Lea Michele Through the Years: From Broadway Star to Doting Mom

Lea Michele may be best known for her role as Rachel Berry in Glee, but the actress' life in the spotlight started long before that, as she made her debut on Broadway at the age of 8, playing a replacement Young Cosette in Les Misérables. Three years later, she played Little Girl in Ragtime.

Although she stepped away from the stage in 2009 when Ryan Murphy wrote the role of Rachel Berry for her specifically, her love for Broadway was written into the character. Following the show, the iconic writer and director included Michele in many of his projects. In fact, when Glee ended in 2015, she signed on as the lead of his next series, Scream Queens.

The horror comedy, in which she starred alongside original scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis, didn't include singing and the character was nothing like Rachel Berry. Instead, she wore a neck brace and desperately tried to fit in with the It-Girls in school.

"Honestly, having been offered this role, I knew nothing. But I did trust Ryan implicitly that he would create something for me that would be the most incredible opportunity to show people a different side and a different color," the actress told Entertainment Weekly in 2015. "And the first and only thing he said to me about the project was, 'neck brace.' And I was like, 'Well, I guess no better way to show people something completely different from Rachel Berry than a neck brace.' The thing that I’m most grateful for with this character is the opportunity to show people a completely different side."

Scroll through the gallery below for more on Michele's life: