Lea Michele Talks Sephardic Roots and Meeting Streisand

The «Glee» star appeared on «The Tonight Show» to promote her latest movie.

By: Ilan Mester

Lea Michele recently sat down for an interview with Jay Leno on The Tonight Show. The Glee star was there to promote her new movie, New Year’s Eve, which comes out Dec. 9.

When Leno asked about the origin of her last name (Sarfati), the 25-year-old actress told him it’s a Sephardic surname. “It’s Sephardic, which is Spanish/Jew,” she said.

“I don’t use it a lot because I got Lea So-fatty, Lea So-farty at school,” she explained. “So when I was little and I went on my first audition, they were like, ‘And may we have your name,’ and I was like, ‘Lea Michele.’ And I’ve been Lea Michele ever since.”

The Glee star also talked about a tweet she received from Barbra Streisand, who later sent her a gift.

“I’m a huge Barbra fan so it meant the world to me,” she said about receiving a gift from Streisand.

She also talked about meeting the singer in a parking lot. Catch the entire interview below.

Source: Shalom Life 8/12/2011

 

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