Early life

Ushkowitz was born in Seoul, South Korea; she was adopted at the age of three months and raised in East Meadow, New York. Ushkowitz was raised Catholic (her surname originates from her adoptive paternal grandfather, who was of Russian Jewish descent). She attended Parkway Elementary School and Holy Trinity Diocesan High School, a Catholic school in Hicksville, Long Island known for its strong theater department.

During high school, Ushkowitz appeared in several musicals, including the first-ever high school production of Les Misérables. Her other roles included Penny in Honk!, Inez in The Baker's Wife, Little Red Riding Hood in Into the Woods, and Romaine Patterson in The Laramie Project. Ushkowitz graduated from high school in 2004 and moved on to attend Marymount Manhattan College, where she once again took the role of Little Red Riding Hood in Into the Woods. She graduated from Marymount Manhattan in 2007 with a Bachelor of Arts in theatre arts, with a concentration in performance and a minor in musical theatre.

Career

Ushkowitz has had a career in show business since the age of three. As a child, she appeared on Sesame Street and other children's television shows. Her first role in a Broadway musical was in the 1996 revival of The King and I. Ushkowitz sang the American National Anthem at a New York Knicks game at Madison Square Garden when she was thirteen. Ushkowitz understudied the roles of Anna, Martha, Thea and Ilse in the Broadway musical Spring Awakening beginning in 2008. In 2009, Ushkowitz landed the role of Tina Cohen-Chang on Fox's musical comedy-drama series Glee. In casting Glee, series creator Ryan Murphy sought out actors who could identify with the rush of starring in theatrical roles. Instead of using traditional network casting calls, he spent three months on Broadway, where he found Ushkowitz. She was initially given little information about Tina's back story, and believed that the character's stutter was real.

Ushkowitz's solos have included the songs "True Colors" by Cyndi Lauper, "I Follow Rivers" by Lykke Li, "Because You Loved Me" by Celine Dion, "Gangnam Style" by PSY, "I Don't Know How to Love Him" from the musical Jesus Christ Superstar, "Hung Up" by Madonna, and "I Kissed a Girl" by Katy Perry. Raymund Flandez of The Wall Street Journal hailed the "True Colors" cover as showcasing Ushkowitz's "strong crystalline voice". Gerrick D. Kennedy, writing for the Los Angeles Times, wrote that the "poignant" rendition was one of his "feel-good, tearjerker moments". The version charted at number 47 on the Australian Singles Chart, 38 on the Canadian Hot 100, 15 on the Irish Singles Chart, 35 on the UK Singles Chart, and 66 on the Billboard Hot 100. Rolling Stone journalist Erica Futterman wrote that her "Because You Loved Me" performance "removes some of the Lite FM softness embedded in the tune and it really is great to see Tina get a song that suits her vocal abilities".

In both 2010 and 2011, Ushkowitz embarked on live concert tours with her Glee co-stars, with performances taking place in the United States, Canada, England, and Ireland. In 2011, Ushkowitz appeared briefly in Lady Gaga's music video for "Marry the Night", playing Gaga's friend, Bo. In July 2012, it was reported that Ushkowitz would be writing her first book, titled Choosing Glee. The book, an autobiography, was released on May 14, 2013. During Glee's fifth season, Ushkowitz's character graduated and was accepted into Brown University, meaning her role on the series was diminished.

In August 2014, Ushkowitz was cast as Jeanie in the Hollywood Bowl production of Hair. Also in 2014, Ushkowitz was approached by fellow adoptee Samantha Futerman to found Kindred: The Foundation for Adoption, created to provide international and domestic adoptees and their families (both adoptive and biological) with services such as travel, translation, and support for those who wish to reunite. With the same spirit that made her create Kindred, in 2015, Ushkowitz executive produced the documentary Twinsters, a film that showed the story that connected Samantha and Anaïs, identical twin sisters separated at birth. The film premiered at the 2015 South by Southwest. That same year, she was cast as the lead character, Julia Sullivan, in a special production of The Wedding Singer at the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, marking one of the first times the character has been played by an Asian woman. The play was initially set to last one week, but the positive response from critics and audiences extended its run.

