by Lea

Would I like to make an album at some point? Absolutely. But being a part of the show has challenged me as an actor in a way that now I feel there are so many different roles I want to play, and I definitely want to do film. I hope that I'm lucky enough to be a part of another television show that is as great and that I believe in as much as Glee.

I love cooking. I love having my cast members over, inviting them over to my house. I've been known to bake cookies for my crew and bring them to work. Those are things that make me feel good, but I'm a New Yorker and so I really love any chance that I can get to come home.

It's so unbelievable. I mean, when I was the Golden Globes I felt like I'd snuck into a party, or that maybe someone had given me an extra ticket or that I'd won a contest. Something like that! It's so crazy the way that everyone interacts with each other, like, "Yeah, we do this all the time," and there I am like, "This is absolutely crazy!"

I had my one interaction and now I'm good for life. At the Golden Globes, I did have Tom Hanks walk past my table and what he said to me meant a lot. I'll personally keep it private to myself for the rest of my life in my back pocket, so if I ever feel down or if I ever don't really think I can do this I can remind myself of what he said. Maybe he doesn't even remember saying it, but I do. So that was really great.

I had a mother approach me and tell me that someone came up to her daughter at school and said, "Are your mummies lesbians?" Her daughter was like, "Yeah." The mum said, "How did you have the confidence to say that?" The daughter replied, "Because, Mum, I'm like Rachel Berry." It's stuff like that I think is just so cool.

It’s called the Glee diet — just dancing and singing 24/7, I don’t go to the gym! I’m a vegetarian and I’m very energetic.

Each episode takes eight days. Ten if it’s a longer, heavier episode. And we generally work about 17 hours a day. Within a day you can be doing one or two or three hours of shooting, filming, dancing and recording. Basically I try to explain to people that creating an episode of Glee is like jumping out of an airplane and falling to the ground – you learn your lines, you record your songs, you learn your choreography and we somehow land with our feet on the ground.

If I weren’t having fun, because the work is so hard, there’s no way that I could do it. It’s incredibly challenging and it’s incredibly taxing. But if it wasn’t fun, I don’t think that there’d be any physical way that we could get through how difficult and strenuous it is sometimes.

We have sort of bonded together in a way, like what we’ve been through no one else can really understand. We have this incredible connection as a cast. We’re sort of inseparable. If we didn’t get along the way we did, I think you’d be able to see it in these episodes. The fact that we are such a family, I think that transcends, and I do think that is one of the reasons why the show is as successful as it is.

Everyone is so fantastic. We have such great people who come on. I mean, it’s like everyone that they pick is so fantastic. I had such a great time with Gwyneth [Paltrow], though. She’s such an awesome person. I can’t believe the fact that I’ve had the opportunity to work and sing with Gwyneth Paltrow. She is definitely up there as one of my favourites.

Yeah, he’s (Ricky Martin) great. I’ve known him for a very, very long time. We unfortunately didn’t have a lot of work to do together. But he’s one of those people that I just call the perfect Glee cocktail – they just have all of the right things that make them perfect to be on Glee.