GLEE BIOGRAPHYBy Peter Aaron

LEA MICHELEBronx, New York City, U.S (1995 – present)

Lea Michele Sarfati (born August 29, 1986 in the Bronx, New York City, U.S), known professionally as Lea Michele, is an American actress and singer. Michele debuted on Broadway in 1995 as a replacement in the role of Young Cosette in the original New York production of Les Miserables. This was followed by her performance of the role of Tateh’s daughter, the Little Girl, in the 1998 original Broadway cast of Ragtime.

In 2004, Michele played “Shprintze” and “Chava” in the Broadway revival of the musical Fiddler on the Roof. Regionally, she has appeared in the title role in The Diary of Anne Frank.

Since the age of 14, she played the role of Wendla in Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik’s musical version of Spring Awakening since early workshops; following it up to the Broadway production. Around the same time the show was set to go to Broadway, she was given the role of Eponine in the Broadway revival of Les Misérables. She chose to remain with Spring Awakening, which debuted on Broadway December 10, 2006. Michele was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for her performance in Spring Awakening, as Lead Actress in a Musical.

On May 18, 2008, Michele left Spring Awakening with co-star Jonathan Groff and was replaced by former Wendla understudy Alexandra Socha. She performed in a reading of Sheik and Sater’s new musical, Nero, in July 2008 at Vassar College, also featuring Idina Menzel and Michael Arden. On August 8, 9 and 10, 2008, Michele portrayed Eponine in the Hollywood Bowl’s Les Misérables concert.

MATTHEW MORRISON

Matthew James Morrison (born October 30, 1978) is an American musical theater, film and television actor, singer, songwriter, and dancer.

He was educated at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and the Orange County High School of the Arts. He made his musical theater debut on Broadway in the musical version of Footloose, followed by a revival of the Rocky Horror Show.

His big break came when he landed the role of Link Larkin in the Broadway production of John Waters’ Hairspray. After performing in the role for some time, he started working in television, guest starring on shows such as “Hack” and “Sex and the City”. He also had small roles in films such as Marci X, Encino Man, Primary Colors, and Simply Funk. He followed up by performing the role of Sir Harry in the ABC-TV production of Once Upon a Mattress, starring Tracey Ullman and Carol Burnett.

Morrison recently changed gears, playing the role of Fabrizio Nacarelli in Adam Guettel’s The Light in the Piazza. He was nominated for a Tony Award for his performance. He left the show September 1, 2005.

Morrison joined the cast of the CBS soap opera As the World Turns as Adam Munson on October 24, 2006, but left abruptly soon after due to a “scheduling conflict,” last airing on the soap on November 27.

DIANNA AGRON

Savannah, GA, USA

Dianna Agron (b. 30 Apr 1986, in Savannah, GA, USA), is an actress; well known as Quinn Fabray in the popular TV series, Glee. She spent her high school years attending Burlingame High School in California. While her ‘Glee’ character is a devout Christian, Agron herself is Jewish.

Agron has appeared on television shows such as Shark, Close To Home, CSI: NY, Numb3rs and a recurring role on Veronica Mars. She then appeared as Harper on a 13 episode series of short films called It’s a Mall World, directed by Milo Ventimiglia, and airing on MTV, and then on season two of Heroes.

Agron’s most notable work is with the popular Fox series Glee. Beginning September 2009, the series has received high ratings and critical acclaim. Agron’s character is Quinn Fabray, who in season one is a pregnant high school sophomore.

AMBER RILEYLos Angeles, United States (2009 – present)

Amber Patrice Riley (born February 15, 1986, Los Angeles, California) is an American actress and singer best known for her role as Mercedes Jones in the hit Fox TV show “Glee”.

As a member of the Glee Cast sing 2009, Riley has sung numerous solos, including “Bust Your Windows”, “Hate On Me”, “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going”, “Beautiful”, “I Look To You”, and “Bridge Over Troubled Water.”

At the age of seventeen, Riley auditioned for American Idol but was turned down by the producers. Amber graduated from La Mirada High School, La Mirada, California in 2004. In 2007, Riley auditioned for the part of Effie in Dreamgirls, yet was refused solely because of her age.

She had the honor of singing to President Obama, which she said was perhaps “the minute her life was made complete”.

CORY MONYEITH

Victoria BC, Canada (2009 – present)

Cory Allan Monteith (born May 11, 1982) is a Canadian actor and singer, best known for being part of the Glee Cast. Monteith was born in Calgary, Alberta and raised in Victoria, British Columbia.

