BERRY, rachel

[rachel berry]

rachel barbra berry

if you wanted the sky
b a s i c s

• name,

rachel barbra berry

• nicknames,

berry, rach, manhands, miss bossy pants, strawberry

• gender,

female

• birthday,

december eighteenth

• age,

sixteen

• grade,

junior

• occupation,

none

• sexuality,

heterosexual

• clubs/teams,

new directions

• canon or original,

canon

• playby,

lea michele

i would write across the sky in letters
a p p e a r a n c e

• head,

Rachel, although not your stereotypical preppy, blonde looking gorgeous girl, has quite a pretty face. Her eyes are big and brown and are often sparkling whether it be from smiling or crying, either way, they are almost always full of emotion. Over the summer she got bangs in her shiny dark brown, thick hair which she often curls or straightens. A lot of people criticise her for her typically Jewish nose, often suggesting she should get a nose job, but Rachel is rather proud of it, as it links her to her idol, Barbra Streisand, who also suffered such comments. She has a big smile and perfectly white teeth as she takes oral hygiene very seriously, especially because her mouth is usually open when talking or on stage doing what she does best - singing. She also has a very slight, usually unnoticeable scar on her forehead.

• body,

Rachel is very petite, coming it at a height of only five foot two, which is considered rather small for a girl of her age. She has a rather skinny figure and weighs around one hundred pounds, which she puts down to her vegan diet and her rigorous exercise program. The downside, or at least, the downside from a guy's point, is that she doesn't have the breasts of a swimsuit model, but she doesn't really care about that, as she believes they're in perfect proportion to her body, and that her long, toned legs offset the previous 'disadvantage'.

• style,

The outfits that Rachel sports are usually mocked by her fellow classmates, simply because she dresses very smartly and tries to remain her innocence. She usually wears skirts, and often knee high socks to go with them. Occasionally she will wear sweater vests, or cardigans, and she also really enjoys wearing sweaters with animals on. On her feet she typically wears ballet flats or penny loafers, and around her neck she will wear a necklace of some sort, often of a star or some other charming pendant. Sometimes she wears headbands in her hair to add a little extra to the curls. But to prevent herself from looking too old, she keeps it modern with her skirt length, which is most often quite short and pleated. As for makeup, she wears it but tries to keep it natural looking, sticking to the light make up, a little foundation and lip gloss.

that would soar a thousand feet high
p e r s o n a l i t y

• goals,

- win nationals with new directions
- become a broadway legend
- win a tony award and a grammy award

• fears,

- losing her voice for good
- being alone and unpopular forever
- her friends/family dying

• first impression,

Without giving Rachel the time of day to get to really know her, it is rather difficult to find her likeable and very easy to dismiss her as a conceited, bossy know-it-all. She is very opinionated and although she wants to be popular she never shows a restricted, contained version of herself to anyone. She says what she thinks, and as she is often thinking about herself or her life or her dreams, that is usually what she speaks about. Her life revolves around music and theatre and it is her favourite topic to talk about, so people who don't enjoy musical theatre can never fully appreciate the conversations she holds with them. She is a natural-born leader and often finds herself telling people what they should or shouldn't do, especially those who are in New Directions with her, and that usually leads to them disliking her for being demanding.

• overall,

Rachel Berry is one of the most talented singers in William McKinley High. She has a perfectly trained voice and has been attending dance classes all her life. She's pretty good-looking too, and her two gay dads had entered her in many beauty pageants as a child. Before she goes to school she exercises, warms up her voice, spends a while choosing out a smart yet pretty outfit for her day, brushes her hair and applies minimal make-up. There's nothing wrong with being proud of your appearance, right? But the problem isn't that Rachel boasts about her looks, it's that she knows her voice is spectacular and wants everyone else to know it too. With her sights set on the Broadway stage, she will stop at nothing to get there. She joins many clubs to make herself a well-rounded teenage girl, but the club she treasures the most is the glee club, New Directions. She truly believes they have what it takes to be better than Vocal Adrenaline, the 'best' show choir in the country.

