Lea Michele Sarfati ( LEE-ə mish-EL; born August 29, 1986) is an American actress, singer, and songwriter. She began her career as a child actress on Broadway, appearing in productions of Les Misérables (1995–1996), Ragtime (1997–1999), Fiddler on the Roof (2004–2005), and Spring Awakening (2006–2008). She found prominence playing Rachel Berry on the Fox series Glee (2009–2015), receiving nominations for an Emmy Award and two Golden Globe Awards. She also contributed to music recorded for the series, which spawned multiple hits on the Billboard charts and earned her a Grammy Award nomination. Michele made her feature film debut in New Year's Eve (2011). She starred as Hester Ulrich on the TV series Scream Queens (2015–2016) on Fox, and as Valentina Barella on the ABC sitcom The Mayor (2017). In 2012, she was signed to Columbia Records and released her debut single in 2013, "Cannonball". Next, her debut studio album, Louder (2014), came out, debuting at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 chart in the United States. In 2017, she released her second studio album, Places. In 2019, she released Christmas in the City, her third album, and in 2021 released her fourth studio album, Forever. Michele has also published two books, Brunette Ambition (2014) and You First: Journal Your Way to Your Best Life (2015). In 2022, Michele returned to Broadway starring as Fanny Brice in the musical revival of Funny Girl, and received widespread acclaim for her performance. She starred as Florence in the 2025 Broadway revival of Chess opposite Aaron Tveit and Nicholas Christopher until June 21, 2026.