"Big Brother" is the fifteenth episode and spring premiere of the third season of the American musical television series Glee, and the 59th overall. Written by Michael Hitchcock and directed by Eric Stoltz, the episode first aired on Fox in the United States on April 10, 2012. It features the introduction of special guest star Matt Bomer as Blaine Anderson's (Darren Criss) elder brother Cooper, and the revelation of how badly injured Quinn Fabray (Dianna Agron) had been in the automobile accident that had ended the previous episode, "On My Way".

The episode received mixed to positive reviews, and most critics praised Bomer's performance as the elder Anderson brother. Reviewers were divided in their opinions of how Quinn's storyline played out, though with her in a wheelchair, there were a number of favorable comments about her scenes with Artie, who acted as her wheelchair mentor. Their two songs together were given a mixed response and did not chart; by contrast, "Somebody That I Used to Know", performed by Bomer and Criss, was given an enthusiastic reception, and sold 152,000 digital copies in the US in its first week. The song charted on the Billboard Hot 100 ahead of the other Bomer and Criss duet, a mashup of "Hungry Like the Wolf" and "Rio". These two songs, along with "Fighter", a Criss solo, charted on the Billboard Canadian Hot 100.

Upon its initial airing, this episode was viewed by 6.76 million American viewers and received a 2.7/8 Nielsen rating/share in the 18–49 demographic. The total viewership was down significantly from the winter finale, "On My Way", which had been broadcast seven weeks previously.

Plot[link]

Quinn's (Dianna Agron) car accident has left her in a wheelchair, suffering from a severely compressed spine. On her return to school, she performs "I'm Still Standing" for the glee club with Artie (Kevin McHale), and tells them she is happy to have survived and they should not feel sorry for her: she has some feeling in her legs and is planning on a full recovery.

Principal Figgins (Iqbal Theba) informs Sue (Jane Lynch) that swim coach Roz Washington (NeNe Leakes) is now Sue's cheerleading co-coach. Sue makes a deal with Figgins: if she helps New Directions win the Nationals show choir competition, she can regain sole control of the Cheerios. Sue offers Will (Matthew Morrison) her assistance and takes over dance rehearsals. She is a harsh and insulting taskmaster, which upsets the glee club.

Blaine (Criss, pictured) is unhappy with his big brother's criticism

Cooper Anderson (Matt Bomer), Blaine's (Darren Criss) older brother and an actor in television ads, visits McKinley High and is treated as a celebrity by Blaine's boyfriend Kurt (Chris Colfer) and Sue. Blaine is unhappy, though, when after he and Cooper do an impromptu mashup of two Duran Duran songs in the choir room, Cooper finds fault with Blaine's singing. Sue recruits Cooper to give an acting master class for the club, which contains such bad advice that Blaine is appalled. Worse, Cooper subsequently criticizes Blaine's acting in a class scene.

Most of New Directions goes on a "senior ditch day" to Six Flags, but Artie takes Quinn to a skate park designed for people with disabilities to enjoy adventurous sports. Quinn has a great time, but when Artie broaches the possibility that she might always need a wheelchair; she asserts that she will walk again. Quinn is later assisted by fellow "God Squad" member Joe (Samuel Larsen), who has been praying for her. She decides to sponsor him to join the glee club.

Sue goes to the doctor to find out the sex of her baby, accompanied by Emma (Jayma Mays) and Will. The doctor says that Sue is having a girl, but her amniocentesis results show "irregularities". Sue later tells cheerleader Becky (Lauren Potter), who has Down syndrome, that Sue's baby will be "just like her"; Becky advises Sue to learn to be patient. Sue tells the glee club she will moderate her harsh coaching methods as long as they give her their all.

Puck (Mark Salling) wants Finn (Cory Monteith) to join him in moving his pool-cleaning business to California. Finn demurs, but later broaches the possibility to his fiancée Rachel (Lea Michele) as an alternative to New York. She is aghast, and says she needs him with her in New York; he replies that she needs to be sure she loves him for who he is, not who she wants him to be.

