Lea Michele

Lea Michele Sarfati (born August 29, 1986) is an American actress, singer and author. She began her career as a child actress on Broadway, appearing in productions of Les Misérables (1995–1996), Ragtime (1997–1999), Fiddler on the Roof (2004–2005), and Spring Awakening (2006–2008). Michele came to major prominence playing Rachel Berry on the Fox series Glee (2009–2015), for which she received an Emmy Award nomination and two Golden Globe nominations. She earned three Grammy Award nominations for music she recorded for Glee, also spawning multiple hits on the Billboard charts. She subsequently starred as Hester Ulrich on the Fox series Scream Queens (2015–2016) and as Valentina Barella on the ABC sitcom The Mayor (2017).

Michele made her feature film debut in New Year's Eve (2011), and was signed to Columbia Records in 2012. She released her debut single the following year, "Cannonball", followed by her debut studio album, Louder (2014), which debuted at number 4 on the Billboard 200 chart in the United States. Three years later, she released her second studio album, Places (2017), which debuted at number 28 on the Billboard 200. On October 25, 2019, she released Christmas in the City, her third studio album. Michele has also published two books, Brunette Ambition (2014) and You First: Journal Your Way to Your Best Life (2015).

Early life and education
Lea Michele Sarfati was born in the Bronx, New York. She is the only child of Edith Thomasina (née Porcelli), a retired nurse, and Mark David Sarfati, a real estate agent and former delicatessen owner. Her mother is an Italian American with ancestors from Rome and Naples, while her father is a Sephardic Jew with ancestors from Thessaloniki, Greece. Michele was raised in her mother's Catholic faith, and has stated that her father "gladly" attended church with them. She spent the first four years of her life living in the Bronx, until she and her parents moved to the more suburban area of Tenafly, New Jersey. The family also rented an apartment in Manhattan, where they would live when Michele was performing on Broadway. Michele was educated at Rockland Country Day School for elementary school in Congers, New York.

Michele started using her middle name at an early age. When she went on her first audition, for the role of Young Cosette in Les Misérables, she gave her name as Lea Michele, and has used it professionally ever since. Michele stated that she intentionally left off her surname because she was teased about its pronunciation. During the audition, she sang "Angel of Music" from The Phantom of the Opera – the only musical she knew at the time. Michele went along to support a friend, but ended up landing the part herself. In 1997, Michele was homeschooled while living and working in Toronto, where she performed in a production of Ragtime. For her high school education, Michele attended Tenafly High School. During her time there, she was on the volleyball team, the debate team, and participated in choir. In her teens, when she was not working on the stage, Michele had a part-time job at a bat mitzvah dress shop. She also worked at her father's deli.

Michele refrained from auditioning for Broadway roles during her freshman, sophomore and junior years so she could focus on her education. In the summers from 2000 to 2002, Michele attended Stagedoor Manor in the Catskills, a center for performing arts training. At Stagedoor, she was part of the touring troupe Our Time Cabaret, and performed in productions of Side by Side by Sondheim and The Who's Tommy. In her final summer at the camp, Michele was to perform in a production of Sweet Charity, but instead booked the role of Wendla Bergmann in a workshop of Spring Awakening, forcing her to drop out. She was later accepted to New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, but opted instead to continue working professionally on the stage. When Michele was 19 years old, her mother Edith was diagnosed with uterine cancer. Edith received treatment from the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.

1995–2008: Beginnings and stage roles
Michele made her Broadway debut in 1995, at the age of eight, as a replacement in the role of Young Cosette in Les Misérables. Michele was also the understudy for the role of Gavroche. This was followed by the role of the Little Girl in the 1998 original Broadway cast of Ragtime. Michele had been portraying the part of the Little Girl for a year in the original Toronto cast, before the production was transferred to Broadway. As a child, she voiced a main character, Christina, in the animated film Buster & Chauncey's Silent Night, released on October 13, 1998. In 2004, Michele began portraying Shprintze in the Broadway revival of the musical Fiddler on the Roof, and understudied the role of Chava. She also performed on the cast recording of the show.

Michele next played the role of Wendla Bergmann in Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik's musical version of Spring Awakening, starring in early workshops and Off-Broadway performances, before finally originating the role in the 2006 Broadway production at the age of twenty. In February 2005, she performed as Wendla at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. Around the same time that Spring Awakening was set to go to Broadway, Michele was offered the role of Éponine Thénardier in the Broadway revival of Les Misérables. She elected to remain with Spring Awakening, which premiered on Broadway in December 2006. For her performance, she was nominated for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical. In January 2008, Michele starred in a concert production of the musical Alive in the World as Phoebe, aiding the Twin Towers Orphan Fund.

