On the most recent episode of the Backstage's In the Envelope podcast, on Thursday, June 19, the Long Bright River actress, 39, recalled how she's found herself in several auditions for movie musicals.
The Oscar-nominated actress noted that she auditioned six times for her role as Cosette in the 2012 movie musical, Les Misérables. She said she auditioned the same number of times for Wicked.
"I'm in that privileged spot where I just don't have to [audition]," she said, "But I like, of course, I talked about this a lot. I auditioned like six times for Wicked."
"Because that had to be really just right," the Mamma Mia! star said. "And I like, I loved it."
"I was busy. I barely had time to do it, but I made it work," she said. "I worked my ass off for years and years and years on that music."
"I'm just competitive," she confessed, adding, "with myself in a really healthy way."
This isn't the Emmy-winning actress' first time talking about her audition process for Wicked. During a March episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast, she said she sang with Cynthia Erivo while trying out for Glinda.
"I was able to really prepare, and I'm telling you, I've never felt that solid in my voice than I did at the auditions. And that's kind of what I got out of it," Seyfried told host Josh Horowitz.
"I do, again, think everything happens for a reason," she continued, adding that her household "sing(s) 'Defying Gravity' every day" despite her not nabbing the role of Glinda. "I also got to sing with Cynthia, and that was a moment in itself," Seyfried said.
The role ultimately went to Ariana Grande. The "7 Rings" singer and Erivo were nominated for Best Supporting Actress and Best Actress, respectively, at the Oscars.
Seyfried revealed in 2022 that she tried out for the part of Glinda while filming The Dropout, for which she later won an Emmy.
"On the weekends, I was auditioning in person to play Glinda in the movie version of Wicked -- because I wanted it that much that I was like, 'You know what? Yeah, I have to play the last scene of The Dropout on Tuesday. I'll give my Sunday to you,' " said the actress.
Seyfried continued, in part, "I literally bent over backwards while playing the hardest role of my life. But I think it also taught me how far I've come as a singer, which I really wanted to prove."