‘Glee” stars Lea Michele and Jenna Ushkowitz have known each other since they were 8, but they did not — repeat, not — audition for the Fox series together.
It was just a happy coincidence that the two Broadway babies wound up on the same TV show together, 15 years later, playing ambitious Rachel Berry (Michele) and Goth girl Tina Cohen-Chang (Ushkowitz), members of the same, blighted, high school glee club.
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Well, a coincidence courtesy of Tony-winning musical “Spring Awakening,” which they both were in (at different times).
The “Glee” audition was “just like any regular audition,” recalls Ushkowitz, 23, a Long Island native. “But, the funny part was that the casting associate in New York for ‘Glee’ had cast me in ‘Spring Awakening,’ so basically our entire cast went in for it.
Ushkowitz got her start on “Sesame Street” before breaking out in the 1996 Broadway revival of “The King and I,” which led to “Spring Awakening” and then “Glee.”
“Doing TV was always an inkling of mine, but musical theater was in my path,” Ushkowitz says. “Then, I got ‘Glee.’ What could be better now than to be able to sing and dance on a TV show?”
So far, Ushkowitz has only been able to show off her singing chops in one solo — a rendition of “Tonight” from “West Side Story” — which required her to be sharp on the final note.
“It’s just as hard to sing badly as it is to sing well, but it’s one of those things where you close your eyes and say, ‘Okay, I’m going to make a fool of myself — now go!’ ” Ushkowitz says.
To make up for it, she’s already recorded a solo tune for an upcoming episode. It will appear in Vol. 2 of the “Glee” soundtrack.
After the juicy reveal, following a failed one-episode fling with wheelchair-bound Artie Abrams (Kevin McHale), that Tina has been faking her stutter for years, her back story is taking a backseat to the quest for the sectionals competition and the baby-daddy drama. Both plot points will round out the final three “Glee” episodes this year.
But, Ushkowitz says that the other nine episodes this season, which start shooting in January, will likely feature visits to the glee club kids’ houses, introductions to parents and various unexpected hookups.
“You’ve seen Rachel and Puck [Mark Salling] get together, so you never know what’s going to happen,” Ushkowitz says, adding that she and McHale “are very close, so we’re pro Team Artina.”
They’re not the only ones that are close, though. All the cast members are good friends and they hang out off set, too.
Ushkowitz, Chris Colfer (who plays Kurt Hummel) and Amber Riley (Mercedes Jones) all live in the same apartment complex. “It’s like a dorm,” says Ushkowitz, who lives on her own.
Known for being the “ringleader” by her castmates — a trait that dates back to her days as an “overachiever” at her performing arts-heavy Holy Trinity Diocesan High School in Hicksville — Ushkowitz tends to gather the flock for various group outings.
“We do everything from watching ‘Glee’ together, to going out to dinner, bowling, going to water parks and just hanging out,” she says. “It’s disgusting how much we all really love each other.”