In April 2008, she performed a Flops n' Cutz concert at Joe's Pub with her boyfriend at the time, stage actor Landon Beard. In May 2008, Michele left the Broadway cast of Spring Awakening with her co-star Jonathan Groff. She then performed as Claudia Octavia in a reading of Sheik and Sater's new musical, Nero, in July 2008 at Vassar College. In August 2008, she portrayed Éponine in the Hollywood Bowl's Les Misérables concert, which was directed by Richard Jay-Alexander. She starred alongside Brian Stokes Mitchell as Javert and John Lloyd Young as Marius Pontmercy, both of whom would go on to guest star on Glee. While in Los Angeles for the Les Misérables concerts, she sang at the Upright Cabaret at Mark's Restaurant in Hollywood in August 2008. The next month, she performed at the benefit Broadway Chance Style: Up Close & Personal along with stars such as Laura Bell Bundy, Eden Espinosa and Kristoffer Cusick.

2009–2012: Glee and mainstream success
From 2009 until its ending in 2015, Michele starred in the Fox musical comedy-drama series Glee as Rachel Berry, the show's female lead and star singer. The role was written specifically for Michele by co-creator Ryan Murphy. Michele won a number of awards for portraying Rachel, including the 2009 Satellite Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy. She was also nominated for the 2009 Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy, and the 2010 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.

Michele was included on Time's list of the 100 Most Influential People In the World for 2010. In December 2010, she received Billboard's first-ever Triple Threat Award. Several songs performed by Michele on the show were released as singles available for digital download. Her cover of The All-American Rejects' song "Gives You Hell" reached the top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100. Michele was featured as lead singer for 14 of the top 20 best-selling Glee cast songs as of 2010. In 2011, she was nominated for two Grammy Awards, for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals ("Don't Stop Believin'") and Best Compilation Soundtrack Album (Glee: The Music, Volume 1). That same year, Michele was nominated again for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy. In 2012 and 2013, she won the People's Choice Award for Favorite TV Comedy Actress.

In May 2010, Michele and the cast of Glee embarked on a music tour of the United States, playing 10 shows in Phoenix, Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York City. The final show of 2010 was at Radio City Music Hall. Jonathan Groff, who played Michele's love interest Jesse St. James on the show, performed with her at the Los Angeles and New York City shows. Glee Live! In Concert! then expanded a year later to include 22 shows across North America and 9 shows in England and Ireland. The cast acted in character for the concerts, which were met with positive reviews.

In October 2010, Michele and co-star Matthew Morrison performed as Janet Weiss and Brad Majors, respectively, in the 35th anniversary benefit concert of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The event benefited The Painted Turtle and also starred Jack Nicholson and Danny DeVito. In February 2011, Michele performed at The Grammys' MusiCares Person of the Year event in Los Angeles, honoring Barbra Streisand. She sang "My Man" from the Streisand film Funny Girl. Before the Super Bowl XLV on February 6, 2011, Michele performed "America the Beautiful" with the United States Air Force Tops In Blue. She then starred in Garry Marshall's romantic comedy film New Year's Eve, portraying Elise, a back-up singer and the love interest of Ashton Kutcher's character. The film was released worldwide on December 9, 2011.

2013–2016: Louder and Scream Queens
On September 18, 2012, it was announced that Michele would be working on her first solo album. She began recordings for the album soon after on October 19, 2012. Michele stated that it was a "pretty slow process" and the album would be more "pop/rock driven" rather than Broadway influenced. On November 27, 2013, it was announced that the first single from her debut album Louder would be "Cannonball", which was released on December 10, 2013. "Cannonball" debuted at number 75 on the Billboard Hot 100, making her the first main Glee cast member to chart as a lead soloist. The single sold over 51,000 copies in its first week of sale. The music video was released on January 9, 2014. Michele subsequently released four promotional singles in the lead-up to the album: "Battlefield", "Louder", "What Is Love?", and "You're Mine". Louder was released on February 28, 2014, and debuted on the Billboard 200 at number four, selling over 62,000 copies in its first week. The second single from the album, "On My Way", was released on May 4, 2014, with the music video premiering on May 19, 2014.

Michele next voiced the lead role of Dorothy Gale in the animated musical film Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return, which opened in North American theaters on May 9, 2014. In May 2013, it was announced that Michele had signed a deal with Harmony Books and Random House to pen a part memoir, part how-to book titled Brunette Ambition. The book was released on May 20, 2014. Michele had multiple book signings in the United States, including a signing and Q&A event hosted by Jonathan Groff. The book debuted at number nine on the U.S. Nonfiction Best Seller list a week after it was released, and made its debut on The New York Times Best Seller list at number three. Michele released a second book, You First: Journal Your Way to Your Best Life, on September 22, 2015, which was also published by Random House.

