Childhood & Early Life
Dianna Elise Agron was born on 30 April 1986 in Savannah, Georgia, to Ronald S. Agron and Mary Agron. Her father was a general manager at the Hyatt Hotels. Owing to her father’s career, Agron and her family moved across the country a lot, living in different hotels. She was raised partly in San Antonio, Texas and San Francisco.
She has a younger brother named Jason. Agron and her brother were raised Jewish. She attended Hebrew school and had a ‘Bat Mitzvah’ when she was young.
When she was 15, she discovered that her father suffered from Multiple Sclerosis. Her father’s disease eventually led to her parents' separation.
Agron attended Burlingame Intermediate School and Burlingame High School in California. She took part in numerous plays during her time in school. She played the part of ‘Marty’ in ‘Grease’ as well as ‘Dorothy Gale’ in ‘The Wizard of Oz’.
In 2004, she moved to Los Angeles soon after graduating high school with the intent of pursuing a career as a professional actor. She managed to land a small part in a TV film titled ‘After Midnight: Life in Bars’ in 2006, after acting in a number of student films.
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Career
Dianna Agron worked in television series like ‘Shark’, ‘Close to Home’, ‘CSI: NY’, ‘Numbr3rs’ and ‘Veronica Mars’.
She played the character of Harper in ‘It’s a Mall World’, which was a series of 13 short films, directed by Milo Ventimiglia. The show aired on MTV. She subsequently played the recurring role of Debbie Marshall, the captain of the cheerleading squad in Costa Verde High School, in the second season of Heroes.
In 2007, Agron made her film debut in the action-thriller film ‘T.K.O’, in which she played the character of Dyanna. She also made an appearance in the short comedy film ‘Rushers’ which won the 2007 Methodfest Film Festival Audience Award for ‘Best Short Film’.
In 2009, Dianna wrote, executive produced, directed and starred in an unreleased short comedy film called ‘A Fuchsia Elephant’. It was shot in 2009, while she was on a hiatus from ‘Glee’.
In 2010, she auditioned for the role of Gwen Stacy in the Spider-Man reboot titled ‘The Amazing Spiderman’. The role eventually went to Emma Stone. In the same year, she directed the music video for ‘Body’ by the group ‘Thao & The Get Down Stay Down.
She appeared as Alice in the 2011 horror-thriller movie ‘The Hunters’. She played the character of Sarah Hart in the sci-fi action-thriller ‘I Am Number Four’. sHE also appeared in the Glee concert film titled ‘Glee: The 3D Concert Movie’.
On 2 June 2012, she hosted the GLAAD Media Awards in San Francisco.
On 23 July 2012, it was announced that Agron will now appear as a guest star and that her character would be featured less frequently in the fourth season of ‘Glee’. Her character appeared only in three episodes titled ‘Thanksgiving’, ‘Naked’ and ‘I Do’.
In 2013, she returned in the fifth season of ‘Glee’ for the special two-part 100th episode titled ‘100’ and New Directions’.
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On 25 November 2013, the music video for ‘Just Another Girl’ by ‘The Killers’ in which Dianna Agron played the lead singer was released.
On 1 August 2014, the video for Sam Smith’s ‘I’m Not the Only One’, in which she played a scorned bride was released. She also directed her brother Jason and actress, Gabby Haugh, in the music video for ‘Till Sunrise’ by the band ‘Goldroom’ in 2014.
In May 2015, she directed a video for Tory Burch’s Paris Collection. The video was released later that year. Burch also selected her to represent the brand at the 2015 Met Gala.
She played the role of Dalia in the political thriller ‘Zipper’. The film premiered on 27 January 2015 at the Sundance Film Festival and was officially released on 28 August 2015 in a limited ‘Video on Demand’ format.
In July 2015, she performed ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ for the 239th Anniversary of American Independence at the Winfield House in London.
Her first lead role came in the 2015 film ‘Bare’ in which she played ‘Sarah Barton’. The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival.
In 2015, she announced that her character would appear in the final season of ‘Glee’ after the show’s music producer Alex Anders shared a photo her recording music at Capitol Records on social media. She initially featured as a main cast member in two episodes titled ‘Homecoming’, ‘Jagged Little Tapestry’ and later on made a cameo in the series finale titled ‘Dreams Come True’.
Numerous songs performed by Agron as her character ‘Quinn Fabray’ on ‘Glee’ have been released as singles which are available for digital download. The songs were also featured on the show’s multiple soundtrack albums.
She made her singing debut in September 2017 at the Cafe Carlyle in New York City. She performed songs from ‘some of the finest male-fronted acts of the 1970s’
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Dianna Agron was a part of the main cast for the film ‘The Crash’ which was released on 13 January 2017. She starred as ‘Sister Mary Grace’ in the movie ‘Novitiate’ which premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival.
In 2018, Agron landed the role of Laura Riding in ‘The Laureate’, co-starring along side Kathy Bates, Tom Hughes and Laura Haddock.
Major Works
In early 2009,Dianna Agron successfully auditioned for and obtained the part of Quinn Fabray, a high school cheerleader in the Fox comedy-drama series ‘Glee’. She was nominated in the category of ‘Female Breakout Star’ at the 2010 Teen Choice Awards for this role. This is her most notable role to date.
She played the role of ‘Belle Blake’ in the film, ‘The Family’, which was released on 13 September 2013. In the film, she co-starred along Hollywood heavy-weights such as Robert De Niro, Tommy Lee Jones, and Michelle Pfeiffer. Her performance in the film was praised by critics.
From 12 May 2015 to 6 June 2015, she portrayed the female lead Dahlia in the play McQueen at the St.James Theatre in London. The play, based on fashion designer Alexander McQueen, was her first stage role. She was, however, unable to reprise her role for the re-run of the play at the West End Theatre owing to other filming commitments.
