Jayma Mays Biography

Fast Facts

• Won a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series for "Glee" in 2010
• Graduated from Radford University with a Bachelor's degree in Theatre in 2000
• Got started in Hollywood as an intern to actor Timothy Busfield on the TV series "thirtysomething․"
• Had her first experience as a lead actress in the play "The Sweet Bye and Bye" at the Southwest Virginia Community College Festival of the Arts
• Quote: "(On her "Glee" character): "I absolutely love her, because she's so nutty․ She's off․ And that seems more natural for me to do something that's a little quirky and offbeat․""
• Has also starred in films like 2009's "Paul Blart: Mall Cop" as Amy and 2011's "The Smurfs" as Grace Winslow
• Best known for her role as Emma Pillsbury in the musical TV series "Glee․"
• She was very nervous about her first TV appearance, on the spin-off "Joey," because she was such a big fan of "Friends․"
• Began taking piano lessons at age 4 and had learned enough by age 9 to play at a wedding
• Played two different characters with the name Charlie in the same year (2006) on "Heroes" and "Ugly Betty․"