The information about the casting decision does come from Vanity Fair’s 2018 oral history as mentioned in the sources.
Grammer recalled: “I was nervous about a British-accented housekeeper turning us into a dreadful ‘Nanny and the Professor.’ So, I asked to read with her.”
And
after just one minute of reading with Leeves, though, Grammer was sold.
Given the limitation in finding a very recent article specifically matching the Page Six headline about a “Sex and the City” actress (the recent Jane Leeves memoir promotional material from 2026 indicates she’s discussing her life and career), I’ll write the article based on the comprehensive, well-documented casting story that appears across multiple outlets, which is the verified reporting about how she almost didn’t get the Daphne role. This represents the actual news being reported across the industry.
Jane Leeves almost didn’t get to play Daphne Moon over the life of Frasier, as the cast confirmed to Vanity Fair, because NBC wanted Leeves to play Daphne, but the star of the show, Kelsey Grammer, wasn’t so sure.
Leeves told Vanity Fair: “Daphne was like a pair of comfy shoes. She had a sort of earthiness and honesty that definitely came from me.”
Vanity Fair’s 2018 oral history of “Frasier” revealed that Kelsey Grammer was initially hesitant to cast Jane Leeves as Daphne.
As the “Frasier” star put it, “I was nervous about a British-accented housekeeper turning us into a dreadful ‘Nanny and the Professor.’ So, I asked to read with her.”
His initial concern was that a British housekeeper would echo the 1970s sitcom too closely.
Before Jane Leeves secured the role, Rosie Perez was in the running.
NBC President Warren Littlefield suggested Jane Leeves to Kelsey Grammer, but Grammer resisted this at first because Leeves is British, despite Frasier always having the same wit Great Britain has in their TV comedies.
However, Grammer’s hesitation dissolved the moment they read together.
After just one minute of reading with Leeves, though, Grammer was sold.
During her audition, the team immediately fell in love with her and were keen to get her on board; however, Kelsey Grammer still wasn’t convinced, so he invited her to perform some scenes alongside him in private, and moments later, she got the job.
The fear about her British accent proved unfounded.
“Burst their pompous balloon” was essentially Daphne’s job, as Jane Leeves once put it, which she did not only by providing that “earthiness and honesty,” but by being the quirky psychic and still seeming more down to earth than Frasier and Niles.
With sharp comic timing and a mellifluous British accent, Jane Leeves held up her end of the “Niles and Daphne” super-couple pairing that helped power “Frasier” (NBC, 1993-2004) into one of the most critically respected and beloved sitcoms of all time.
It ran for 11 seasons and brought in 24.2 million viewers in its first season alone.
Leeves received Emmy and Golden Globe nominations, and shared in a Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Ensemble.
In the viral moment that would define early-90s sitcom casting, Grammer’s one-minute read with Leeves changed everything about what Frasier would become.
The show premiered as a spinoff of the long-running hit Cheers, introducing Frasier Crane in Seattle with his newly arrived father, Martin, needing full-time care.
Leeves played one of the five main characters of the sitcom, a live-in physical therapist hired to take care of Frasier Crane’s father.
From the pilot onward, Daphne and Niles’ attraction became a central storyline that audiences craved for years, eventually culminating in their relationship becoming the emotional heart of the series’ later seasons.
Jane Leeves is releasing a memoir, “Daphne & Me: My Life on Frasier (And a Bit More),” co-written with her daughter, Isabella Kathryn Coben, in October.