Chris Colfer Feels the Glee

SPOILER ALERT!

Kurt Hummel may have gotten his name from those rosy-cheeked German cherub figurines—you know, the kind found in Grandma’s curio cabinet. But the huggable character on Fox’s Glee has already demonstrated he’s no fragile piece of porcelain. When you’re the awkward gay kid in school, you have to find ways to prove your indestructibility or risk getting shattered.

Just as Kurt finds his calling in high school, so, too, did the actor who plays him, Chris Colfer—a shy boy from Clovis, California, a small farm town outside Fresno. Escaping from what he calls a “rough family situation” that included a disabled sister and limited income from his father’s job as a school janitor, Colfer developed an early obsession with Broadway musicals and Hollywood. “Every time a movie ended, I’d be so sad,” remembers Colfer. “I wanted to be in that world—I wanted to be a movie star.”

Then, in elementary school, a teacher suggested he pursue oral interpretation (storytelling), a hobby that ended up winning him multiple awards. Later, his mom enrolled him in a local dinner theater program, where his many roles included Kurt in “The Sound of Music.” Cut to his first 2008 Glee audition for the role of Artie (that’s right, Artie), when cocreator Ryan Murphy took one look at him and said, “‘Why do I have a feeling you have been in ‘The Sound of Music’?” recalls Colfer, now 19. “I guess I do have a Von Trapp vibe to me. You just want to put me in lederhosen.” When he was called back to audition again, he learned he was now reading for a character named Kurt, whom Murphy had written for him. “I got the role on September 11, [2008], and remember thinking, ‘The saddest day in the world is now the happiest day of my life.’”

This week, Kurt steps up his pursuit of all-American straight jock Finn (Cory Monteith) by scheming to unite their single parents in hopes of cohabiting with his crush. That’s a move Colfer never could have mustered in school. Though he had many crushes, he kept them to himself: “I was always afraid of rejection, and being who I was then I couldn’t have handled it.”

But nothing will stop Kurt, who will continue pursuing Finn until late in the season, when the jock finally gives Kurt a painful reality check. “We get into it a little bit and there’s some conflict,” says Monteith, who calls his pal Colfer “a beautiful, subtle actor.”

But don’t cry for Kurt. A hunky new love interest—one who is actually gay—will debut in Season 2. Until then, and after Glee wraps production, Colfer will join the rest of the cast in a four-city concert tour that concludes in June. Then he hopes to hop on a plane for his first trip to Europe, likely with Glee mates Jenna Ushkowitz (Tina) and Amber Riley (Mercedes). “Chris is my best friend,” says Riley. “I love his sarcasm and could just go on and on about him.”

And what about the bright lights of Broadway? Colfer checked that dream destination off his to-do list last year when he made his first pilgrimage to the Great White Way and managed to see six musicals in five days. Sitting in the front row of “Gypsy,” Colfer was so blown away by the Patti LuPone production that he begged Murphy to let him sing the musical’s “Rose’s Turn” in an upcoming episode. Now the screen saver on Colfer’s iPhone shows Kurt’s name up in lights; it was snapped while shooting that very production number set to air in May.

“Doing that number was probably my favorite moment so far,” says Colfer. “But I wonder how Patti will feel about it.” No doubt she’ll be positively gleeful.

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