Are These Glee Clubbers Actually Talented?

For some time a topic of controversy has been whether or not the actors of the FOX hit Glee have real musical talent. Well, stars of this show, like Lea Michele, actually have quite an extensive musical theater resume.

Lea started on Broadway at the young age of 8 years old in Les Miserables in 1995. Following this great debut, Lea also performed in Ragtime and Fiddler on the Roof on Broadway. Her latest big role was originating the lead part of Wendla in the Broadway musical Spring Awakening. She now stars in Glee as Rachel.

Kurt, Chris Colfer, performed, wrote and directed for his entire high school career. He even created a spoof of "Sweeney Todd" called "Shirley Todd" and starred in the production. He is one of the younger cast members at 19 years old.

Surprisingly, the amazing voice of Amber Riley, who plays Mercedes was turned down by American Idol, while Kevin McHale, "Artie" is a former boy band member of the group "NLT." He has also been featured on shows like "True Blood". Unlike his character in the show, Kevin can walk and is not bound to a wheel chair.

Jenna Ushkowitz plays Tina in Glee. A cool connection is that she has known co-star Lea Michele since age 8 and had her Broadway debut in The King and I. She starred in many roles in high school but had much bigger roles on Broadway. After graduating from Marymount Manhattan College, she played numerous characters in Spring Awakening.

Many of these actors and actresses have extensive musical backgrounds, which make them perfect choices for a musical, 'dramedy' such as Glee.

Let's look at it this way: If Disney's Corbin Bleu and Zac Efron can portray musical prodigies in Highschool Musical, these Broadway savvy kids are certainly able to rise to the challenge as the gleeks of Glee.