Chris Colfer

His twitter account: @chriscolfer

Bio
Colfer was born in Clovis, California. While a student at Clovis East High School, Colfer was involved with the Speech & Debate program where he won "many speech and debate Champion titles," including placing 9th in the State Competition for Dramatic Interpretation, the drama club, the FFA, "was president of the Writer’s Club, editor of the school's literary magazine, and captain of Destination ImagiNation." As a high school senior, he wrote, starred in, and directed a spoof of Sweeney Todd entitled "Shirley Todd", in which all of the roles were gender-reversed. One of his real in-school experiences was later turned into a sub-plot for his character on Glee, when the high school teachers denied him the chance to sing "Defying Gravity" from the musical Wicked because it is traditionally sung by a woman. His grandmother, a minister, let him sing the song in her church.
Colfer's first TV role came in 2009 when he was cast as Kurt Hummel on Fox's Glee as a gay singer who is bullied by the school football team. Colfer auditioned for the part of wheelchair-bound Artie Abrams, which eventually went to Kevin McHale. The show's creator, Ryan Murphy, was so impressed with Colfer that he created the role of Kurt specifically for him, and in the process, scrapped a planned character called Rajish so they could add Hummel.

Personal Life

Colfer is openly gay and shared on Access Hollywood that his parents were accepting of him but he was frequently bullied at school. Colfer's sister, Hannah, suffers from severe epilepsy, and often experiences over fifty seizures in an hour. Colfer has commented that when he was younger he used acting as a method of escaping the stress involved with having a family member with disabilities. In April of 2011, Time Magazine selected Colfer as one of the "100 Most Influential People," citing his breakthrough character on Glee.
Colfer appeared on the British chat show Friday Night with Jonathan Ross on June 18, 2010, along with his fellow Glee co-stars Amber Riley and Matthew Morrison. He demonstrated his skill with a pair of sai, revealing that he bought a pair of them on eBay and regularly practices in his trailer when not shooting.

Trivia

• Before becoming an actor, Chris worked mornings before school in the cafeteria as a cookie scooper and summers as a clerk at a dry cleaners.
• The scar on the left side of his neck is from surgery in 1998.
• Lost over 40 pounds in 2007 thanks to "horrible methods called diet and exercise.".
• He practices Sai.
• Wrote and directed Shirley Todd, a musical spoof of Sweeney Todd during his senior year of high school. He also starred as Mr. Lovett.
• Assistant directed a theatrical benefit for Valley Children's Hospital when he was 14.
• Holds many speech and debate champion titles.
• During high school, he was involved with speech & debate, drama, the F.F.A., was president of the writers' club, editor of the school literary magazine, and captain of Destination Imagination.
• Was bullied in high school, but feels that it made him much more quick witted and fast on his feet.
• Inspired the Rocky Horror episode of Glee due to his persistent campaigning to get to sing The Time Warp.
• Originally auditioned for the role of Artie on Glee, but did not get it. The casting agents were so impressed with his audition that they wrote the role of Kurt for him. They named the character Kurt Hummel due to Colfer's past role of Kurt in The Sound of Music when he was fourteen and because of his rosy cheeks, which reminded them of Hummel figurines.
• Favorite movie when he was little was Sister Act. He would put a pillowcase on his head and pretend to be a nun while watching the movie.

Personal Quotes

• My life is an awkward visit from the kids table.
• On getting slushied on Glee: It felt like I was bitch-slapped by an iceberg.
• Nurse Jackie is my favorite show! Brilliant characters! It makes me laugh so hard police come to my door thinking an animal is being abused.
• It doesn't matter how old I get, I always act like an excited five year-old kid with severe ADD and a waddle at Disneyland.
• Oh, I have this feud going with the L.A. Unified School District, because I keep getting these phone calls saying my daughter keeps missing classes, I mean, at all hours of the night, I had like, two calls this morning and I keep calling saying I haven't got a daughter! I'm 19! I mean, the 90's were a blur but I don't think I was impregnating anyone when I was two. I'm gonna find this girl and get her ass to school!
• [about Kristin Chenoweth being on Glee] As soon as she came on, I was like, you know, constantly like, "Oh hi Kristin! Hi... I'm your biggest fan... We sound exactly alike."
• I'm pretty sure I'm going to fall in my GaGa shoes one night on tour and I'm hoping it becomes a Youtube sensation.