After reading that, you'd probably be led to believe that Rachel is far too egotistical for her own good and is probably the most obnoxious person in the school. You'd be wrong, because despite being rather selfish and boastful, Rachel is actually a kind-hearted human being. She is polite and just like every other girl she wants to have friends and be popular. When people call her names or throw things at her, she brushes off the insults and cleans herself up, thinking deep inside that one day they will all envy her. She never sinks to their level and despite the way people try to push her around she walks through the school with her head held high. Rachel is also romantic, probably because of the high volume of musicals and romance films she has seen and memorised. All she really wants from a guy is someone who can treat her right and despite not being overly superficial, one who is quite good looking. She considers being able to sing and being confident about your abilities one of the sexiest things a guy can do.

But deep down inside of her, past her strong, steel exterior, is a fragile girl. When she falls in love with a guy she falls hard and gives everything she can to them. She will think about them non stop every waking moment of the day and will even begin to dream about the future. But when they break her heart she too, like almost every other girl, wants to lock herself in her room and cry whilst watching her favourite films and eating vegan chocolate. She will get back on her feet however and show them they can't mess her around, although she'll probably run straight back into their arms if they offer her the chance.

In glee club, and in life in general, she can often be abrasive and far too confident in herself. She believes the solos belong to her, being the best singer in there, and will take great insult if they aren't handed to her straight away (such as Defying Gravity from Wicked and Tonight from West Side Story). But she only does that because she wants to be the star. You don't get recognized by being a background vocalist. That's why she posts so many videos of herself singing on Myspace, because she wants to be noticed by someone who has links to Broadway or a record company. It doesn't mean that she doesn't care for her fellow glee clubbers, in fact, she wants the to succeed. She persuades people to perform in front of the group and will do duets with them or give them vocal coaching if that is what it takes. She considers all the people in glee club her friends (with the exception of Santana, but that is only because she refuses to be friendly towards her), even when they say hurtful things to her or blow off her ideas. But she knows that deep down they all love her, and even if they don't, she wouldn't leave New Directions because they need her to win. And she needs New Directions to develop her talent and perform in front of an audience.

to sir, with love
h i s t o r y

• family,

Hiram Berry - Father - 47 - Accountant
Leroy Berry - Father - 42 - Architect
Shelby Corcoran - Biological Mother - 33 - Ex-Coach of Vocal Adrenaline
Beth Corcoran - Adopted Half-Sister - 3 months
Cosette - Miniature Lop Rabbit
Sandy - Miniature Lop Rabbit
Mimi - Miniature Lop Rabbit

• hometown,

Lima, Ohio

• current town,

Lima

• overall,

Hiram and Leroy Berry were in love, but that wasn't enough for them. They wanted a family, or at least a child to call their own and they believed that just because they were gay it shouldn't mean that this was impossible for them. So they set about looking for a woman who would be the biological mother of their child and also carry it for the nine month gestation span. They searched for a while, putting adverts up saying that they would pay the woman for her time. Finally they came across Shelby Corcoran, who had a dream of going to Broadway but without the money to fund her ambitions. She was beautiful, talented and smart and everything they needed for the mother. So, mixing their sperm together so they wouldn't know who the real father was (even though the child's appearance might hint towards it), they went to a fertility clinic and nine months later, their daughter was born. Shelby wasn't allowed to hold her, seeing as her job was over, and Hiram and Leroy put in place a contract saying Shelby couldn't contact their child until she was eighteen years old. The two men named their daughter Rachel Barbara Berry, Rachel because they were such great fans of the TV series Friends and Barbara because they hoped she would one day be as talented as the amazing Barbra Streisand.

Knowing that Shelby had always been very musically talented and theatrical, they already had a future mapped out for Rachel before she had even said her first words. They believed in their daughter and knew that with the right training and encouragement she would be one of the biggest stars in musical theatre. Of course, they would never force her into doing something she didn't want to do, but by the time she had experienced the world of showbiz she would never look back. Winning her first dance competition at three months and her first singing competition at eight months, Hiram and Leroy knew they had been right with their assumptions that she would be amazingly talented. One day, they read somewhere that if you gave a glass of water to a child when they were sad, soon they wouldn't be able to tell if they were upset or thirsty. Rachel's dads, never wanting her to be miserable, began to do this and after years it finally began to work.

