I always wanted to be on Glee. As soon as the pilot aired, I said I needed to be on the show.

I have so many [on-set Glee BFFs]. I love Kevin (McHale). I love Amber (Riley) Amber and I are essentially the same person, even though one’s fiercer than the other—don’t tell her it’s me. I love Chris Colfer, he’s a gem. Melissa (Benoist) and Blake (Jenner), I love them. We’re such a tight-knight family because we spend so much time together.

Playing Unique hasn’t changed how I feel about myself, but it has changed how I hold myself. Unique is so confident that I found myself [saying], ‘You need to be the role model that your character intends you to be.’

I want to play the mean girl one day - or the mean gay!

Of course I took something from the [Glee set]. I took my entire shoe collection, that's all I would ever need.