Monteith appears on Fox’s 2009 television hit Glee, which is targeted for teens as well as adults. Monteith portrays Finn Hudson, the male lead of the glee club and the quarterback of McKinley High School. Prior to Glee, Monteith claims to have had no experience with singing or dancing; however, he is a fairly talented drummer. His audition tape for Glee even featured his drumming talents as he rhythmically drums on glass bottles and containers to demonstrate his musical abilities.

Before becoming an actor, he had several jobs: Wal-Mart people greeter, taxi driver, telemarketer and construction worker. Monteith started his acting career in Vancouver, British Columbia. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California. Monteith also never graduated from high school, dropping out in the 9th grade. In an interview he said, “It wasn’t for me, I can remember ever since about the sixth or seventh grade, I just didn’t understand why I had to learn what I was learning. For some reason, there was a spirit of rebellion in me.”

CHRIS COLFER

Clovis CA, United States (2009 – present)

Christopher Paul Colfer (born in Clovis, California on May 27th, 1990) is an American dancer, actor, singer and part of the Glee Cast. He grew up performing in community and regional theater, and when he was 14, assistant-directed a theatrical benefit for Valley Children’s Hospital. He was very active throughout high school: he was involved in drama, was the president of the writer’s club, was editor of the school literary magazine and was a speech and debate champion.

At the end of his senior year, he wrote, directed and starred in a musical spoof of “Sweeney Todd,” titled “Shirley Todd,” at the end of his senior year. He starred as “Mr. Lovett”. While pursuing a career in film and television, he worked mornings before school in the cafeteria as a cookie scooper and summers as a clerk at a dry cleaners. Colfer indicated in an interview with Access Hollywood that he is gay and confirmed it in an interview with The Advocate.

He currently plays Kurt Hummel in FOX’s new 2009 show, GLEE. This is his first TV role.

MARK SALLING

Dallas TX, United States (2009 – present)

Mark Salling is a musician/actor most known for rounding out the most-versatile cast to hit the 2009 Fall TV line-up, as badboy “Noah Puckerman,” “Puck” on FOX’s Glee.

Always a songwriter first and at heart, Salling recently released his debut solo album “Smoke Signals” under the pseudonym Jericho. A jack-of-all-trades, Salling plays guitar, piano, bass and drums while writing, producing and singing lead vocals on all his tracks and even lending his original songs to other artists such as Josh Green and Danielle McKee. A sound unlike any other, Salling’s music is an eclectic blend of indie and alternative rock, with the timelessness of Radiohead, and the pop sensibility of Coldplay. Drawing much of his inspiration from musical groundbreakers as Thom Yorke and Trent Reznor, Salling has committed to a lifestyle of perfecting his primary passion, branching out into all genres, jazz, country, rock, pop and even hip-hop.

Salling, a native of the lone star state left Dallas, Texas with nothing but a suitcase and guitar, moved to Tinsletown, hoping to catch a break and make it on talent alone. But as with most who head out west, the beginning was slow-going—he attended the Los Angeles Music Academy in Pasadena, CA and got a job teaching guitar lessons .

A career years in the making, and five agonizing auditions for “Glee” later, Salling booked the role of “Puck,” the hardcore jock wired with showtunes, beating out several well-known actors for the part.

JENNA USHKOWITZ

East Meadow, New York

Jenna Noelle Ushkowitz (born April 28, 1986) is an American stage and television actress and singer, who is known for her roles in Broadway musicals and the 2009 TV series Glee . Ushkowitz has been in show business since the age of 3. She has been on Sesame Street and other TV shows. Her first role in a Broadway musical was in a 1996 revival of The King and I.[5]

Ushkowitz sang the American National Anthem at a Knicks game at Madison Square Garden when she was 13.[5] Before joining the cast of Glee, she was an understudy for the roles of Anna, Martha, Thea and Ilse in the Broadway musical Spring Awakening.[6]

In 2009, she shot to fame playing Tina Cohen-Chang on Fox's musical high school show Glee. Her character faked a stutter for the first 9 episodes and later sang two solos, including "Tonight" from West Side Story and "True Colors." The role included a romance with Kevin McHale's character Artie, who uses a wheelchair, then begins a relationship with Mike Chang, played by Harry Shum, Jr. Ushkowitz toured the US and Australia with her castmates from Glee. She has known Glee co-star Lea Michele since they were eight years old; they also co-starred on Broadway in Spring Awakening. Ushkowitz was initially given little information about Tina's backstory, and believed that her stutter was real. She was pleased when the truth was revealed, however, explaining: "It would have been fun to keep it because that just gives her one more quirk, but this opens up a whole new set of doors for Tina."[7] Ushkowitz has created her own backstory for Tina, and believes that she is rebelling against her mother rather than genuinely being a goth, explaining: "I don't think her room is filled with dark posters and heavy metal stuff—I just think this is a phase she's going through. There's definitely a lot of options for all the characters to evolve and change next year. I'm totally rooting for Tina to join The Cheerios or something crazy like that."

