When I met Lea Michele this spring, I asked her what she wanted the world to know about her that it might not know already. Professional reporter that I am, I forgot to ask her how it feels to know that, as Rachel Berry on the hit TV show Glee, she is inspiring young people to get involved in musical programs in schools and encouraging communities to fund them — in short, how it feels to be a role model.
Her lovely brown eyes sparkled with excitement. “Tell them I love doing what I am doing,” she said. “This is all I have ever wanted to do since I was 8 years old!”

Lea, 24, is wise, savvy and beautiful, … Read the rest

On Monday night, at “Glee’s” spring season premiere soiree in Los Angeles, Lea Michele turned up with a new look – bangs.

“I’m like working these new bangs today,” Lea told AccessHollywood.com’s Laura Saltman on the red carpet at LA’s Bar Marmont.

Lea revealed that the new ‘do was actually the result of a whim.

“Oh my God! It was totally spur of the moment,” she revealed of her fringe. “I was just at home getting ready tonight and I was like, ‘I think I would like some bangs.’ So we cut them.”

In fact, when Lea hit the premiere, it was the first time her castmates from her FOX show got to see her new look.

“This is real … Read the rest

Having watched Lea Michele rise from kid actress to Broadway star, we can’t help feeling proud of her breakout performance in Glee. Less than a year after the show’s premiere, Lea’s rocking the red carpet at the Golden Globes, accepting a SAG Award, singing at the White House, chatting with Oprah and fending off rude questions in a Rolling Stone cover story. On the eve of Glee’s looonng-awaited return, Lea got on the phone to give us a preview of the show’s spring season and tell us how she’s coping with being a real live Hollywood celebrity.

Give us a preview of the spring season of Glee.
Oh my gosh, we have so much coming up. We have great … Read the rest

For nearly two years, Lea Michele and Jonathan Groff shared a stage in the Off Broadway and Broadway productions of “Spring Awakening” as Wendla and Melchior, the German youths who share feelings, a beating and many more intimate acts during an ill-fated romance. After enduring that for eight shows a week, Ms. Michele and Mr. Groff did not get sick of each other, and instead forged a friendship that, as you’ll shortly see, is unusual, even for theater people.

It’s a friendship that has lasted as Mr. Groff has continued his career in theater (“Prayer for My Enemy,” “The Singing Forest”) and film (“Taking Woodstock”) and Ms. Michele has become a star of the Fox series “Glee” (which Alessandra Stanley… Read the rest

Glee’s Lea Michele has teamed up with PETA for a new anti-fur PSA called “If You Wouldn’t Wear Your Dog, Please Don’t Wear Any Fur.” Watch it, and PETA’s video Q&A with the actress — who first raised her voice with the animal rights organization during her Broadway days to end the abuse of horses used in New York’s carriage industry — after the jump.

In the PSA, shot in a faux school hallway, Michele says, “Everyone wants to fit in and feel like they belong. But sometimes you have to take a stand and step away from the crowd….With so many fashionable, cruelty-free options available, there’s really no excuse for joining a club that wears someone else’s coat.” (Is … Read the rest