Dianna Agron

Dianna Elise Agron (born April 30, 1986) is an American actress, singer, dancer and director. She is also the creator and co-editor of the music, art and photography website You, Me, and Charlie. Other ventures include directing a music video, and producing, writing and directing an unreleased short film A Fuchsia Elephant. Agron made her television debut appearing as Jessica Grant in CSI: NY in 2006. From 2006 to 2007, Agron had recurring roles in Veronica Mars as Jenny Budosh, and Heroes as Debbie Marshall. In 2009, Agron was cast in her most notable TV role to date as Quinn Fabray on the Fox musical comedy-drama series, Glee. In 2011, Agron co-starred in the films The Hunters and I Am Number Four. Later that year, a concert documentary film of Glee was released, titled Glee: The 3D Concert Movie. In 2013, Agron co-starred as Belle Blake, alongside Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Tommy Lee Jones in the action crime-comedy film The Family. Early life Agron was born in Savannah, Georgia, and was raised in San Antonio, Texas and San Francisco, California. She is the daughter of Mary and Ronald S. Agron, a general manager of Hyatt hotels. She has a younger brother, Jason. Agron's father's family is originally from Russia, and according to Agron their original surname, Agronsky, was altered by Ellis Island officials. Her father was born to a Jewish family, while her mother converted to Judaism. Agron attended Hebrew school and had a bat mitzvah. When she was 15, she found out that her father had multiple sclerosis. In an interview for Cosmopolitan, she revealed: "Quite a bit changed after that,” she says. "At that age, you don't see mortality in your parents." The disease caused her parents' relationship to fall apart, and they decided to separate, which was devastating for her and her younger brother. "I had to play therapist to my family... be the glue. Those kinds of things I'm not ready to speak about yet." Agron attended Burlingame Intermediate School and Burlingame High School, where she was in the Homecoming Court, and played in Grease as Marty, and also involved in the set design, the costumes, painting and the whole process. She has been dancing since the age of three, focusing mainly on jazz and ballet, and she later began hip-hop dancing and fell in love with musical theater as a child, often performing in local and school productions, and played Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz in fifth grade, and began teaching dance as a teenager. She says she was not "popular" in the stereotypical sense in high school, though she had many friends from different cliques around the school. Career Television Agron has appeared on television shows such as Shark, Close to Home, CSI: NY, Numb3rs, and had a recurring role on Veronica Mars. She then appeared as Harper on a 13-episode series of short films called It's a Mall World, directed by Milo Ventimiglia, and airing on MTV, and then on the second season of Heroes as Debbie Marshall, the head cheerleader/captain of the cheer squad at Costa Verde High School. Agron's most notable role to date is as Quinn Fabray, a high school cheerleader, on the Fox series Glee. Agron was the last primary actor to be cast, having won the role only days before the pilot began filming. Agron said in a 2009 interview pertaining to her casting session: "I nearly bailed on my audition for the show. I was so nervous". With her wholesome good looks, Agron certainly looked the part, but the producers wondered if she appeared too innocent. Agron said in an interview: "They told me to come back with straight hair and to dress sexier. Later that week, I started work." Agron auditioned with Frank Sinatra's "Fly Me to the Moon". The Glee producers said "we really lucked out in finding Agron to play Quinn". Films In 2007, Agron appeared as Dyanna in the action drama thriller film T.K.O., directed by Declan Mulvey, alongside Samantha Alarcon, Daz Crawford and Christian Boeving. She also appeared as Megan in the independent comedy film Skid Marks. She also appeared as Kyle's Girl in the short comedy film Rushers. She also appeared in a short comedy film Dinner with Raphael, and had a small role as Sadie in the independent comedy film Celebrities Anonymous, directed by Dennis Hemphill Jr., alongside Lindsay Zir and Joey Kern. In 2010, she also appeared as Minnow, the younger sister of Lila Hayes, in the romantic comedy The Romantics. She played Natalie, fiancée to main character Ali's love interest Jack, in the film Burlesque. She also appeared in Bold Native, a film about animal liberation. In 2010, Agron auditioned for the role of Gwen Stacy for the reboot of the Spider-Man films, The Amazing Spiderman, but lost out on the role to Emma Stone. Public image Agron was chosen by People to be part of their Most Beautiful 2010. She also came 8th in the 2011 Afterellen.com "Hot 100" list. Additionally, she came in 13th in the 2012 AfterEllen.com "Top 50 Favorite Female TV Characters" list, thanks to her character, Quinn Fabray, on Glee. In April 2012, Shalom Life ranked her Number 3 on its list of “the 50 most talented, intelligent, funny, and gorgeous Jewish women in the world." Later that year, she and her co-stars, Naya Rivera and Heather Morris, came in the first three places at the "2012 AfterEllen Hot 100" list, with Agron at the 2nd place. Agron was ranked #28 in the 2012 AskMen's Top 99 "Most Desirable Women". She also came #44 in the FHM's "100 Sexiest Women in the World" 2012. Personal life Agron and her Glee co-star Lea Michele decided to rent an apartment together in downtown Los Angeles in early 2009. "We have these smack downs at work and come home and are like, "Wasn't it so funny when we were fighting today? Let's make cookies!" said Michele to New York Magazine. In 2011, she underwent nose surgery to repair her deviated septum which was the result of a blow to the nose when she was fourteen. Agron's Twitter account was hacked on December 18, 2011 and had started many trending topics. The hacker also got into her personal email and started leaking songs, scripts, and episodes of Glee. After the July 2013 death of her Glee co-star, Cory Monteith, Agron reflected on her own mortality, saying "it just makes you take a new lease out on life and look at things a little bit differently. He was truly one of the most wonderful people I’ve ever met in my entire life...." Although she is now out of the show, she said her continuing friendship with her Glee co-stars was a comfort in the wake of Monteith's death.