Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga
Hotel	Elizabeth
Roanoke	Scáthach (re-enactment)

Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American songwriter, singer, actress, philanthropist, activist, dancer and fashion designer. She won the Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television for the former.

Biography

She was born at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City and is the eldest child of Joseph "Joe" and Cynthia (née Bissett) Germanotta. Germanotta, now known as Lady Gaga (she has attributed the inspiration for her name to the Queen song "Radio Ga-Ga"), went on to become an international pop star.

Gaga learned to play the piano by the age of 4 wrote her first piano ballad at thirteen, and started to perform at open mike nights by the age of fourteen. At the age of 11, she was accepted to the Juilliard School in Manhattan, but instead attended a private Catholic school in the city. She continued studying music and performing, writing her first piano ballad at the age of 13, and she held her first performance in a New York nightclub at the age of 14.

A few years later, Gaga was granted early admission to New York University's Tisch School of the Arts—she was one of only 20 students in the world to receive the honor of early acceptance. While there, she studied music and worked on her songwriting skills. She later withdrew from school to find creative inspiration. To make ends meet, she took three jobs, including a stint as a go-go dancer, while she honed her performance-art act.

Having two short roles in action movies, two roles in TV series, one major role in a drama-musical movie and releasing a concert film, she has 1 nomination for EMMY award, has won 1 Academy Award, 9 GRAMMY Awards, 13 MTV Video Music Awards, 2 Golden Globes and 13 Guinness World Records. Lady Gaga is recognized worldwide for her career as a singer and performer.

Work on American Horror Story

Lady Gaga portrayed Elizabeth Johnson, the self-styled Countess and carrier of a blood virus in the fifth season, Hotel, and the re-enacted Scáthach, a wicked ancient witch, in the in-universe documentary "My Roanoke Nightmare" in the sixth season, Roanoke.

Lady Gaga is credited with the honorary "and" in the fifth season's opening title sequence. She appeared in every sigle episode of the season along with Chloë Sevigny. Her role as "The Countess" was divisive amongst fans and critics alike who either highly praised her performance or overtly criticized her with comparisons to Jessica Lange, who left the series the previous year after changes were made to the themes and settings of the fifth season from World Word II to glamours Hotel Cortez, and expressed slight criticism over casting Lady Gaga as well during a PaleyFest panel.

Lady Gaga won a Golden Globe for her role as Elizabeth. She is the second main actress from the show to win the prestigious award, the first one being Jessica Lange for her performance as Constance Langdon in Murder House.

About her casting as the central character of Hotel, "Her theatricality and sultry charisma are perfect for a role that requires everyone who comes into contact with the glamorous vampire to become instantly, supernaturally obsessed with her."

Lady Gaga on joining AHS and Murphy's vision

In an interview with Billboard, Lady Gaga revealed that she cold-called AHS creator Ryan Murphy to ask for a part. "I told him I wanted a place to put all of my anguish and rage and that I was excited to play a killer," she said. Murphy agreed, and Lady Gaga took on the first lead role of her acting career alongside AHS alumni Evan Peters, Kathy Bates and Angela Bassett.

“I’m not the type of girl who fits most molds. That’s why working on American Horror Story with Ryan [Murphy] is a destiny. I wanted to create something extremely meaningful by exploring the art of darkness. The reason I love watching horror films, mysteries and documentaries about crime is that it somehow numbs me from the pain I experience in my own life. You are watching something worse than whatever you think you’re going through. The terror of that suspends you, and you are able to forget about your own pain for a moment. It’s like a safe, psychological form of masochism.”

“Ryan and I have both experienced the same sort of criticism over the intention of our work. My whole career has been built on this perception that I’m trying to evoke attention because of the things I’m interested in, when it’s not that way at all. If you don’t like to be disturbed, [American Horror Story] probably isn’t for you. If you don’t like absurdity, I’m probably not for you. [...] I can put all my rage into that dark art, and then the rest of my life can be spent clearheaded, doing the things I know to be right, like philanthropy and sticking to my guns musically.”

Notes

• Lady Gaga also appeared in Machete Kills with Cuba Gooding, Jr. as La Chameléon.
• Her make-up artist, Sarah Tanno created the look of The Countess, 'a bomb Daphne Guinness'. 
• Both of her two characters in AHS are immortal beings. 

Appearances

Episode appearances for Lady Gaga

Story or Series	Character	Episodes
Hotel	Elizabeth	Checking In Chutes and Ladders Mommy Devil's Night Room Service Room 33 Flicker The Ten Commandments Killer She Wants Revenge She Gets Revenge Battle Royale Be Our Guest
Roanoke	Scáthach (re-enacted)	Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4

Gallery

Lady Gaga as Elizabeth

Lady Gaga as the re-enacted Scáthach