In September 2015, it was announced Ushkowitz had been cast as the voice of Ms. Guided in the upcoming animated film Captain Underpants, based on the series of books with the same name. In December 2015, it was reported that Ushkowitz had been cast as Maria in the film reboot of the ensemble musical Hello Again, alongside Nolan Gerard Funk, Audra McDonald, and Martha Plimpton.

In 2016, Ushkowitz debuted Infinitie Positivities, a podcast show that takes on topics from her book Choosing Glee, and speaks with people who inspire her; from fellow actors to authors to experts. In each episode, she talks about a new way to live life with a positive outlook.

Activism

Besides her work with Kindred Foundation, Ushkowitz has advocated for multiple causes. In 2012, she posed with Glee co-star Kevin McHale for the NOH8 Campaign, supporting the ban of Proposition 8 in California which had previously banned same-sex marriages in the state. Ushkowitz has also worked with NYCLASS and Oceana. A long time supporter of ocean conservation, Ushkowitz took a trip during summer of 2015 with Oceana to the Channel Islands, in order to raise awareness on the overfishing of forage fish and its effects on their survival. That same year, she hosted the 2015 Nautica Oceana Beach House event. She has also made efforts to raise awareness about the declining population of sea lions in California, also caused by the overfishing of forage fish.

Personal life

Ushkowitz dated fellow actor Michael Trevino for 3 years, before breaking up in 2014.

Stage

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996-98	The King and I	Royal Child	Neil Simon Theatre
2006-08	Spring Awakening	Swing	Eugene O'Neill Theatre
2014	Hair	Jeannie	Hollywood Bowl
2015	The Wedding Singer	Julia Sullivan	Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera

Filmography

Television

As actress

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2000	Little Bill	Basketball Girl	Episode: "The Promise/The Practice"
2007	The Suite Life of Zack & Cody	Violin Player	Unknown episode
2009-15	Glee	Tina Cohen-Chang	106 episodes

As herself

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2010	When I Was 17	Herself	Episode 32
2011	The Glee Project	Herself	Episode: "Believability"
2013	This Is How I Made It	Herself	Episode 10
2013	MasterChef	Herself	Episode: "Top 14 Compete"
2014-15	Celebrity Name Game	Herself	6 episodes

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2001	Educated	Wendy	Short film
2011	Glee: The 3D Concert Movie	Tina Cohen-Chang	Concert film
2014	Twinsters	N/A	Executive producer
2016	Hello Again	Marie	Filming
2016	Captain Underpants	Ms. Guided	Voice

Music videos

Year	Title	Role	Artist
2011	"Marry The Night"	Bo	Lady Gaga

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result
2010	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series	Glee	Won
	TV Land Awards	Future Classics		Won
	Teen Choice Awards	Choice Music: Group		Nominated
	Lesbian/Bi People's Choice Awards	Favorite Music Duo or Group		Nominated
	Gay People's Choice Awards	Favorite Music Duo or Group		Won
2011	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series		Nominated
	Grammy Awards	Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media	Glee: The Music, Volume 1	Nominated
		Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals	Don't Stop Believin' !"Don't Stop Believin' (Regionals Version)"	Nominated
	Teen Choice Awards	Choice Music: Group	Glee	Nominated
2012	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series		Nominated
	Grammy Awards	Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media	Glee: The Music, Volume 4	Nominated
2013	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series	Glee	Nominated
2015	South by Southwest	Special Jury Award to a Documentary Feature for Editing	Twinsters	Won
		SXSW Grand Jury Award to a Documentary Feature		Nominated
	Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival	Best Documentary Feature (Grand Jury Prize)		Won

[ Source: Wikipedia ]