Heidi Noelle Lenhart always knew she would be a singer or a performer. "I was a total ham as a kid," admits the Los Angeles-raised Lenhart, who plays aspiring singer/songwriter Suzanne Carson in the series Fame L.A. But Lenhart decided against an acting career in her senior year of high school. "I knew it would be a tough life," she says. She instead took a college psychology course and began the only other thing she wanted to do -- working as a kids counselor. On a lark, she crashed the auditions for the NBC teen series "California Dreams" and surprised herself by landing a lead role.

    After one season on "California Dreams," she spent six months in Paris studying acting with an American coach and deciding whether to continue acting. "I looked in the mirror and decided to go for it," she says. She returned at age 19, got a new agent, and began doing episodic television and independent films, "to gain as much experience as I could."






    In addition to the series "California Dreams," in which she was also a lead vocalist, she has appeared on television in "The Burning Zone" (UPN), "Night Stand" (UPN), "Maybe This Time," (ABC/Disney) and the CBS television movie, "Deadly Games." Her feature film credits include BORN BAD, RED MEAT, and THE SISTERHOOD.

    Reading the Fame L.A. casting breakdown for the character of Suzanne Carson "gave me a rush, because this was what I was looking for acting and singing in the same role." Despite being a self-characterized "never-giver-upper," the three-month audition process was grueling. In the final audition in front of executive producers and the studio president, she was given less than a minute to memorize two pages of lines. She nailed it. "I worked really hard for this role. This is a big break for me."






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