Lea Michele, Star of TV series Glee

When it comes to musical theater, most adults fall into three categories: those who love it, those who secretly love it, and those who reject it as campy and utterly without substance. But Fox’s Glee, the series about an Ohio high school show choir, somehow appeals to people in every category. It’s the most addicting, most entertaining show in recent memory, and even the harshest critic of musical theater can find something to love about it. For many Glee fans, this something is Broadway veteran Lea Michele. As the driven, confident, sometimes insufferable Rachel Berry, Michele leads the cast in singing everything from The All-American Rejects to Barbra Streisand to Lady Gaga. In many ways, she is the heart, soul, and voice of America’s new favorite show.

Much like her Glee character Rachel, Michele has always been at home onstage. She grew up in Tenafly, New Jersey and began auditioning for theater at a young age, landing a role in the Broadway production of Les Miserables at age eight. She appeared in Ragtime and Fiddler on the Roof before originating the role of Wendla in the Broadway production of Spring Awakening. Soon, both Broadway and Hollywood took notice. Michelle was nominated for a Drama Desk award and earned the attention of Glee creator Ryan Murphy. When it came time to cast the series, Murphy contacted Michele about flying to Hollywood to audition for the part of Rachel Berry.

Not even Murphy could have predicted the kind of success Glee has enjoyed. Still only in its first season, the show won a Golden Globe for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy and the network has already picked it up for a third season. Much of Glee’s appeal comes from the talent of its cast. Michele joins fellow Broadway veterans Matthew Morrison, Idina Menzel, and Kristin Chenoweth along with a number of talented newcomers. She and her castmates were invited to sing at the White House and graced the cover of Rolling Stone magazine. She won a Screen Actors Guild Award and a 2009 Satellite Award, and was nominated for a Teen Choice Award and a Golden Globe for Best Actress. Recently, Time magazine named her one of the world’s 100 most influential people. Her cover of “Gives You Hell” by The All-American Rejects reached the Top 40 on the US Billboard Charts.

Michele maintains that confidence in her vocal talent enabled her to break into Broadway and eventually into television. “Rachel is very much like me when I was about 10 to 12, working in theater, very driven,” she says. “I was similar in the sense that I didn't conform to what people thought was cool. It was important to do what I believed in.” But Michele also recognizes that she has learned from Rachel too. Glee, she says, “really praises your differences, and it’s helped me embrace mine.”

Glee is about embracing differences, a theme that resonates with anyone who ever went through four years of high school. Each of the show’s unique, eccentric characters is likeable for one reason or another, and Michele’s Rachel often holds the Ohio glee club together. In every episode, Michele’s talent is front and center, whether she’s singing “Defying Gravity” from Wicked or Rihanna’s “Take a Bow.”

But Michele acknowledges that talent alone has not made the show a success; she and the cast work very hard, often putting in 12 to 14 hour days. When they aren’t filming a scene, they practice choreography in the dance studio or learn the week’s songs, and they now spend long hours preparing for the Glee summer concert tour. Michele is living her dream – acting and singing on a hit television show – and she is driven to continue pushing her career forward. For now, she is focused on Glee but hopes to return to theater and eventually break into movies.

Lea Michele’s talent transcends the genre of musical theater, and she helps to extend Glee’s fanbase beyond self-proclaimed “theater geeks.” The Glee cast is on top of the entertainment world, and for her determination, talent, and drive, Michele herself is this month’s woman on top.