By the time she was a young adolescent, Rachel had blossomed into a talented, beautiful individual. At the weekends she would go to various competitions and occasionally beauty pageants, or audition for roles in community theatre or amateur films. She attended singing classes during the week alongside drama, dance and even motivational speaking. She enjoyed it all very much, until she reached high school and realised trying to juggle all of this work as well as the classes and competitions she was attending would be near impossible. She discussed it with her fathers and they decided she had developed her talents enough to leave the vocal coaching as well as the other classes she had been attending. Instead, she took up some of the clubs in school, including glee club. At the time however, it was run by Mr Ryerson and he was pretty much useless, as well as a little perverse. She put up with it anyway, and instead channelled most of her time and spirit into the ballet club where she was appreciated far more. The final straw with the glee club, however, was when a personal favourite solo of hers, Where is Love from Oliver, was given to Hank Saunders, and she caught Mr Ryerson touching him inappropriately. When she realised the solo had been given to him for such a disgusting reason, she told Principal Figgins who fired Sandy immediately.

That summer she had attending a performing arts camp to regain some of the talent that had been wasted away when she had been singing backing vocals at glee club. When she got back to school, she saw a poster advertising that the glee club, now dubbed New Directions, was under a new director. Spanish Teacher, Mr Schuester, who Rachel knew had been in the glee club when they had taken Nationals (she had been browsing through the year books in the library). She auditioned for the new show choir and obviously got in, as did four other members. Mercedes Jones, Artie Abrams, Kurt Hummel and Tina Cohen-Chang. She was glad to see the back of Hank Saunders (who she hadn't actually seen since the 'incident'), and was happy to realise she was now the most talented member in the club. But without a powerful male lead they were awful, until Finn Hudson joined. He was an amazing singer and Rachel fell head over heels for him. Despite the fact that he was dating the head cheerleader, she bonded with him over singing and they became fast friends. They had actually kissed on a few occasions and she was quick to believe that he liked her too. For a short while, Rachel left New Directions for the lead in the school production Cabaret, despite the fact that Mr Ryerson was directing it (and he quite visibly still hated her because she had got him fired). But after some persuasion from Finn and the departure of alcoholic April Rhodes, she re-joined the glee club.

Her budding relationship with Finn was put on hold after that, when he found out he and Quinn were going to have a baby. Rachel was furious that Finn had led her on, and also jealous that Quinn got to have his baby when she quite clearly didn't feel the same way as she did. But, out of respect, she backed off and watched for months as Quinn and Finn played happy families. She had instead dated Noah Puckerman, school stud, in an attempt to make Finn jealous, but it didn't work so she called the relationship off and went back to admiring Finn from afar. Until the week before Sectionals, that is, when she found out something that would get her Finn after all. Quinn's baby wasn't his, it was Noah's. Wanting Finn all for herself, she selfishly told him and instead of running into her open arms, he left the glee club all together so that he wouldn't have to see his ex-girlfriend. He came back, of course, and they took Sectionals. The two of them then became an item, until Finn decided he wasn't over Quinn and told Rachel he didn't want to be her boyfriend. Devastated and heart-broken, Rachel sought comfort in star of Vocal Adrenaline, Jesse St James. Originally, he was a re-bound from Finn, but she quickly fell in love with his charm. He was the perfect match for her, they were so similar and he appeared to care deeply for her.

