Background
Mays was born in Bristol, Tennessee and raised in Grundy, Virginia, the daughter of Susan Paulette (née Norris) and James Edwin Mays, a high school teacher who also worked in the coal mining industry.
Mays was born in Bristol, Tennessee and raised in Grundy, Virginia, the daughter of Susan Paulette (née Norris) and James Edwin Mays, a high school teacher who also worked in the coal mining industry.
Mays then attended Virginia Technical for a year before transferring to Radford University.
She is known for playing Emma Pillsbury on the Fox musical series Glee, her recurring role as Charlie Andrews on the National Broadcasting Company sci-fi serial Heroes, and for starring in the films Paul Blart: Mall Cop and The Smurfs. From October 2013 until November 2014, she played the role of Debbie on the sitcom The Millers. At age 15, she was offered a job working on the local radio station reading the obituaries.
In 2004, she made her first television appearance on Joey.
The following year, she made her feature film debut with a supporting role in Red Eye. Mays was in other movies, such as Bar Starz, Flags of Our Fathers and Blind Guy Driving.
She starred in the spoof film Epic Movie and as Amy in Paul Blart: Mall Cop. Mays has played the love interest of a character played by Masi Oka in two different roles: Charlie Andrews on Heroes and Nina in the direct-to-Digital Video Disc film Get Smart"s Bruce and Lloyd: Out of Control.
She has also been cast as a love interest twice for Glee co-star Matthew Morrison.
In an unaired television show called Nice Girls Don"t Get the Corner Office, where Mays landed the lead role and she starred as Emma Pillsbury on the Fox show Glee, which premiered on May 19, 2009. She was part of the main cast for the first three seasons, then was made a guest in seasons four, five, and six. In March 2010, Mays played the female lead in a live action/animation hybrid film version of The Smurfs.
She is also cast as a character named "Charlie" twice: Charlie Andrews on Heroes.
Charlotte, Henry Grubstick"s ex-girlfriend on Ugly Betty. In August 2014, Mays helped to raise awareness of the disease Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis by participating in the Ice Bucket Challenge.
She was a patient on House in the episode "Sleeping Dogs Lie" in 2006.
Married Adam Campbell, October 28, 2007.