Lea Michele Sarfati born August 29, 1986. She is an American actress, singer and author. 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). Michele came to major prominence playing Rachel Berry on the Fox series Glee (2009–2015), for which she received an Emmy Award nomination and two Golden Globe nominations. She earned three Grammy Award nominations for music she recorded for Glee, also spawning multiple hits on the Billboard charts. She subsequently starred as Hester Ulrich on the Fox series Scream Queens (2015–2016) and as Valentina Barella on the ABC sitcom The Mayor (2017).

In 2012, it was announced that Michele would be working on her first solo album. The first single “Cannonball" debuted at number 75 on the Billboard Hot 100, making her the first main Glee cast member to chart as a lead soloist. The single sold over 51,000 copies in its first week of sale. Louder was released on February 28, 2014, and debuted on the Billboard 200 at number four, selling over 62,000 copies in its first week.

Lea Michele began recording for her second studio album in April 2015. Places was released on April 28, 2017, and debuted at number 28 on the Billboard 200 chart with over 16,000 units sold in its first week.