In July 2014, it was announced that Michele would guest star in the final season of FX's drama series Sons of Anarchy, playing the role of Gertie, a truck stop waitress who connects with Gemma Teller Morrow (Katey Sagal). Michele's episode, "Smoke 'em If You Got 'em", aired on October 14, 2014. From 2015 to 2016, Michele starred in the Fox horror-comedy series Scream Queens, alongside original scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis, portraying the quirky, neck brace-wearing Hester Ulrich. She was nominated for the People's Choice Award for Favorite Actress in a New TV Series, and two Teen Choice Awards for Choice TV Actress: Comedy and Choice TV: Villain for her performance in the role. On March 15, 2016, the charity single "This Is for My Girls", on which Michele was one of eight featured singers, was released as a charity single. The song, written by Diane Warren, benefited the White House's #62MillionGirls campaign and the Obama administration's Let Girls Learn initiative, set up by the First Lady of the United States Michelle Obama.

2017–2018: Places and The Mayor
Michele began recording for her second studio album in April 2015. She stated that the album would be less pop-influenced than her debut, and would "[go] back to [her] roots" with a more theatrical sound. In January 2017, Michele played three shows on a mini tour titled An Intimate Evening with Lea Michele, to support her second studio album, Places. The tour continued with additional shows in the UK and North America in April and May 2017. The lead single from the sophomore album, "Love Is Alive", was released on March 3, 2017. Three promotional singles were subsequently released in the lead-up to the album: "Anything's Possible", "Run to You", and "Getaway Car". Places was released on April 28, 2017, and debuted at number 28 on the Billboard 200 chart with over 16,000 units sold in its first week.

On April 4, 2017, Michele appeared as Amanda in the first episode of Hulu's science fiction anthology series Dimension 404, alongside Robert Buckley and Joel McHale. She subsequently portrayed political advisor Valentina Barella in ABC's sitcom The Mayor, created by Jeremy Bronson and executive produced by Daveed Diggs, starring opposite Brandon Micheal Hall and Yvette Nicole Brown. On October 8, 2017, Michele performed as a headlining act at the third annual musical theatre festival Elsie Fest, founded by her Glee co-star Darren Criss. In April 2018, it was announced that Michele would venture on a co-headlining tour with Criss. The LM/DC Tour included shows in several North American cities in May and June 2018. The tour continued from October to December 2018 in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

2019–present: Further television work and Christmas in the City
In May 2019, it was announced that Michele will host a health and wellness digital series for the Ellen DeGeneres Network, titled Well, Well, Well with Lea Michele. Michele's third studio album, Christmas in the City, was released on October 25, 2019. She also starred as the lead in a holiday television film, Same Time, Next Christmas, for ABC.

Personal life
Michele lives in Brentwood, Los Angeles.

Michele began working with actor Cory Monteith in 2008, when they were cast as love interests on Glee. In February 2012, the media reported that they had begun dating. They remained together until his death in July 2013.

On April 28, 2018, Michele announced her engagement to Zandy Reich. They were married on March 9, 2019, in Northern California.

Discography

 * Louder (2014)
 * Places (2017)
 * Christmas in the City (2019)

Film

 * 1998 - Buster & Chauncey's Silent Night - Christina (voice)
 * 2011 - Glee: The 3D Concert Movie - Rachel Berry
 * 2011 - New Year's Eve - Elise
 * 2014 - Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return - Dorothy Gale (voice)

Television
2000 - Third Watch - Sammi - Episode: "Spring Forward Fall Back" 2009–2015 - Glee - Rachel Berry - 118 episodes 2010 - The Simpsons	Sarah (voice) - Episode: "Elementary School Musical" 2011 - The Cleveland Show - Rachel Berry (voice) - Episode: "How Do You Solve a Problem Like Roberta?" 2014 - Sons of Anarchy - Gertie	Episode: "Smoke 'em If You Got 'em" 2015–2016 - Scream Queens - Hester Ulrich	23 episodes 2017 - Dimension 404 - Amanda - Episode: "Matchmaker" 2017–2018 - The Mayor - Valentina Barella - 13 episodes 2019 - Same Time, Next Christmas - Olivia Henderson - Television film

Music Video
2013 - "Cannonball" - Herself - Directed by Robert Hales 2014 - "On My Way" - Directed by Hannah Lux Davis 2019 - "Christmas in New York"