Kurt urges Blaine not to give up on Cooper, who is in the auditorium, and Blaine sings an emotional "Somebody That I Used to Know" to Cooper—and then with him. Afterward, Cooper apologizes to Blaine, and tells him he has always known how truly talented Blaine is. The two determine to be friends as well as brothers.

Production[link]

Matt Bomer (pictured) debuts on as Blaine's older brother Cooper Anderson.

"Big Brother" is the fourth episode in the third season to be directed by Eric Stoltz, and the second to be written by Michael Hitchcock. Shooting began by February 10, 2012, and continued at least through February 21; it had ended before February 23, when shooting on the following episode commenced.^[1][2][3]

The news that Bomer had been cast as Blaine's brother appeared on January 27, 2012.^[4] Bomer had suggested to Glee co-creator Ryan Murphy that he consider using Gotye's song featuring Kimbra, "Somebody That I Used to Know", as a duet on the show. Murphy had already thought of doing the song, and a week later Bomer received a text from Murphy asking if he "wanted to come on the show to sing it".^[5] Bomer's scenes as Cooper were shot starting February 13.^[6][7] In addition, it was reported in early February that there would be a flashback scene featuring Cooper and Blaine when they were children; young actors were then being cast for the roles.^[8]

In addition to duetting on "Somebody That I Used to Know", Bomer and Criss perform a mashup of the Duran Duran songs "Hungry Like the Wolf" and "Rio" early in the episode.^[5][9] Criss also sings Christina Aguilera's "Fighter".^[10] These songs were released as singles available for digital download, along with two others from the episode, "Up Up Up" and "I'm Still Standing", both performed by Agron and McHale.^[11]

The amusement park scenes in the episode were shot at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California. The roller coaster sequences were shot on the Viper ride.^[12]

Recurring guest stars appearing in the episode include Principal Figgins (Theba), coach Roz Washington (Leakes), glee club members Sam Evans (Chord Overstreet), Rory Flanagan (Damian McGinty) and Sugar Motta (Vanessa Lengies), cheerleader Becky Jackson (Potter) and recent McKinley transfer student Joe Hart (Larsen).^[13]

Reception[link]

Ratings[link]

"Big Brother" was first broadcast on April 10, 2012, in the United States on Fox. It received a 2.7/8 Nielsen rating/share in the 18–49 demographic, and attracted 6.76 million American viewers during its initial airing, a decrease of approximately 10% from the 3.0/8 rating/share and 7.46 million viewers of the previous episode, "On My Way", which was broadcast on February 21, 2012.^[14] Viewership increased in Canada, where 1.79 million viewers watched the episode on the same day as its American premiere. It was the tenth most-viewed show of the week, up five slots and almost 3% from the 1.74 million viewers who watched "On My Way" seven weeks previously.^[15]

In the United Kingdom, "Big Brother" first aired on April 12, 2012, and was watched on Sky 1 by 759,000 viewers. Viewership was down slightly from "On My Way", which attracted 763,000 viewers when it aired two weeks before.^[16] In Australia, "Big Brother" was broadcast on Thursday, April 12, 2012, a change from the Friday time slot used for the seventh through fourteenth episodes of the season. It was watched by 655,000 viewers, an increase of over 17% from the 558,000 viewers for "On My Way" on March 23, 2012. This made Glee the twelfth most-watched program of the night, up from fifteenth nearly three weeks before.^[17]

Critical reception[link]

The episode received mixed to positive reviews, though most reviewers expressed enthusiasm for guest star Bomer as the elder Anderson brother. Jeff Dodge of BuddyTV wrote that the episode was "very strong", while The A.V. Club's Todd VanDerWerff, although he gave the episode a "B" grade, called it "forgettable" aside from Bomer's performance, which he described as "absolutely terrific".^[18][19] Erin Strecker of Entertainment Weekly characterized the episode as a "laugh-out-loud funny" and Rae Votta of Billboard expressed similar sentiments, though she also said there was "definitely room for improvement" after a show that was "more fluff than substance", albeit "delicious fluff".^[20][21] Washington Post's Jen Chaney described it as a "pretty lackluster episode".^[22]