KEVIN MICHAEL

Kevin Michael McHale born, June 14, 1988 is an American actor and pop singer. Formerly of boy band NLT, McHale is best known for his recent role as Artie Abrams in the Fox hit television series Glee.McHale was born in Plano, Texas. Before becoming an actor, McHale joined an American Boy Group, NLT, which is short for “Not Like Them”. The R&B group was discovered by Chris Stokes. On March 13, 2007 they released their first single “That Girl”. The band had a guest appearance in Bratz: The Movie. On April 30, 2009, group member Travis Garland announced that NLT had split.

McHale currently stars on Glee as Artie Abrams, a member of the McKinley High glee club who uses a wheelchair. Although his character is in a wheelchair, McHale is an able-bodied dancer and has responded that it was hard to keep his feet from moving along with the music while he was on the set. He had his first solo single on Glee singing “Dancing with Myself” in the episode “Wheels”. In the episode “Dream On” he danced in a fantasy sequence to “The Safety Dance” and sang “Dream a Little Dream of Me”.

McHale’s acting credits include a 2007 appearance on NBC’s The Office in the season 4 episode “Launch Party”, where he played a pizza delivery boy who is taken hostage by Steve Carell’s character, Michael Scott. In 2008, McHale was on HBO’s True Blood for two episodes as Neil Jones, a coroner’s assistant. Kevin was also in three episodes of Nickelodeon’s hit show Zoey 101 as Dooley.

NAYA RIVERAValencia, Los Angeles CA, United States (2010 – present)

Naya Rivera was born on January 12, 1987 and was raised primarily in Valencia, California. Her ethnic background is personally described as, ”… Half Puerto-Rican, a quarter German, and a quarter African-American.” Her mother named her Naya after a mermaid on 1970’s American TV Show, Fantasy Island. Naya has an older sister, younger brother, and a younger sister. Naya was introduced to show business at a very young age because of her mother’s personal modeling/acting ambitions. Since then, Naya has modeled for K-Mart, acted fairly regularly on television, and has also been in music videos.

Currently, she is part of the Glee Cast and plays the role of Santana Lopez on the 2010 FOX hit show, Glee. Santana, one of the mean girls and the current ruling member of the Cheerios often acts as a foil to the rest of the glee club, before eventually joining New Directions. She eventually learns to like glee club, going as fas as to say, “It’s the best part of my day, okay?”

Before her role as Santana Lopez on Fox’s Glee, she had previously worked on shows such as The Royal Family, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Family Matters, Smart Guy, Even Stevens, 8 Simple Rules, The Bernie Mac Show, and CSI:Miami.

HEATHER MORRIS

Heather Elizabeth Morris (born February 1, 1987) is an American actress and dancer best known for her role as Brittany S. Pierce in the musical comedy series Glee.

Morris’s first significant appearance was in 2006 on So You Think You Can Dance Season 2 where she made the “green mile” but failed to make the final 20 by a vote of 3-2. Not discouraged, Morris decided to move to LA and actively pursue a career in dancing. Her big break came in 2007 via Beyoncé. Morris was one of Beyonce’s backup dancers on The Beyoncé Experience world tour and, following that, worked again with Beyonce on a mini “Single Ladies” promotional tour that included 2008 performances on the American Music Awards, Saturday Night Live, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Today Show, and MTV’s Total Request Live Finale. She also danced backup for Beyonce and Tina Turner at the 50th Grammy Awards in 2008.

Morris was taking acting classes and actively pursuing an acting career when she was asked by Woodlee to teach the choreography for Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies” dance to the Glee actors. At the same time, the show was looking for a third cheerleader, and Morris ended up landing the role of Brittany. Initially a background character who hardly ever spoke, the role grew as writers discovered Morris had a gift for delivering one liners. Jarrett Wieselman of the New York Post opined that Morris has “emerged as one of the funniest second bananas on TV right now” and the LA Times wrote of having a “…comedy crush on Morris, who plays the galactically dim Glee Club cheerleader Brittany”.

HARRY SHUM JR

Harry Shum, Jr. (Chinese: 岑勇康 ; born April 28, 1982) is an American dancer and actor. He is commonly known for being a part of the dance films such as Stomp the Yard, You Got Served, and had recurring roles as Cable on Step Up 2: The Streets and Step Up 3D. He is currently part of the musical-comedy television show, Glee as the football player and dancer Mike Chang.