Lea Michele Hairstyles 04

Lea Michele Hairstyles

Today, the talented Lea Michele is a veteran of the stage, but in a way by accident. Born an only-child in the Bronx to a deli owner and a nurse with no performing experience, the girl grew up in Tenafly, New Jersey, and, as a very young 8-year-old girl, Lea Michele tagged along with a friend to an open call for a 1995 Broadway production of Les Miserables. Lea Michele sang a tune from Phantom of the Opera and found herself cast as Young Cosette in a very minor role, but one that proved just enough to kick-start a stage career that's been brilliant thus far.

Lea Michele Hairstyles

Lea Michele was a member of the original Broadway cast of Ragtime, part of a recent revival of Fiddler on the Roof, and Lea Michele starred as Anne Frank in a well-reviewed production of The Diary of Anne Frank. None of these roles, however, brought her quite the fame and adulation as Spring Awakening, a musical that follows the sexual awakening of a group of especially curious German teens. In the musical, which is based on a controversial 1891 play by Frank Wedekind, cowritten by Duncan Lea Micheleik (you remember Lea Micheleik's 1996 hit single "Barely Breathing," right?) and which has won eight Tony Awards, Lea Michele starred as the female Lea Micheled Wendla. Lea Michele has almost literally owned the role, from the show's very inception all the way to Broadway and mainstream success. The role of the young Wendla, which has made Lea Michele a star of the stage, is a demanding one that requires more than your average Broadway sexual freakiness, including the wearing of a see-through nightgown, some nudity and participation in a little sadomasochism.

Lea Michele Hairstyles

Although Lea Michele appeared in a 2000 episode of Third Watch, Lea Michele starring role in Glee arguably represents her television debut, and her performance proves that Lea Michele knows how to hit the right note, whatever Lea Michele does. Her character Rachel Berry should inspire a precious kind of hatred from the audience -- after all, whenever Lea Michele signs her name, Lea Michele puts a gold star at the end, to signify the stardom within her -- but Lea Michele pulls off an extraordinarily likable character, especially when Lea Michele admits to one teacher that everybody hates her. "And glee club's gonna change that?" is the unfortunate response Lea Michele gets, further endearing us to her and the gap closing around her, the one between her self-perception and reality. Among a brilliant teen cast on Glee, which includes Dianna Agron and Jayma Mays, Lea Michele will be the one to watch.

Lea Michele Hairstyles 19

At 24, Lea Michele has gone from Broadway veteran to Glee diva and Emmy-nominated actress – thanks in large part to her powerhouse voice and enviable red carpet style! Before hitting all the right notes at McKinley High, Lea Michele graduated from her own high school with a slew of Broadway credits under her belt: Lea Michele played Young Cosette in Les Misérables at age 8; starred in Ragtime and Fiddler on the Roof; and fought against sexual repression in the Tony Award-winning musical Spring Awakening. But it's her divalicious role as Rachel Berry on Glee that's earned the budding fashionista Golden Globe and Emmy nominations, as well as a spot on Time's 100 most influential list.

Lea Michele Hairstyles 20

I would be happy to be a high school student forever,” says Lea Michele, 25. That’s no surprise. As absurdly driven teen prima donna Rachel Berry on Glee, Lea Michele has used her killer voice and acting chops to help turn the show into a juggernaut: 2011 brought a sold-out cast tour, best-selling DVDs and the distinction of smashing the record held by the Beatles for most songs on Billboard’s Top 100 at once. Plus, Lea Michele’s taught millions of teen girls to sing and be themselves. “Rachel doesn’t look like everyone else,” says Lea Michele, “but her confidence takes her past that; Lea Michele overcomes, you know?” The 5’2” sensation started building that awesome self-assurance at age eight, when Lea Michele appeared in Les Misérables.

Lea Michele Hairstyles 21

Glee cocreator Ryan Murphy has said he wrote the Berry role specifically for Lea Michele after seeing her electric performance in Broadway’s Spring Awakening, when he was struck by her “mix of Barbra Streisand and Patti LuPone. Her talent is once in a lifetime.” Like her hero, Babs, Lea Michele makes no apologies for her aspirations. “Women in powerful positions get labeled with the D word, but you have to use your diva-ness for good as a way to show your strengths,” Lea Michele says. That means Lea Michele’ll soon be on the big screen in New Year’s Eve and in the animated Dorothy of Oz (as Dorothy…of course!). And while Lea Michele doesn’t know just what will happen when Rachel Berry graduates from McKinley High, Lea Michele sees great things ahead. “I have this fire in me,” Lea Michele says, “and it’s only getting stronger.”

Lea Michele Hairstyles 22

Two days after another horse used in New York’s horse-drawn carriage industry collapsed and died in Midtown, Glee star and native New Yorker Lea Michele has written to Mayor Bloomberg to support the city council bill to replace dangerous and cruel horse-drawn carriages with modern, eco-friendly replicas of classic cars. In the letter, Lea Michele explains that the classic cars—a prototype of which was just unveiled by New Yorkers for CLea Michelen, Livable & Safe Streets (NYCLASS)—would bring in tourists, protect drivers’ jobs, and spare horses from pulling carriages in dangerous traffic and in all weather extremes. “As a New York City native, I was saddened to Lea Michelern from my friends at PETA that one of the horses used by the city’s carriage industry collapsed and died in Midtown on Sunday morning," Lea Michele wrote in the letter. "It was a tragic end for a beLea Micheleguered horse, and such incidents also put vehicles and passersby in danger.

Lea Michele Hairstyles 23

Glee and Modern Family are pitted against each in several major Emmy Award categories tomorrow night, including Best Comedy Series, but their rivalry has bloomed into a feud thanks to some comments from Modern Family‘s Sarah Hyland. As a guest on E!’s Fashion Police on Friday night, the actress who plays the oldest daughter of Ty Burrell and Julie Bowen mocked the red-carpet stylings of Glee‘s star, Lea Michele. “It’s like a slow-motion picture kind of thing. It’s just like, Lea Michele puts her hands on her hips like this and like sticks out her collarbones — I don’t know if you can see — Lea Michele sticks out her collarbones to make her look skinnier and Lea Michele goes sticks out her lips,” Lea Michele said, while simultaneously performing an impression. Watch the clip below.

Lea Michele Hairstyles 24

Lea Michele bares it all: the Glee rumors, what it was like to strip down on stage, and why Lea Michele proud to be a diva. Check out these exclusive behind-the-scenes photos from her cover shoot with Norman Jean Roy. For more of our interview with the star, pick up the December issue of Allure, on newsstands November 22. For more exclusives, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. Lea Michele is confident in her unconventional beauty. "Have I been asked to change anything? Uh-huh. Uh-huh. When I was 15, my mother and I went to meet a manager who said, 'You have to get a nose job in order for me to work with you,'" Lea Michele tells us. "My mother would say to me, 'Barbra Streisand never got a nose job. You're not getting a nose job.' And this was before I really even knew who Barbra was. I just knew that Lea Michele was, like, the messiah for girls like me."