GLEE's Lea Michele Lands Spot on Time Magazine's '100 Most Influential People List

According to USA Today, GLEE star Lea Michele, who plays Rachel Berry, has been named one of the "100 Most Influential People in the World" by Time Magazine.

Singer Olivia Newton-John told USA Today, "As Rachel Berry on the hit TV show Glee, she is inspiring young people to get involved in musical programs in schools and encouraging communities to fund them."

Others on the list include Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Elton John, and Conan O'Brien. The issue will be out Friday, and breaks the winners up into the categories of artists, leaders, thinkers, and heroes.

Lea Michele starred on Broadway in SPRING AWAKENING as Wendla, receiving a 2007 Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Actress in a Musical. She also performed in FIDDLER ON THE ROOF (Shprintze and Chava), RAGTIME (Little Girl) and LES MISERABLES (Young Cosette). Off Broadway she appeared in HOT AND SWEET (Naleen) and SPRING AWAKENING (Wendla). Her regional credits include THE DIARY OF Anne Frank (Anne) at Round House Theater, RAGTIME (Little Girl) at Toronto's Ford Center. In workshop productions, she was seen in SAMSON AND DELILAH (Delilah), KING (Anisette), SPRING AWAKENING (Wendla) and WUTHERING HEIGHTS (Lucy). Her TV credits include "The Big Ten," "Third Watch," and "Guiding Light."

GLEE was recently honored with a Golden Globe for Best Television Series, Comedy or Musical; a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series; and a People's Choice Award for Favorite New TV Comedy. The music from GLEE is an international sensation with "Glee: The Music, Volume 1" and "Glee: The Music, Volume 2" topping charts in Australia, the U.K., New Zealand, Ireland and Canada. In the U.S., over 5 million songs have been downloaded, and both albums have been certified Gold for sales in excess of 500,000 units. Additionally, GLEE dominates as the Madonna themed mini-album soars to the No. 1 spot on Billboard's Top 200 Album chart with an incredible 98,000 copies sold in its first week.

To read the full list of honorees, visit online at www.time.com.