Bomer received plaudits from most reviewers. Crystal Bell of the Huffington Post called his appearance "perfect casting" and Bomer as one of her favorite guest stars. Strecker and VanDerWerff praised the "hilariously bad acting advice" in Cooper's master class, and VanDerWerff said that the storyline of Blaine being "overshadowed by his charismatic older brother" worked "because the actors were so damn committed to it".^[19][20] Houston Chronicle's Bobby Hankinson was not fond of Cooper's appearance, and described it as "an old-school sitcom cliche to introduce long-lost or oft-neglected family members".^[23] Dodge noted that Bomer's role "didn't overshadow everyone else, like some guest stars do".^[18]

Quinn's (Agron, pictured) post-accident return evoked a range of reactions

Quinn's storyline received widely divergent commentary. Hankinson thought the writers had missed an opportunity to "do something hugely daring" and also reduce the size of the cast.^[23] Raymund Flandez of The Wall Street Journal characterized their message as "Move on, folks, nothing to see here", added that "there wasn’t even a scratch on her face" and concluded that it was "nice to know that touches of irony haven’t left the show". Strecker called Quinn "a walking wheeling PSA about texting dangers in general".^[20] Dodge said that one of his "favorite scenes" of the episode was "when Artie tries to get Quinn to wheel herself up a steep ramp outside McKinley".^[18] VanDerWerff noted the pair's "chemistry" as friends, and Rolling Stone's Erica Futterman described "Quinn's kids-in-wheelchairs bonding scenes with Artie" as the "second best thing about the episode".^[19][24] Michael Slezak of TVLine expressed the wish that the extras in the scene in the skateboard park "had actually gotten a chance to, um, speak like real humans, not just like props for a kicky musical number".^[25] VanDerWerff's summation was that the episode "gave Dianna Agron more shades to play than she’s usually asked to, and that was a good thing".^[19]

While Sue's pregnancy storyline continued to be unpopular with some reviewers, Bell included, the discovery that her daughter might have Down syndrome and her telling Becky about it led Bell to state that she had "always felt that the relationship between Sue and Becky was one of Glee's finest accomplishments".^[26] Strecker noted that "their scenes together are always some of my favorites", and commended the episode's "poignant heart-to-heart"—which Dodge also praised as "very touching"—where Becky gave Sue the advice to "work on her patience".^[18][20] VanDerWerff thought that Sue's storyline was one of several in the episode beyond the two main ones—Blaine and Cooper's conflict and Quinn's post-accident return—that the show "kept piling" on, to its detriment.^[19] Another, described by MTV's Kevin Sullivan as "silly", had Puck trying to recruit Finn to clean pools with him in California.^[27]

Music and performances[link]

The show's rendition of "Somebody That I Used to Know" by Gotye (pictured) was lauded by many reviewers

The musical performances were given a middling to positive response overall, and the final song, "Somebody That I Used to Know", received the most enthusiastic reception. Bell called it the "highlight of the episode", and it was Hankinson's favorite performance: "Bomer and Criss did a fantastic job bringing it to life".^[23][26] Futterman said that "it was initially disconcerting to envision" two brothers singing about a "former love", but she noted that it "was less weird in context".^[24] Flandez felt that with the song's conversion to a "Cain-and-Abel therapy session", despite being "gorgeously sung", it was nevertheless "the most disappointing duet ever", but Slezak gave the performance an "A−", and wrote, "I bought the sibling angst in the room, and Matt Bomer really is a charismatic fella, no?"^[25][28] Strecker gave the song an "A" and stated, "Shout-out to the Glee writers this episode for not only picking fun songs, but also tracks that were all really great lyrically in terms of moving the plot forward."^[20]

