Lindsay Heather Pearce (born April 30, 1991) is an American actress and singer best known for her work in musical theatre. She made her Broadway debut as Elphaba in Wicked in February 2020 and later made her national tour debut as Janis Sarkisian in Mean Girls in May 2022 and then Fantine in Les Misérables. Other regional theatre credits include Wendla in Spring Awakening, Ivy in Bare: A Pop Opera, and Whatsername in American Idiot.

She is also known for being one of the runners-up on The Glee Project, which gave her a guest starring role on the third season of the TV show Glee in 2011.

Pearce was born April 30, 1991, in Modesto, California, and was adopted by Carol and Gregory Pearce. She was adopted into a very athletic family; all three of her brothers played sports and one, Heath Pearce, went on to be a professional soccer player.

At a young age, Pearce moved with her family to Portland, Oregon, so her father could attend Multnomah University. While at a soccer tournament there, Pearce was discovered singing by a music teacher who taught at a local university, who then recommended to her parents that they do something about her talent. Upon moving back to Modesto, Pearce got involved in the children's community theatre division of Townsend Opera Players and continued doing community theatre. She became a regular in shows with Opera Modesto, Denair Gaslight Theater, Sonora's Stage 3 Theatre, and Turlock Youth Performing Arts. Her first regional credit was at 17 playing Belle in Tri-Valley Repertory Theatre's production of Beauty and the Beast in the summer of 2008. She was also in productions of Peter Pan and Cinderella with Tri-Valley Repertory Theatre in 2009 and 2010, respectively.

Pearce attended Modesto Christian High School until her sophomore year, when she decided to leave and apply to other programs because it did not have an arts program. She then attended Valley Charter High School to complete her high school education while simultaneously taking full time college classes at Modesto Junior College, where she studied classical voice, Shakespeare, movement for the stage and English literature and was also able to participate in college theatre.

Pearce intended to attend a four-year university for musical theatre and applied to several, including Elon University, when she was 19 but was not accepted. Her plan was to do another semester at Modesto Junior College and then reapply. In 2010, she participated in the inaugural Valley's Got Talent (now called Valley Talent Project), a talent competition in Modesto, California, which she won after singing Gimme Gimme from Thoroughly Modern Millie. Robert Ulrich, the casting director for both Glee and The Glee Project, was a judge for the competition and later encouraged her to audition for The Glee Project.

In early 2011, Pearce auditioned for The Glee Project, a singing/acting reality show where the winner would receive a seven-episode arc on the third season of Glee. She reached the show's finale, but did not win the competition; however, the producers gave her and the other runner-up, Alex Newell, each a two-episode arc on Glee.

Pearce later explained that being on The Glee Project felt like abuse and the show was heavily edited to make her seem like a monster. Scenes that could've "humanized" her were frequently cut, including a moment when she talked about her sexual assault. Additionally, a director on the show told her to kiss fellow contestant Cameron Mitchell while shooting a music video, and she did not know he had not given consent. This kiss eventually led to Mitchell quitting the show two weeks later.