Early life

Blonsky was born and raised in Great Neck, New York. She is the daughter of Karen (née Smeja), a school aide, and Carl Blonsky, a Jewish municipal worker for the village water pollution control district. She is of Czech and Irish descent on her mother's side. She began singing at age three and started taking vocal lessons at the age of eight. She was raised Roman Catholic.

Blonsky attended Great Neck North Middle School, and attended John L. Miller Great Neck North High School for one year. Then she switched to Village School, an alternative high school with only 50 students. After school each day, she would attend the after-school theatre program at William A. Shine Great Neck South High School, where she participated in productions of Les Misérables, Sweeney Todd, Kiss Me, Kate, and the title role of the opera Carmen.

Career

Blonsky said that she yearned to play the role of Tracy Turnblad since seeing Hairspray on Broadway on her 15th birthday. In 2007, while working at Cold Stone Creamery, she found out she had been cast in Adam Shankman's 2007 film adaptation.

Blonsky began work on her debut album in September 2007 and collaborated with alternative rock musician Duncan Sheik on a number of tracks.. Her first single, "On a High", a cover of one of Sheik's songs, was featured in Blonsky's Lifetime Original Movie Queen Sized. On December 18, 2007, she performed with the Turtle Creek Chorale in her first solo performance.

On June 22, 2008, she sang the American National Anthem in the pre-race ceremony at the 2008 Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway.

In 2009, Blonsky made a guest appearance on Ugly Betty, in the episode "Dressed for Success." Blonsky also co-starred in the MTV mystery series Valemont in 2009. She later starred in the short lived ABC Family series Huge, which premiered in June 2010, but was cancelled three months later.

In 2013, Blonsky appeared in two episodes of the NBC Broadway drama series Smash. Later that year, she appeared in the film adaptation of Geography Club.

Personal life

In July 2008, Blonsky and her parents were involved in a violent confrontation with the family of Bianca Golden, a former contestant on America's Next Top Model, at the Providenciales International Airport in the Turks and Caicos. The Blonsky and Golden families reportedly fought over seats in the airport's departure area, leading to a brawl which left Golden's mother hospitalized. Golden, Blonsky, and Blonsky's father were all charged with assault. The charges against Blonsky were dropped in January 2009.

In 2011, Blonsky earned a cosmetology license, and began working part-time as a hairstylist and make-up artist in her home-town of Great Neck, New York in between acting auditions.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2007	Hairspray	Tracy Turnblad	Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Young Performer Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast Hollywood Film Festival for Ensemble Cast of the Year Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Breakthrough Performance Palm Springs International Film Festival for Rising Star Palm Springs International Film Festival for Ensemble Cast Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy Nominated - MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough Performance Nominated - Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Song Nominated - Chicago Film Critics Association Awards for Most Promising Actress Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Nominated - Young Hollywood Awards for One to Watch
2008	Queen Sized	Maggie Baker	Television film
2008	Harold	Rhonda Baxter
2011	Waiting For Forever	Dolores
2011	Fresh Beat Band	Deep Freeze
2012	The English Teacher	Shelia
2013	Geography Club	Therese

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2009	Ace of Cakes	Herself	Episode: "The Eagle Has Landed"
2009	Ugly Betty	Teri O'Shaughnessy	Episode: "Dressed for Success"
2009	Valemont	Poppie	19 episodes
2010	Huge	Will Rader	10 episodes Nominated - Teen Choice Awards for Choice Summer TV Star: Female
2011	Rocco's Dinner Party	Herself	Episode: "Runway Ready"
2013	Smash	Margot	2 episodes

[ Source: Wikipedia ]