Gotye was initially reported to have been unimpressed with the Glee rendition of his song, but later stated that his words had been taken out of context. On April 22, 2012, two Australian newspapers, the Sunday Mail and the Sunday Herald Sun, quoted him as having said, "They did such a faithful arrangement of the instrumentals but the vocals were that pop Glee style".^[29][30] The Mail's quote continued after a comma with "ultra-dry, sounded pretty tuned and the rock has no real sense, like it's playing to you from a cardboard box."^[29] The Herald Sun's continuation of the quote came after a period: "It made it sound dinky and wrong."^[30] Gotye said in an interview the next day that he had been referring to "this xylophone hook in my song—it's kind of dinky not just in the cover version but the original song". He added, "I thought it was really clever to transpose the song to two guys ... It was a great idea."^[31] In an interview published ten days later, Glee's executive music producer Adam Anders said that although the iTunes version of the song that the show released was "very true" to Gotye's, that in the episode itself, "the reality is, it was drier".^[32]

The two songs performed by Artie and Quinn were not reviewed as enthusiastically. Both Futterman and Slezak approved of the harmonies in "I'm Still Standing", though Futterman thought the number felt "more subdued than we'd expect", and Slezak wrote that "the song choice was a little bit of a groaner" before he appended a "B" grade.^[24][25] Chaney gave the song a "C" and said that "something about this segment wasn’t as dynamic as it should have been".^[22] Votta and Strecker both described the performance as "pleasant", the latter also added a "B−" grade.^[20][21] Strecker gave a "B" to the other song, "Up Up Up", which she said was "mostly background music" and the song itself "not particularly memorable".^[20] Chaney's "B" was far more complimentary: she characterized the performance as "the most energetic set piece of the night" which "made nice use of the infectious Givers song".^[22] Futterman thought that "the sugary vocals work well for Artie and Quinn", but Votta wrote that "the vocal is so indistinct it could be anyone".^[21][24]

The other performance by Criss and Bomer, the Duran Duran mashup of "Hungry Like the Wolf" and "Rio", was given a modestly positive reception. Strecker gave it an "A−" and called it a "real treat" with "some truly fun choreography".^[20] Slezak, on the other hand, described the choreography as "peculiar", and graded the song a "B".^[25] Sullivan wrote, "On paper it may not have seemed like the best idea, but honestly, it kind of rocked." ^[27] Chaney noted that "they were fun to watch", but gave the performance a "C"; she said that "something about this cover sucked all the cherry ice cream smile out of the originals", though she wondered whether she was biased by her "lifelong appreciation of Duran Duran".^[22] The solo by Criss on "Fighter" received a wider range of opinions. Both Chaney and Slezak gave the song a "B−": Chaney said he sang the song "with conviction" and complimented the "visually alluring" boxing and shower scenes, as did Slezak.^[22][25] Strecker wrote that "the energy and emotional punch totally resonated" and gave the song an "A−", though she also stated that "the talk-singing at the beginning was a little weird".^[20] Votta said that "vocally, Darren Criss embodies the song", but she characterized the staging as "too jagged and haphazard to make an impact", and the transitions not "as smooth as they could be".^[21] Flandez called the song choice "unsuitable" and "puzzling", and VanDerWerff said the performance was "completely ridiculous".^[19][28]

Chart history[link]

Of the five singles released for the episode, three debuted on North American top 100 charts. "Somebody That I Used to Know" sold 152,000 digital downloads in the US, and was number twenty-six on the Billboard Hot 100. The only other single to chart on the Hot 100 was the mashup of "Hungry Like the Wolf" and "Rio", which debuted at number ninety-eight.^[33][34] Three songs charted on the Billboard Canadian Hot 100: "Somebody That I Used to Know" debuted at number twenty-one, "Hungry Like the Wolf / Rio" at number eighty-one, and "Fighter" at number eighty-five.^[35]

The same week as the Glee single charted, "Somebody That I Used to Know" moved from second to first on the US Billboard Hot 100—it had already been at number one in Canada—selling 542,000 copies in a single week, the fourth-highest ever weekly digital sales to that point. Sales were aided by the Glee performance and also by Gotye and Kimbra's performance of the song on Saturday Night Live at the end of the week.^[34]

References[link]

External links[link]

