Lena Hall

[on her name change - Broadway.com, July 2013] I came up with the name Lena Hall a couple of years ago. It was an idea for my rock persona, but the response for that name was so good. Multiple people in the industry suggested I have one name for everything. [Lena Hall] is just two shortenings of my first name and my last name. So Lena Hall is Celina Carvajal. It seemed like an easier way of people getting to know me. Lena Hall is a nice symmetrical name, and it reminds people of Lena Horne, who was a singer. And when people hear my name, I want them to think of a singer. Show less «

My tonsils were taken out when I was 26. They were huge! It kind of changed my life completely, because my voice changed and at the time I had just joined this band [The Deafening]. It was good because it forced me to sing in ways other than musical theater and classical. It forced me to find the grittiness and the Janis Joplin stuff, in a way that I wouldn't hurt my voice, so that I could perform for an hour and still be fine. So, I'm really grateful for that, and for my band. It made me much more of a diverse performer and singer. Show less «

Well, originally I was supposed to be a prima ballerina. When I was little, I was a little phenomenon: I was a soloist in a children's company and I went to France to study ballet on full scholarship. Then when I was twelve, I saw my sister in 42nd Street performing with The Young People's Teen Musical Theatre Company in San Francisco and when I saw her on stage, I was just like, "I want to do that!" [Lena Laughs] That was usually how it was, whatever my sister did, I wanted to do, but seeing her in 42nd Street really meant a lot to me. I loved everything about it. So, I told my parents that I wanted to quit ballet at the age of twelve, and they didn't let me stop but I joined the company that my sister was in and I did shows from when I was twelve to about seventeen. Also, I went to an arts high school where I was in the dance and vocal program. Show less «

[on growing up in San Francisco and feeling a strong connection to her Filipino heritage] I'm a quarter Filipino, which is different than Darren [Criss]. I think Darren is half Filipino. But I do remember always feeling like a part of the club. I have a ton of friends in San Francisco who are part Filipino and part white. David Greenbaum is one of them and he and I, we did theatre together. I was in a band called Generation Nation with him and we were all Filipino. Almost all of us were all Filipino so it was kind of like this club to be a part of. Show less «

I don't know a ton about my Filipino heritage, but I know that my family in the Philippines is basically seven generations of artists. My father is first generation in San Francisco and my father's father-he immigrated to San Francisco from the Philippines. My dad, to this day, still makes Lumpia and it is by far the best thing I've ever eaten in my life. Unfortunately, now that I'm a vegan, I don't eat any meat, but when I did eat meat, boy did I eat that Lumpia like nobody's business. My dad would make them so well. Show less «