— The Ride of a Lifetime
Glee was the show I never saw coming. I was in the middle of my run in South Pacific at Lincoln Center when the audition came through, and thankfully they were kind enough to let me step away for a month to film the pilot.
When I first heard the premise—a bunch of singing, dancing high school kids—I didn’t exactly think it would move the needle. But the moment we started filming, I could feel something electric in the air. There was this undeniable magic happening. After we wrapped, I went right back to South Pacific, figuring that was that—until a few months later, I got the call that Glee had been picked up. I’d done plenty of pilots before, but this one was different.
Leaving Broadway to move to Los Angeles was terrifying, but it launched me into a six-year whirlwind that changed everything. Glee put me on the map in a way I could never have imagined—beautiful, exhilarating, and at times deeply uncomfortable. Overnight, I went from performing for a thousand people a night to millions watching from their living rooms. Glee turned out to be the perfect fit for me—it let me use every tool I had: singing, dancing, acting, storytelling. I poured everything into it, and was honestly shocked when I started receiving personal nominations for Emmys and Golden Globes.
The show wasn’t easy to make—it demanded everything from us—but it carried a message that mattered. Beneath the pop songs and the sparkle was a story about underdogs, belonging, and the power of art to heal and connect. For me, Glee wasn’t just a hit show—it was a cultural heartbeat, and I’ll forever be grateful to have been part of its rhythm.