New Directions, however, didn't see it the same way. They all thought Jesse was a spy, and said they would all quit if she continued to date him. Rachel told Jesse that she didn't want to break up with him, and instead, they continued to date in secret. They got much closer and nearly had sex, until she told him that she couldn't go all the way with him because it would be like betraying the team. So, instead, Jesse quit Vocal Adrenaline and joined New Directions. They were a happy couple for a while, until an anonymous member of the glee club (Quinn) posted a 'glist', listing the 'hottest' members of New Directions. Rachel was right at the bottom with a score of -5, and so in an attempt to be perceived as promiscuous and gain a bad reputation, she filmed a version of David Geddes' Run Joey Run where she triple cast Noah, Finn and Jesse as her boyfriend. Jesse left on spring break for a few weeks, and when he returned he forgave and her and begun to aid her in finding her mother. With Jesse's help, she finally reunited with Shelby, her mom, who was now the coach of Vocal Adrenaline. They decided in the end that it was better to act as if they were just acquaintances instead. Jesse, who had only ever dated Rachel to reunite her with Shelby, transferred back to Carmel and left Rachel heartbroken. Vocal Adrenaline went on to win Regionals and seeing Jesse so apathetic over their break up broke Rachel's heart. She has since spent the whole summer mourning her broken heart and trying to put the pieces back together

if you wanted the moon i would try to make a start
i n t e r v i e w

• if you were stuck on an island, what are three things you'd have with you and why?

"That is a difficult question, how can I compress my life into three things? I think for the benefit of this question I should bring three things that are rather different, to showcase different aspects of my life. I would probably bring along my laptop, which is of course customised to reflect my personality, and from there I could upload videos onto my MySpace, from my webcam. It won't be the typical high quality as I usually post, but at least my fans can still stay connected to me. Plus, I could keep up with all of the news from the world of music! Along with my laptop, I would probably bring my collection of musical DVDs to keep me amused for extensive amounts of time, and then I wouldn't have to bring my soundtracks as well. Finally, my third item would be my dads, because they would take care of me well and I wouldn't go insane from the lack of communication."

• what are your feelings on other characters on this site?

"As you probably will have guessed, I have a lot of feelings. Despite what many may think about me, I enjoy the company of my fellow glee clubbers. Finn and I are currently on rocky ground but I do wish to stay friends with him, and it would be no good for the team if we were constantly arguing, seeing as we are usually the lead vocals and they need us to be on amicable terms. I often find the rest of New Directions are sort of jealous of my talent, but I can't help it if I'm the strong mezzo-soprano and they're just the backing singers! I used to be good friends with Tina, but then we had a little disagreement over who deserved the West Side Story solo, the one that she didn't fully appreciate. Mercedes and Kurt don't like that I get all the solos, but as I said before, it's an inevitability. Noah and I briefly dated, and we are currently on terms as acquaintances, but I'd like it if we were friends, that goes for Quinn too.

I can't see myself being friends with Santana Lopez, however, she deliberately butchered my relationship with Finn. I don't hold a grudge over her best friend Brittany, though, she's too dumb to understand what she did, bless her heart. As for our director, Mr Schuester, he has been such a good teacher, but I have a feeling that at sometimes he doesn't like me. In fact, I worry that I'm grating on him, but I'm not going to change because he can't handle my personality. As for Coach Sylvester, many people are scared of her but she has actually been quite nice to me. Well, as nice as she can be. Shelby, my... my biological mother, she's pretty nice, I guess. We didn't have much of a connection but I feel like she is a good person, really, and I hope maybe one day we will get to know each other better. And finally, Jesse St James. I don't like to discuss my relationship with him, he broke my heart and I'm still nursing the wounds. I guess I should have listened to the people who said he was playing me, right?"

• what are your favorite things to do in your spare time?

"I live a very busy life, you know? I have a regular exercise routine to keep my body in tip top shape, but my favourite thing to do is sing. Singing is my life, music is my life. I upload videos to my MySpace almost every day, so check them out! I also love to dance, especially ballet. I won my first dance competition at three months old! Also, I watch musicals regular, whether it be the film adaptations or seeing them live. Of course I can't get to New York every month, but I see local productions often and go to Broadway in most school breaks. I have a large collection of Playbills, you want to see?"

but i would rather you let me give my heart
o o c

• name,

steph

• age,

fifteen

• gender,

female

• time zone,

GMT!

• experience,

a long time now, five maybe six years?

• other characters,

none, yet

• contact info,

msn/email - [e-mail]
tumblr - gleeatricality.tumblr.com

to sir, with love.
t h e e n d