Glee's Lindsay Pearce Was Intimidated By Lea Michele: 'Don't Talk to Her'

Actress Lindsay Pearce felt so intimidated to work with Lea Michele that she could not bring herself to look at the Glee star.

Pearce, 31, competed on The Glee Project when she was just 20 after coming runner-up alongside Alex Newell. The winners were Samuel Larsen and Damian McGinty Jr.

The reality series saw rising stars compete to get a spot on the Fox hit dramedy Glee and, even though Pearce had met some of the show's stars during The Glee Project, it did not help her nerves once she was on set.

Michele, 36, played the ambitious Rachel Berry on Glee, while Pearce played sophomore Harmony in her two-episode stint.

Harmony was written as a character who intimidated Berry so much with her talent that she even cried about it, but in real life, the roles were reversed, with Pearce feeling scared by Michele's star power.

"I remember when Lea came in and I was like, 'Don't talk to her. Don't even look in her direction. Leave her alone,'" Pearce told Insider. "Because she's the star of the show."

Speaking on the 10th anniversary of The Glee Project, Pearce revealed she got on well with her co-stars, including Chris Colfer, who played Kurt Hummel.

"Chris was like, 'Did you win?' I was like, 'I didn't!'" she recalled. "He was really sweet."

Harmony was known for her red beret and her show-stopping tap dance in the mashup of "Anything Goes"/"Anything You Can Do."

Pearce joined Glee in 2011 during the season-three opening episode and impressed critics so much that Emily VanDerWerff of The A.V. Club even said she "may be the best new character ever."

Pearce has since watched her scenes on Glee and was happy with what she delivered.

"I've seen clips of those performances throughout the years, and I marvel at how on fire I was, how locked in I was," she said.

"I can't believe that, at 20, I was so confident. The Glee Project trained me really well to do Glee well, and I was always really proud of what I was able to put out in those two episodes."

Pearce went on to have a successful career on Broadway, including playing the lead role of Elphaba in Wicked.

In May this year, she joined the musical Mean Girls on its national tour to play Janis Sarkisian.

Michele played Berry for 121 episodes until Glee ended in 2015, and the role earned the actress multiple award nominations, including an Emmy and a Golden Globe.

She is starring in Funny Girl on Broadway, taking over after Beanie Feldstein's tumultuous run in the lead role.

After the casting news was announced, Michele shared her reaction on Instagram.

"A dream come true is an understatement. I'm so incredibly honored to join this amazing cast and production and return to the stage playing Fanny Brice on Broadway," Michele wrote.