Co-Creator of Wildfang Clothing