LEA Michele was born to be on Broadway — but it’s in Hollywood where she’s making her biggest mark.
The star of “Glee” was already belting out show tunes on the Great White Way at the age of 8. Now, at 23, she has parlayed her stage experience into a key role as the perfectionist Rachel Berry on the fall’s hottest show.
“More people are seeing me in one episode of ‘Glee’ than in the entire run of ‘Spring Awakening,’ ” says Michele, whose Broadway resume also includes roles in “Les Miserables,” “Fiddler on the Roof” and “Ragtime.”
“I’m finding I get recognized a lot [now] when I’m with another ‘Glee’ cast member,” she says. “They see one of us and they say, ‘How do I know you?’ ”
Not only has “Glee” pulled solid numbers on Fox — it’s been picked up for the entire season — but the cast’s songs from the series have sold more than a million downloads on iTunes, proving their on-screen chemistry is no fluke.
“We might do a Christmas song, which sounds like a lot of fun, for the holidays,” says Michele. (She says she “wasn’t sure” how true the reports are that the “Glee” cast will mount a national tour à la “American Idol” next spring when the show is finished taping.)
Whatever happens next, it can’t top the whirlwind of the last 15 years for Michele. Born in The Bronx, her family moved to Tenafly, NJ. At a young age, she accompanied a friend to an open casting call for “Les Mis” and was chosen for the role of “Young Cossette.”
“Glee” seems to have hit a nerve among viewers, with its sharp characters and killer musical numbers set against the backdrop of high school rivalry, teen sex and adolescent angst.
“I really learned over the first 13 episodes that this was Rachel’s journey of finding herself within the glee club,” Michele says of her on-screen character.
“She’s learning how to be a team player and work within this group. She’s a very strong, driven girl, who’s sometimes a little misunderstood.”
On the show, Rachel pines for Finn (Cory Monteith), the sensitive jock who likes her but only has eyes for his bitchy, cheerleader girlfriend, Quinn Fabray (Dianna Agron).
Michele says the Rachel-Finn relationship will get more complicated as the season progresses.
Ironically, Michele shared an LA pad with Agron, her on-screen rival, for about six months after moving to California to film “Glee.”
“I just got my own apartment, but I miss Dianna so much,” she says.
(Lea got custody of the roommates two cats, Claude and Sheila — but Diana exercises visitation rights constantly, says Michele.)
The “Glee” cast has completed the show’s first 13 episodes; Michele says they’ll return in early December to shoot the rest of the season. “We want to make sure that the next nine episodes are just as good,” she says.