Gracie Cashman on Acting, Balance, and Big-Screen Debuts -

Gracie Cashman is having a moment—balancing her hit show The Story of My Number, a new film California Skate, and powerful advocacy work that’s reshaping conversations around women’s health and representation.

You’re currently starring on The Story of My Number and have a film coming out soon—what has it been like balancing your on-air work with acting in California Skate?
It’s been great! Busy, but the best and most fulfilled kind of busy. YES has been super supportive of my acting career, and allowed me to just be in California and focus only on California Skate for the weeks I was there (which was incredible). The experience of filming that movie was amazing. It was the most wonderful and warm set you could ever be invited on to and I couldn’t have done it if YES didn’t have my back 100% so I’m super grateful that they did.

Your projects span sports, entertainment, and now film. How do you choose the stories or roles that resonate with you most?
I have the most wonderful agency and team! So I’m normally only in conversation with them about projects that for one reason or another make sense at face value. I think a lot of it is about lived experience, and a lot of being an actor is being an empath. You can’t judge the character or the decisions or their feelings you have to find a way in by finding a way to relate. I guess if I could find NO humanity in a project that would be a reason to walk away but so far I’ve been lucky enough that none of those have come my way.

You were diagnosed with endometriosis, PCOS, and insulin resistance after years of pain and uncertainty. Can you walk us through what it was like finally getting that diagnosis?
It was a combination of feeling completely validated and being absolutely livid that it had taken me that long to get answers. It’s like this wave of relief comes over you that you were right and something was wrong and all the doctors who told you your pain was normal were wrong. But it’s immediately followed by all these consequences from a diagnosis taking that long. There can be life altering and life long consequences from a disease having 10 years to ransack your body (which is the average length of time for a diagnosis for a person with endometriosis). So you finally feel heard but also angry that these consequences (fertility issues, high risks of certain cancers, etc.) could have all been avoided if someone had just taken it seriously at the start and not wasted 10 years letting it progress while you suffered.

You’ve said there was a moment of validation when you found out your pain wasn’t “normal.” How did that shift your relationship with your body and your health?
I wish I could say it shifted more than it did. Unfortunately, that one moment of validation doesn’t outweigh the years of gaslighting. And even after you have a diagnosis, the gaslighting continues. It’s unfortunately not a disease that once you have a diagnosis everyone knows what it is and what it means. I have still had to fight to be believed. I had one doctor refer me for early screening for certain cancers due to my diagnosis and family history and the referral doctor tried to turn me away because “that only impacts fertility.” But the diagnosis gives you the ability to do your own research and to be armed with the facts and with communities of women experiencing the same thing, and that is really life changing.

You had to face fertility conversations in your early twenties—how do you navigate that emotional complexity while also stepping into the spotlight as a public figure?
It’s a weird one for sure. It feels very outdated in a way because my career was just starting to gain some traction and simultaneously I’m being told I might have to put it on hold if I ever want the possibility of having kids.. and in this industry that’s not really an option – you have to ride the momentum wave when it comes and it may never come again. And maybe it’s something women everywhere are feeling and we’re just not talking about enough, but I had this thought like “I thought we were done with this… I thought we were done telling women to choose between their career and a family and I certainly thought we were done doing it when they are 24!” And it’s of course no one’s fault the doctors were just giving me my options but it’s a tough feeling to think that you’re just starting to see all the work pay off but this opportunity of having a family that you took for granted might be dying as it does.

As part of the Benefit Committee for EndoFound’s Blossom Ball, what message are you most passionate about sharing with young women and those who still feel unheard?
It is so unbelievably wrong!!! You have to fight like hell and that is wildly unfair. But you have to swallow that pill and hope our fight makes the next generation’s fight a little easier. There are people raising awareness, education, money for research, there are good people fighting really hard and every small step makes that progress more accessible to more women.

Why do you think endometriosis and other reproductive health conditions are still so widely misunderstood or dismissed, even in 2025?
It wasn’t until 1993 that the NIH mandated the inclusion of women and minorities in clinical studies receiving NIH funding. And it wasn’t until the 2000s that the FDA followed suit. When you think about how many medical professionals completed their education way before that it’s really alarming to think that this was just not something being discussed at all. And even now that it’s in the public arena, think of how many decades behind we are on research. We have a lot of catching up to do.

Gaslighting in medical spaces is a common thread in many women’s health journeys. What would you say to someone who’s being told “it’s just part of being a woman”?
No, it’s not. Being a woman is not a life sentence to pain. My best advice is to find organizations (like endofound) and find the list of doctors that work with them. Even if it turns out you don’t have endo, those doctors will believe you and listen to your pain and will likely be better equipped to point you in the right direction.

How has your experience shaped the kind of stories you want to tell in your work—whether on screen, behind the mic, or on red carpets?
It has made me passionate about consistently amplifying women’s voices and stories. I think in our fight for equality it’s important to honor the people who got us where we are today but also acknowledge that the work isn’t done. So making sure women have a space to share their experience is really important.

What’s next for you—either creatively or in your advocacy—and what are you most hopeful for in the future of women’s healthcare?
Hopefully, there is more to come! I’m excited for everyone to see the new season of The Story of My Number being released, and we have more to come! And I’m hopeful that each year more and more people and healthcare professionals know about endometriosis and we may not have a cure next year but we can at least treat the patients with empathy and respect.