1 Phone Fun Lea Michele loves to sing and dance on Glee. She and the rest of the cast also love to text their friends. “When we get to work every day, they take our phones away,” says Lea. “Otherwise the cast would be texting all day long.”

2 Best Friends Naya Rivera and Heather Morris play cheerleader buddies on Glee.
They’re BFFs in real life too! “We hang out all of the time,” says Naya, left. What’s the best part of being on the show? “I was not cool in real high school, but I am cool in this high school,” Naya says.

3 Glee Idol When Amber Riley was 17, she tried out for American Idol. “They told me ‘No,’ ” remembers Amber. Now 24, Amber says she’s happy to be on Glee instead. “I still work on TV, and I get paid!” says the actress.

4 Hard Worker Cory Monteith wasn’t always an actor. Cory has held many jobs, including school-bus driver, roofer, cab driver, and Walmart greeter. Getting his role on Glee wasn’t easy. Cory drove 20 hours from Canada to California to do a screen test! “I slept on the side of the road in Oregon,” he says.

5 Song and Dance Kevin McHale used to be in a boy band called NLT. The R&B group did lots of dancing. On Glee, Kevin’s character uses a wheelchair. Kevin is so used to dancing, he says it’s hard to keep his feet from moving to the music when he’s on set.

6 Showbiz Pro Jenna Ushkowitz was on Sesame Street at age 3. She has been performing ever since. Jenna and Lea Michele met when they were 8. They starred in a Broadway show together.