DINH DOONG

Practice makes perfect. NFL star Travis Kelce is making his acting debut in Ryan Murphy’s new FX series Grotesquerie. But don’t expect him to knock it out of the park with his first performance, his mom Donna Kelce says.

Donna Kelce weighs in on Travis Kelce’s first acting gig

Mama Kelce was in New York City on Sept. 23 for the premiere of Grotesquerie. Though she had yet to see the show, she told Variety that Travis had long wanted to explore acting.

“I know he wanted to do this, and I know he can manifest things,” she said. “He has no fear of trying things, and he has no fear of failure.”

While Donna was all about supporting her son’s dreams, she wasn’t sure if he was a natural actor – and that was OK.

“You know, sometimes parents want to fix things for their kids,” she said. “But sometimes it’s better to just let them fail. You learn the most from things you don’t do well. Hopefully, if this is something he wants to do, he’ll get better at it.”

Donna will make her own acting debut later this year in a pair of Hallmark Channel holiday movies. In Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story,she plays the manager of a Kansas City barbecue restaurant. In the Philadelphia-set Christmas on Call, she plays a woman who works at a Philly cheesesteak spot.

Travis Kelce plays a nurse in FX’s ‘Grotesquerie’

Grotesquerie premiered on Sept. 25, but viewers won’t see Travis until the third episode, which airs Oct. 2. He plays a bed nurse.

“I cannot wait to see everybody’s reaction of me being in a mystery thriller. Kinda scary. What the f*ck is going on? It’ll get you thinking now,” Travis said to his brother Jason Kelce in a recent episode of theirNew Heights podcast.

The 10-episode Grotesquerie focuses on a small town unsettled by a series of disturbing crimes. Detective Lois Tryon (Niecy Nash-Betts) feels the crimes are personal and that someone – or something – is taunting her. She turns to Sister Megan (Micaela Diamond), a nun/journalist for help, and as they investigate, they find themselves ensnared in a sinister web.

Grotesquerie “has it all,” Murphy teased when talking to Variety. That includes a “crazy serial killer,” a detective who’s a “blackout alcoholic,” a “true-crime obsessed nun,” and “an equally true-crime obsessed priest, who’s also a Peloton instructor on the side.”

Though the subject matter is twisted, Kelce is “a nice guy,” said Courtney B. Vance, who stars in the show. He hopes that Kelce’s casting gets people to tune in.

It “just helps us. It helps everybody,” he said. “Ryan is all about publicity, and he does it better than anyone.”

Grotesquerie airs on Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on FX. Episodes stream the next day on Hulu.