Why Jess Salgueiro's Frasier Audition Was So Intimidating

In the 2023 "Frasier" revival series, up-and-coming actor Jess Salgueiro plays Eve, a friend of the titular character's son, Freddy (Jack Cutmore-Scott). Despite her impressive resume at the time — featuring roles on shows like "The Expanse" and "The Boys," among others — she was particularly intimidated by the process of auditioning for "Frasier."

Salgueiro detailed her "Frasier" audition in an interview with the Toronto Star. She explained that she first submitted a tape in December 2022. Her callback was the following January. It required her to act alongside Kelsey Grammer and in front of prolific "Cheers" co-creator James Burrows. Plus, she explained, she hadn't taken part in a live audition in years due to COVID-19 precautions. "I'm kind of nervous because I haven't been in an audition room for three years, right?" she said. "And then I look at my email and it's a chemistry read with Kelsey Grammer. And I was like, 'That's not just a fun callback. That's intense. And James Burrows is going to be in the room.'"

Funnily enough, it was Burrows and not Grammer in front of whom she felt particularly nervous to perform. Just before finding out about her callback, Salgueiro listened to an episode of the "SmartLess" podcast featuring Burrows as its guest, so his legendary contributions to the TV industry were fresh on her mind. "I was like, 'I wish I hadn't listened to that,' I was so intimidated," she said. "He's directed more episodes of television than anyone on the planet."

As intimidated by her first in-person audition as she might have felt, Jess Salgueiro apparently impressed the "Frasier" reboot staff and landed the role of Eve. Her struggles didn't end there, however. As she recounted to the Toronto Star, she didn't necessarily respect multi-cam sitcom work before she joined the "Frasier" reboot cast. But as soon as she had to perform in front of a live studio audience, she learned why the genre is uniquely difficult.

"I was probably a bit of a snob about multi-cam [shows] before I did it. I think I thought that the actors were just kind of doing a shtick or, you know, not really acting," the actor admitted. "I was kind of like, this isn't elevated enough. But then after my first episode, I was like, 'That's the hardest thing I've ever done in my life.'"

This comment tracks with an interview CTV News Winnipeg published with Salgueiro while new episodes of the "Frasier" reboot were still actively airing. "The first episode taping was very intimidating," she said. "It took a lot of relaxing and just trusting James [Burrows] and trusting the process."

Of course, Salgueiro overcame each of these difficulties and became an invaluable member of the "Frasier" cast. Kelsey Grammer has already teased plans for a "Frasier" reboot Season 2, so there may be plenty more multi-cam sitcom work alongside Grammer and Burrows in Salgueiro's future.