Dianna Agron

Dianna Elise Agron ( ; born April 30, 1986) is an American actress and singer. After dancing and starring in small musical theater productions in her youth, Agron made her screen debut in 2006, and in 2007, she played recurring character Debbie Marshall on Heroes and had her first leading role. In 2009, she took the role of the antagonistic but sympathetic head cheerleader Quinn Fabray on the Fox musical comedy-drama series Glee. For her role in the series, she won a SAG Award and, as part of the cast, was nominated for the Brit Award for Best International Breakthrough Act, among other accolades. After her breakthrough success in Glee, Agron began working more in film, first starring in the popular young adult adaptation I Am Number Four (2011) as Sarah Hart before taking on films aimed at more diverse audiences, including the 2013 mob-comedy The Family and 2015's Bare. She has also directed several short films and music videos and, in 2017, began performing as a singer at the Café Carlyle in New York City, while continuing to star in films including Novitiate and Hollow in the Land in 2017, Shiva Baby in 2020, and As They Made Us in 2022. She acted in and directed part of the 2019 anthology feature film Berlin, I Love You. Agron is Jewish and has spoken of how her religion relates to her career. She has also been involved with significant charity work, particularly in support of LGBTQ+ rights and human rights. Early life Dianna Elise Agron was born on April 30, 1986, in Savannah, Georgia, to Mary (née Barnes), a seamstress, and Ronald S. "Ron" Agron, a former general manager of Hyatt hotels. Her father was born to a Jewish family, while her mother converted to Judaism before they married. Agron has a younger brother, Jason Agron, a photographer. She is Ashkenazi Jewish, of Russian-Jewish descent; her father's family were Jewish immigrants from Novgorod-Seversky in Ukraine, and the family's original surname was Agronsky. She is distantly related to Gershon Agron and Martin Agronsky. Agron was raised in San Antonio, Texas, and Burlingame, California; her family lived in various hotels due to her father's career, but her mother made sure that Agron and her brother knew this was not the norm.