Out100: Alex Newell

Photography by Ryan Pfluger in Brooklyn on September 10, 2015. Styling by Michael Cook. Hair and Makeup: Angela DiCarlo. Cape available at Patricia Field.

In this year's final season of Glee, -- Newell, who played transgender teen Wade, had the opportunity to belt out the Hairspray ballad "I Know Where I've Been," with a 200-person chorus of trans men and women as backup. It was the actor-singer's final solo on the show, and he says it was the highlight of his year, which also included lending his pipes to club tracks by the likes of Blonde and the Knocks. Hailing from the Boston area, Newell knows where he's been, too, and he says that performing on stage has always felt like home: "That's the one place I can be whoever and whatever I want to be -- it's one of the most forgiving places in the world."

SLIDESHOW | Out100 2015