Ushkowitz was born in Seoul, South Korea; she was adopted at the age of three months and raised in East Meadow, New York. Ushkowitz was raised Catholic (her surname originates from her adoptive paternal grandfather, who was of Russian Jewish descent). She attended Parkway Elementary School and Holy Trinity Diocesan High School, a Catholic school in Hicksville, Long Island known for its strong theater department.\n', '

During high school, Ushkowitz appeared in several musicals, including the first-ever high school production of Les Misérables. Her other roles included Penny in Honk!, Inez in The Baker\'s Wife, Little Red Riding Hood in Into the Woods, and Romaine Patterson in The Laramie Project. Ushkowitz graduated from high school in 2004 and moved on to attend Marymount Manhattan College, where she once again took the role of Little Red Riding Hood in Into the Woods. She graduated from Marymount Manhattan in 2007 with a Bachelor of Arts in theatre arts, with a concentration in performance and a minor in musical theatre.\n', '

Ushkowitz has had a career in show business since the age of three. As a child, she appeared on Sesame Street and other children\'s television shows. Her first role in a Broadway musical was in the 1996 revival of The King and I. Ushkowitz sang the American National Anthem at a New York Knicks game at Madison Square Garden when she was thirteen. Ushkowitz understudied the roles of Ilse, Anna, Martha, and Thea in the Broadway musical Spring Awakening from 2006 to 2008. In 2009, Ushkowitz landed the role of Tina Cohen-Chang on Fox\'s musical comedy-drama series Glee. In casting Glee, series creator Ryan Murphy sought out actors who could identify with the rush of starring in theatrical roles. Instead of using traditional network casting calls, he spent three months on Broadway, where he found Ushkowitz. She was initially given little information about Tina\'s back story, and believed that the character\'s stutter was real.\n', '

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