Lea Michele
I remember watching Barbra Streisand and seeing Jennifer Grey in 'Dirty Dancing' - these were people who acted like me and looked like me. Now it's great that everyone on 'Glee' is so unique and people can relate to us and look up to us.Collection: Great
I don't stop. It's my nature. People have to tell me to slow down. I plan on playing every role on Broadway. I want to do 'Evita.' I want to do 'Sweeney Todd' with Chris Colfer. We want to do 'Wicked.' I'll be Elphaba and he wants to play 'Guy-linda.' I want to do movies, make music. 'Glee' is only the beginning.Collection: Movies
I always knew that I wanted to work and I knew I wanted to be a singer and an actor. I knew that every choice I made would help me get to that point. So the better the choices I made, the more of a chance I would have to get to where I wanted to be.Collection: Chance
When it comes to 'Glee,' I feel like I've been in a relationship, and now I can mingle a bit.Collection: Relationship
I was a vegan for two years, and I really enjoyed it. Then, I got to a point in my life at which I wanted to do something else, so now I'm a vegetarian. You should make your diet one that best fits you and how you feel. Listen to your body. The most important thing is to exercise, drink lots of water, and take really good care of yourself.Collection: Diet
I can't believe it's been four years now, and from watching that pilot, we really all looked like babies. It's unbelievable just how far everything has come. I'm happier now than I've ever been on the show and in my life. I really owe so much of my happiness to 'Glee.'Collection: Happiness
Trust me, sunscreen is so, so, so important and so I always wear sunscreen, but I still get really tan.
I'm simple. I love hiking, going to the gym, doing some simple stuff. I love being outdoors, I love bike riding. Just stuff that's fun!
I consider myself lucky to be an only child because if I had other siblings, my mother would not have been able to take me to every audition and be so supportive of my career.
Growing up on stage, I was introduced to makeup at a young age and I will never forget the first time I tried on a L'Oreal Paris iconic lipstick - it was instant glamour and I've been hooked ever since.
I worried that people wouldn't like me. Now I try not to worry and focus on being happy.
I love being outdoors - hiking, biking, and swimming.
I am a very outspoken person, and if something makes me uncomfortable, you will know that it makes me uncomfortable, but that's as far as it goes.
I have loved 'Les Miz' for so long. It was the first Broadway show I'd ever done.
One of my favorite things about 'Spring Awakening' is that it is enjoyable and important for both kids and adults to see.
When I wasn't working on Broadway, I worked in a Bat Mitzvah dress shop and was the Cinderella of the shop - always cleaning and vacuuming!
My idea of heaven used to be relaxing at home with a cheese plate and champagne.
'Glee' has made me feel beautiful.
I'm five foot three. I don't look like a lot of other people, you know what I mean? I look like I'm 12.
How many managers told me, 'Get a nose job. You're not pretty enough?' But I proved them wrong.
Film is an itch I have yet to scratch.
I am obsessed with Gwyneth Paltrow.
I knew what I wanted to be at 8 years old - an actor!
I would tell 17-year-olds to be proud of who you are. Don't try to change yourself for others. Focus on school and your future. Boys and friends will come and go, just focus on you and your future.
I've always been such a fan of Habitat for Humanity and the work that they do.
Growing up in New York has influenced my style so much, and I have an amazing relationship with my stylist, Estee Stanley. We have so much fun with the whole process. She picks out dresses, I try things on and play dress up, and we get creative to see what works.
I worked consistently on Broadway from when I was 8 years old through 'Spring Awakening,' which I left in 2008.
Every now and then, I have blissful moments of thanking God for all the amazing things that are happening. When I leave the White House after just meeting Obama or when I see my face on the cover of 'Rolling Stone' or when I meet someone who tells me that their daughter is inspired by me, those are moments that are incredibly joyful.
I am an unconventional beauty. I grew up in a high school where if you didn't have a nose job and money and if you weren't thin, you weren't cool, popular, beautiful. I was always told that I wasn't pretty enough to be on television.
I was never pretty enough to be the pretty girl and I was never quirky enough to be the quirky girl. Boys didn't look at me in high school and think I was the pretty girl.
I don't go out to clubs. You'll never see me on a table at a bar, jumping up and down.
I'm Italian and Spanish and Jewish. I'm 100 different things meshed into one. I think that shows girls that uniqueness is beautiful. They can look at me on a magazine cover and see me in a movie and say that they have someone they can relate to.
I always sing Adele in the shower. But everyone should know you never sing an Adele song in public because no one's better than Adele.
But my main thing that I would love to see as a fan of 'Glee,' like I said, is to really get into the character and who they are and what they do outside of school. I think that that's interesting. And then of course the themed stuff and the album episodes are all really cool too.
I would love Kate Middleton to be in 'Glee.' Wouldn't that be fantastic? That would be great.
Working out for me is something I do when I feel like it. But it's really about feeling good and taking care of my body rather than having to fit into any sort of model or anything like that. I try to eat well, and everything I do is really just to make me feel my best so that I can come to my job or my personal life and just feel really good.
Well, everything with being vegan and vegetarian is a really big commitment. You have to do what you feel is best and what you believe in and what your body is telling you that it needs. I really think everyone should do what's best for them, and what's best for me may not be best for someone else.
I make a vegan baked ziti. And even though that doesn't sound enjoyable, it really is.
I didn't know I could sing until I auditioned for 'Les Miserables.' My friend was auditioning, and I wanted to audition too.
When I was a little kid, my mother and I used to watch the 'Golden Globes' and I would dress up and she would get sparkling apple cider and we would make a tray of hors d'oeuvres and watch it together. And I would get up and make a pretend speech.
I love being healthy. I get a lot of sleep. I'm a girl who eats. And I feel beautiful no matter how I look. I have my family to thank for that.
I have been involved with 'Spring Awakening' for six years. I am 20 now - I just turned 20 in August - and I originally auditioned when I was 14 years old. I auditioned for Michael Mayer, Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater.
I've known since day one of working on 'Spring Awakening' - back in 1999 - that it was special.
Theatre just fills me up so much.
I was in choir in school. I kind of just did it. I already knew I wanted to sing. My music program in my school wasn't really great - people didn't really want to be part of the choir, they didn't want to do the plays and stuff like that. It definitely wasn't the cool thing to do.
I want to be in 'Funny Girl.' And I want Ryan Murphy to direct it.
Listen, if you were with me on a plane? I'm embarrassed for the people who sit next to me. I have such a regimen! I, like, pound on the face cream because your face will dry out, I get the stuff you put in your nose so no nose germs come in, I take elderberry for immunity, I wear a scarf.
I just moved into a new house, so I love spending time at home. Everything for me is all about self-care because I really feel that if I'm at my best, than I'm able to come to my job and really be feeling the best, so if I'm not working out or going on a hike, than I'm at home recharging and cooking dinner and hanging out with my cat.
I'm honored to be in a position to have young girls or performers look up to me.
I do have 14 tattoos, but I also do come home every single night and watch reality TV with my cat.