Dianna Elise Agron (born on April 30, 1986 in Savannah, Georgia) is an actress, writer, singer, dancer and model. You may know her as Debbie Marshall from Glee, alongside other works including Heroes, The Family, and I Am Number Four.
Agron started out as a dancer and musical theater actor as a child, she transitioned to screen acting in 2006. She interestingly sold her first screenplay six months before being cast on Glee — which was the day before principal photography — but they didn't make it within a year, so she gained the rights to it back. This love of writing was evident on her since-deactivated Tumblr blog felldowntherabbithole and current website YM&C (You, Me & Charlie)
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On the Glee Live Tour in 2011, Agron famously came out wearing a T-shirt saying "Likes Girls" in the same style as the "Likes Boys" shirt Chris Colfer wore for "Born This Way". Given the Les Yay afforded her character (and herself sometimes), lots of people drew conclusions. The next day, she took to her blog and wrote out a three-and-a-half-thousand-word essay asserting that she's not gay, Not That There's Anything Wrong with Thatnote .
Her favorite animal is the elephant; her film directorial debut, a 2009 short which she wrote, produced, directed and starred in, is titled A Fuchsia Elephant.
Agron made her West End and professional theatre début performing in McQUEEN, a Dark Fantasy based on a fictional story imagined by fashion designer Alexander McQueen shortly before his suicide, as lead female Dahlia in May 2015.
Selected filmography:
- When a Stranger Calls (2006)
- Shark (2006)
- T.K.O. (2007)
- Veronica Mars (2006-07)
- Heroes (2007)
- It's A Mall World (2007)
- NUMB3RS (2008)
- Dinner With Raphael (Funny or Die Short, 2009)
- Bold Native (2010)
- The Romantics (2010)
- Burlesque (2010)
- The Hunters (2011)
- I Am Number Four (2011)
- Nintendo 3DS commercials (2012)
- The Family (2013)
- The Killers' "Just Another Girl" (Music video, 2013)
- Sam Smith's "I'm Not The Only One" (Music video, 2014)
- Zipper (2015)
- Bare (2015)
- Glee (2009-2015, main character for Seasons 1 through 3, recurring for Seasons 4 through 6)
- Tumbledown (2015 festivals, 2016 public)
- Hollow In The Land (2016)
- Novitiate (2017)
- The Crash (2017)
- Headlock (2017)
- Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018)
- Berlin, I Love You (2019) (she directed one part, and played the character Katarina)
- Shiva Baby (2020)
Discography:
- Glee: The Music Vol. 1 (2009)
- Glee: The Music Vol. 2 (2009)
- Glee: The Music Vol. 3 Showstoppers (2010)
- Glee: The Music The Christmas Album (2010)
- Glee: The Music Vol. 4 (2010)
- Glee: The Music Vol. 5 (2011)
- You know what, just have the Glee discography
- Imagine (celebrity charity single, 2014)
- Oh, You Beautiful Doll for Vogue's feature 'The Triple Threats' (2016)
Directorial work:
- A Fuchsia Elephant (2009)
- Body (2010)
- Till Sunrise (2014)
- L'Américaine (2015)
Tropes associated with Dianna Agron:
- 13 Is Unlucky: Like Taylor Swift, the complete opposite. In "10 Things You Didn't Know About..." she said that every Friday 13th wonderful things had happened, as well as it being, for her, a lucky number that most consider unlucky.
- Accent On The Wrong Syllable: Her surname Agron is commonly pronounced "Ah-GRON", but comes from Agronsky and so should be "AY-gron". She's given up on correcting people, though.
- Actor-Shared Background: Agron seems to adore the fashion of Alexander McQueen, an attribute shared with the slightly stalker-ish character she originated in play McQUEEN.
- All Jews Are Ashkenazi:
- Her family name was originally "Agronsky", but it had to be changed for US citizenship.
- In interviews, she talked about playing Protestant cheerleader Quinn in Glee, and the fact that she was Jewish and didn't know what she was talking about when she was reciting Bible verses (presumably New Testament ones, as the rest is the Torah).
- Bifauxnen:
- See page image. Watch "Just Another Girl". Repeat.
- Basically, she looks like◊ a beautiful boy◊.
- See: Making◊ faces◊ like◊ a◊ guy◊.
- Dancing◊ and fixing a bowtie◊, too.
- Fan Community Nickname:
- "Agronatics" (Agron+fanatics), and some "Agronauts" (Agron+astronauts).
- Diannatics (Dianna+fanatics) and Little Lambs common in South America.
- For Happiness: Her main motivation behind things like YM&C, and it would seem to pay off as apparently she has saved people's lives.
- Gender-Blender Name: Her character in Glee is called Quinn, which she chooses over real name Lucy.
- Irony as She Is Cast:
- Who wanted to hear her sing/wear a dress in The Killers' music video? Because she can do those things.
- Film The Crash is set on Jekyll Island, Georgia — close to Agron's birthplace of Savannah. And yet her character is the only one not from Georgia.
- In Shiva Baby, she played the only non-Jewish character, Kim, while the lead was portrayed by a gentile.
- Who wanted to hear her sing/wear a dress in The Killers' music video? Because she can do those
- Mistaken for Gay: Often enough to write the aforementioned three thousand word essay on the subject.
- Promoted Fanboy:
- She is a fan of The Killers and got to play Brandon Flowers in one of their music videos
- and of John Lennon/The Beatles - she got to cover "Imagine" for a charity single with Lennon's voice and image.
- And of Mumford & Sons - she started dating one of the members in 2015.
- And of Sam Smith, and she appeared in their music video, too.
- Shout-Out:
- Her tumblr blog was fell down the rabbit hole, a reference to Alice in Wonderland.
- Lip-syncing in a Killers video, which also contained a large printed number four placed behind her◊ - apparently not from any of the past videos being recreated.
- She's given one in the line notes of Taylor Swift's "22", and "Wonderland" is rumoured to be about her because of her own Alice Allusions.
- Her tumblr blog was fell down the rabbit hole
- Southern Belle:
- From Savannah, GA. And raised in San Antonio, TX.
- Accentuated in this◊ Glamour shoot.
- Those Two Actors: She has a habit of showing up in works with Kristen Bell (such as Heroes) even if they don't share scenes.
- Typecasting:
- She was always "the cheerleader".
- She lampshaded the fact in an interview, saying she doesn't want to play one again.
- After the cheerleading dried up, she began playing a lot of lesbians.
- Written by Cast Member: She wrote, produced and directed A Fuchsia Elephant.
Miscellaneous trivia
- She has a tattoo that says "Mary had a little lamb" because her mother is called Mary and her nickname was/is "little lamb". Also, cute Nursery Rhyme.
- Her younger brother Jason is also an actor. He was in an episode of "Manden med de gyldne ører" in 2009. His work is as a photographer, sometimes helping his sister when she directs.
- She may be the girl that she/Brandon sings to in "Just Another Girl" — part of the song goes "Now Jason's getting married in the blink of an eye/ I got an invitation but I didn't reply/ Tell your little brother that we put down the glove/ And give him all of my love". Unless the topic is switched mid-phrase from 'Jason' to 'little brother', it is assumed that they're the same person. Jason Agron, her little brother. Now, was the song written with this in mind or were they just lucky that the girl they cast actually had a little brother called Jason?
- "I went to see a fortune-teller..." since she's visited psychics before also points to it maybe being from her perspective instead. Which would also mean she likes girls.
