Lea Michele Sarfati (; born August 29, 1986) is an American actress, singer and author. She began her career as a child actress on Broadway, appearing in productions of Les Miserables (1995-1996), Ragtime (1997-1999), Fiddler on the Roof (2004-2005), and Spring Awakening (2006-2008). Michele came to major prominence playing Rachel Berry on the Fox series Glee (2009-2015), for which she received an Emmy Award nomination and two Golden Globe nominations.
1995-2008: Beginnings and stage roles
Michele made her Broadway debut in 1995, at the age of eight, as a replacement in the role of Young Cosette in Les Miserables. Michele was also the understudy for the role of Gavroche. This was followed by the role of the Little Girl in the 1998 original Broadway cast of Ragtime. Michele had been portraying the part of the Little Girl for a year in the original Toronto cast, before the production was transferred to Broadway. As a child, she voiced a main character, Christina, in the animated film Buster & Chauncey's Silent Night, released on October 13, 1998. In 2004, Michele began portraying Shprintze in the Broadway revival of the musical Fiddler on the Roof, and understudied the role of Chava. She also performed on the cast recording of the show.  Michele next played the role of Wendla Bergmann in Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik's musical version of Spring Awakening, starring in early workshops and Off-Broadway performances, before finally originating the role in the 2006 Broadway production at the age of twenty. In February 2005, she performed as Wendla at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. Around the same time that Spring Awakening was set to go to Broadway, Michele was offered the role of Eponine Thenardier in the Broadway revival of Les Miserables. She elected to remain with Spring Awakening, which premiered on Broadway in December 2006. For her performance, she was nominated for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical. In January 2008, Michele starred in a concert production of the musical Alive in the World as Phoebe, aiding the Twin Towers Orphan Fund.  In April 2008, she performed a Flops n' Cutz concert at Joe's Pub with her boyfriend at the time, stage actor Landon Beard. In May 2008, Michele left the Broadway cast of Spring Awakening with her co-star Jonathan Groff. She then performed as Claudia Octavia in a reading of Sheik and Sater's new musical, Nero, in July 2008 at Vassar College. In August 2008, she portrayed Eponine in the Hollywood Bowl's Les Miserables concert, which was directed by Richard Jay-Alexander. She starred alongside Brian Stokes Mitchell as Javert and John Lloyd Young as Marius Pontmercy, both of whom would go on to guest star on Glee. While in Los Angeles for the Les Miserables concerts, she sang at the Upright Cabaret at Mark's Restaurant in Hollywood in August 2008. The next month, she performed at the benefit Broadway Chance Style: Up Close & Personal along with stars such as Laura Bell Bundy, Eden Espinosa and Kristoffer Cusick.
What was Lea's first stage role?
Michele made her Broadway debut in 1995, at the age of eight, as a replacement in the role of Young Cosette in Les Miserables.
Michele made her Broadway debut in 1995, at the age of eight, as a replacement in the role of Young Cosette in Les Miserables.