She acted in and directed part of the 2019 anthology feature film Berlin, I Love You, and returned to television as the lead in the Netflix fantasy drama series The Chosen One (2023).

[31][32] Being exposed to the "fairytale" and "fantastical" image of Hollywood from these films influenced Agron's decision to pursue acting,[31] while her interest in storytelling comes from seeing different lives unfold around her growing up in the "fishbowl environment" of hotels.

[41] She said that she found it much easier to make friends there than she had in Texas,[31] though described her middle school experience as sometimes unpleasant,[29] giving the example of a boy following her around and calling her a man when, aged thirteen, her voice dropped significantly.

This gave her a complex about how her voice sounded and she avoided speaking and singing in her natural register for a long time, though she overcame this and credits it with giving her a thick skin.

[53] The family thought it was multiple sclerosis after tests proved indefinitive; Agron was not made aware of his illness until she was fifteen, when he had a stroke and began losing his cognitive and physical abilities.

[67][68] During her early years in Los Angeles, Agron lived in the same building as Christina McDowell and Emma Stone, which was once raided by a SWAT team, and spent time with them and other "young artists and starlets" in the neighborhood, including Lindsay Lohan and Amanda Bynes.

[90][91] The plot revolves around Agron's character, Charlotte Hill, who recreates her eighth birthday party with her friend Michael, played by Dave Franco, also a producer, on the day before she turns eighteen.

[101] In 2011 she tested for the part of Lois Lane in the DC Extended Universe film Man of Steel, though there were concerns that she was too young for the role;[102] it went to Amy Adams.

[105] In the episode "Born This Way" she performed a duet with Lea Michele (as Rachel Berry) of "I Feel Pretty" from West Side Story and TLC's "Unpretty".

[134] In 2019, The Guardian termed the brief paralysis, and the related "cringe-inducing" performance of "I'm Still Standing", as the show's "defining shark-jumping moment",[135] though critics praised Agron's acting.

[144] These songs were released on Glee: The Music, Volume 1 (the former as an iTunes bonus track),[141] which was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media.

[162] After reducing her role on Glee, Agron became the first of the cast to "cut out on her own",[31] playing Belle Blake in Luc Besson's ultra-violent 2013 mob comedy film The Family opposite Robert De Niro, Tommy Lee Jones, and Michelle Pfeiffer.

[175][176] Agron returned to Glee for its final season[177] but did not appear in the episode "A Wedding", when Quinn's best friends get married, which was seen to be equally as unusual as missing "The Quarterback".

[179] In 2017 she said that she had "wanted to return to doing indie films [after Glee and The Family], and found a lot of solace in doing so",[56] explaining in 2022 that she "purposely had to recalibrate after [she] was fully off of that show, and make time for [herself]... after so many years of not having any control [and] just not [being] a person in [her] own world".

[180] She played the lead role in Natalia Leite's 2015 drama film Bare,[181] which follows Agron's character, Sarah, as she becomes romantically involved with a female drifter.

[190] She had a supporting role in the Vatican II-set film Novitiate, portraying Sister Mary Grace, a foil to the harsh instruction of the Mother Superior,[191] opposite Melissa Leo and Margaret Qualley.

[226][227] In As They Made Us, directed by Mayim Bialik and released in April 2022, Agron played the lead role, Abigail, alongside Dustin Hoffman and Candice Bergen.

[4] Reviews noted her charming commentary and ability to connect with the audience,[4] with Front Row Center writing that her "alluring badinage is as delightful as her song.

[232][216] Agron's public image and style have been described as "old Hollywood", something she has enjoyed since she was a child admiring figures including Audrey Hepburn, Lucille Ball and Leslie Caron.

[240] In 2011, her roles in Glee and I Am Number Four saw Agron place on the IMDb list of top emerging stars,[241][242] and the Victoria's Secret models ranked her as the sexiest smile in Hollywood.

[243] Following the death of Cory Monteith in 2013, Agron criticized the lack of privacy afforded her Glee castmates by paparazzi, though said she had come to accept this kind of treatment in exchange for the positives of being an actor.

[244] Agron has since said that the level of success Glee had when she was in her early twenties "[catapulted her] into a world [in which she was] not very equipped to, kind of, explore that coming-of-age in the public eye", adding that the sudden emergence of social media at the time did not help; she explained that she chose to travel to keep grounded.

[58] In 2010, she appeared on the cover of GQ with Glee co-stars Michele and Monteith; after "minor controversy" following complaints that the actors were dressed too provocatively for their younger fans, Agron wrote an apology on her blog.

The couple had a messy break-up in February 2011, the day after the film was released, with reports that he threatened her over the phone and had a "heated confrontation" with actor Sebastian Stan, someone with whom Agron was close in early 2011.

[318] Naya Rivera and Cory Monteith had hosted a parallel event on March 24, 2012, in New York City, auctioning off kisses to the audience;[319] Agron did the same, raising $5,500 for the campaign.

[320] In women's rights, Agron spoke at the 18th San Francisco Power of Choice Luncheon to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade in 2013,[321][322] and criticized the Supreme Court of the United States when it repealed this in June 2022.

[328][329] Supporting youth causes, in 2014, Agron took part in a charity weekend as part of the Big Slick Foundation, an organization of Kansas City-related celebrities, to help raise funds for Children's Mercy Hospital,[330] and she and other Glee stars participated in the Young Storytellers Foundation "Glee Big Show", which featured live performances of five scripts written by fifth grade students to support arts programs in public schools.

[341][342] The name of the website refers to Charlie, one of Agron's childhood nicknames,[343] "her male alter ego[,] and the star of the short stories she'd write in high school".

[344] Several short films and videos created by Lexy Hulme, a dancer and friend of Agron, were also shared on the website,[345] which accepted submissions for inspiration posts through a related Tumblr blog.

[26] In February 2013, Agron hosted a concert for the curation blog in Los Angeles, where she performed Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams" and Tina Turner's "What's Love Got to Do with It" with the band A House For Lions.