Lady Gaga

Gaga learned to play piano by ear at age four, wrote her first piano ballad at 13, and began performing at open-mic nights in New York City clubs when she was 14. She attended the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Manhattan and received early admission to New York University's Tisch School of the Arts at 17, one of only 20 students worldwide to receive that distinction that year. She left Tisch after two years to pursue music full time.

After moving to New York City's Lower East Side, she performed with the Stefani Germanotta Band and developed a theatrical stage identity influenced by glam rock, David Bowie, Queen, and performance art. In 2007, she and performance artist Lady Starlight formed the revue Lady Gaga and the Starlight Revue. Her stage name was inspired by Queen's song "Radio Ga Ga." Before establishing herself as a recording artist, she wrote songs for Britney Spears, Fergie, New Kids on the Block, and the Pussycat Dolls. Singer Akon signed her to Kon Live after hearing her perform.

Gaga released her debut album, The Fame, in 2008. Its singles "Just Dance," "Poker Face," "LoveGame," and "Paparazzi" became major chart successes, while the album introduced her combination of electronic dance music, theatrical presentation, and highly stylized visual design. The album sold more than eight million copies worldwide by the end of 2009 and won the Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording and Best Electronic/Dance Album.

Her 2009 EP The Fame Monster explored the darker side of sudden celebrity and produced "Bad Romance," "Telephone," and "Alejandro." Gaga's performances and fashion became central to her public image, including the meat dress she wore at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards. She later explained that the outfit protested the United States military's former "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. Her fan base became known as the "little monsters," and she created the creative team Haus of Gaga to develop her music, performances, and visual style.

Gaga's second full-length album, Born This Way, was released in 2011. The title track became an LGBTQ self-empowerment anthem, while songs such as "Judas," "The Edge of Glory," and "You and I" extended her use of religious, political, and personal themes. She followed it with Artpop in 2013, then shifted toward jazz standards with Cheek to Cheek, a 2014 collaboration with Tony Bennett. The album topped the Billboard 200 and won the Grammy for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album.

She returned to a more personal and roots-oriented sound with Joanne in 2016, an album named after her late aunt, and revisited dance-pop on Chromatica in 2020. Gaga and Bennett released their second collaborative album, Love for Sale, in 2021, focusing on songs associated with Cole Porter. In 2024, she released Harlequin, a companion album to Joker: Folie à Deux. Her 2025 album Mayhem debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and included "Abracadabra" and "Die With a Smile," her collaboration with Bruno Mars.

Gaga began taking prominent acting roles in the 2010s, appearing in Machete Kills and Sin City: A Dame to Kill For. She won a Golden Globe for playing the vampiric Countess in the fifth season of American Horror Story: Hotel and also appeared in the show's sixth season, Roanoke. Her major film breakthrough came with A Star Is Born in 2018, in which she played Ally opposite Bradley Cooper, who also directed the film. Gaga received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress, while "Shallow," which she cowrote and performed with Cooper, won the Oscar for Best Original Song and two Grammy Awards.

She later played Patrizia Reggiani in House of Gucci and Harley Quinn opposite Joaquin Phoenix in Joker: Folie à Deux. Her other film work includes co-writing and performing "Til It Happens to You" for The Hunting Ground and "Hold My Hand" for Top Gun: Maverick, both of which received Academy Award nominations. Gaga and her mother established the Born This Way Foundation in 2012 to support young people's mental and emotional well-being. She has also advocated for LGBTQ+ rights, spoken against gun violence, partnered with the Elton John AIDS Foundation, and performed the national anthem at Joe Biden's 2021 presidential inauguration.

Gaga met technology executive Michael Polansky at a mutual friend's birthday party in December 2019. They began dating soon afterward and made their relationship public in February 2020. Gaga later said that they moved in together during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Polansky proposed after a rock-climbing outing on April 1, 2024, and Gaga confirmed their engagement during a conversation at the Paris Olympics that July. She had previously been engaged to actor Taylor Kinney and talent agent Christian Carino. Her engagement to Kinney ended in 2016, while her engagement to Carino ended in 2019.