Lea Michele Billboard Triple Threat Award Recipient 2010

Broadway alum Lea Michele will receive the first ever Triple Threat Award — which recognizes excellence in performance across acting, singing, and dancing — at the Billboard Women in Music Event.

The Glee singer/actress, 24, will join fellow honorees Jazmine Sullivan (“Rising Star”) and Fergie (“Woman of the Year”) at the coveted luncheon in New York City on Dec. 2.

“I’m so excited! At work we have a nickname for Matt Morrison — we call him ‘Triple Threat,’ because he’s an incredible singer-dancer-actor. And now I get to borrow that phrase, which is really cool.”

Although it’s Lea’s role as Rachel Berry on the Emmy-nominated musical-comedy that has made the star a household name among millions of Gleeks, Michele’s actually been a stage star on the Great White Way since the ripe old age of eight. She made her Broadway debut as the young Cosette in Les Misérables, and later appeared in Ragtime and Fiddler on the Roof. In 2006, Le was nominated for an Outstanding Actress Drama Desk Award for the musical Spring Awakening.

“Billboard created the Triple Threat Award this year to recognize the incredible contribution that Lea Michele has made to music, as a star on ‘Glee,’” Billboard Editorial Director Bill Werde said, bestowing praise on Michele in a statement issued Wednesday.

“‘Glee’ has rewritten the Billboard charts this year and Lea has been one of the driving stars of that success. Whether she’s covering Britney or Broadway, Madonna or Rihanna, she always manages to bring out the most in her songs in a way that is distinctly Rachel, and by extension, Lea. Phenomena aren’t always backed by true talent, but in this case, it’s clear that Lea has what it takes as a singer, a dancer and an actor to be a star for years to come.”