• "Big Brother" at Fox.com
• "Big Brother" at the Internet Movie Database
• "Big Brother" at TV.com

Look up big brother or Big Brother in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Big Brother may refer to:

• Big Brother (Nineteen Eighty-Four), a character from George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four
  • Authoritarian personality, any omnipresent figure representing oppressive control
  • Big Brother Awards, a satirical award for acts against personal privacy
  • Big Brother Watch, a UK pressure group

Music[link]

• "Big Brother" (David Bowie song)
• "Big Brother" (Kanye West song)
• Big Brother and the Holding Company, an American band
  • Big Brother & the Holding Company (album), a 1967 album by the band of the same name
• Big Brother Recordings, a UK record label
• "Big Brother", a 2004 song by Girls Aloud from What Will the Neighbours Say?
• "Big Brother", a song by Morten Abel
• "Big Brother", a song by Reset from No Limits
• "Big Brother", a song by Stevie Wonder from Talking Book

Television[link]

• Big Brother (TV series), a reality-television series with many national versions (see See also section below)
• "Big Brother" (CSI: Miami), an episode of CSI: Miami
• "Big Brother" (Glee), an episode of Glee
• "Big Brother" (Only Fools and Horses), the first ever episode of Only Fools and Horses
• "Big Brother" (Yes Minister), an episode of Yes Minister
• "Big Brother", an episode of The Andy Griffith Show
• "Big Brother", an episode of Are You Being Served?

Other media[link]

• Big Brother (film), a 2007 Bollywood film
• Big Brother (magazine), a skateboarding culture magazine
• Big Brother (software), a tool for systems and network monitoring
• Big Brother (1990 film), a Hong Kong film of 1990
• Big Brother Bot, a game administration bot

See also[link]

• Surveillance
• Big Brothers Big Sisters (disambiguation)
• "My Big Brother", an episode of the TV series Scrubs
• Birth order
• Brothers and Sisters (disambiguation)

• International versions of the TV series Big Brother:

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Matthew Bomer
Bomer during filming of the White Collar episode "On the Fence" in Manhattan in June 2011
Born	Matthew Staton Bomer (1977-10-11) October 11, 1977 (age 34) Spring, Texas, U.S.
Alma mater	Carnegie Mellon University
Occupation	Actor
Years active	2001–present
Partner	Simon Halls
Children	3

Matthew Staton "Matt"^[1] Bomer (born October 11, 1977) is an American film, stage and television actor, best known as the star of the USA Network television series White Collar, which premiered in 2009.

Making his television debut with Guiding Light in 2001, Bomer received notice with his recurring role in the NBC television series Chuck as Bryce Larkin. Bomer has featured in supporting roles in such films as the 2005 thriller Flightplan and the 2011 science fiction thriller In Time.

Bomer has also starred in the Dustin Lance Black play, '8', on Broadway and at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre as Jeff Zarillo — a plaintiff in the federal case that overturned California's Proposition 8.

Early life[link]

Matt Bomer was born in Spring, Texas, a suburb of Houston, the son of Sissi and John Bomer, a former Dallas Cowboys draft pick.^[2][3] He attended Klein High School (located outside of Houston) with fellow actor Lee Pace.^[3] In addition they both acted at Houston's Alley Theatre, a non-profit theatre company.^[2]

In 2001, Bomer graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.^[4]

Career[link]

After graduating from Carnegie Mellon University's School of Drama in 2000, he moved to New York City, New York, and worked on stage until he was cast in a small role, as Ian Kipling, on All My Children,^[5] a daytime soap-opera serial on the ABC television network. From 2001 to 2003, he portrayed the role of Ben Reade on another daytime television soap opera, Guiding Light, on the CBS television network.^[6]

He starred as Luc, Tru's (Eliza Dushku) ill-fated love interest, in Tru Calling (2003–2004), a supernatural, science-fiction television series on the Fox television network.

Bomer appeared on North Shore (2004–2005), a prime-time television soap opera, as well as in Flightplan (2005), a thriller film with Jodie Foster.

In the slasher film The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (2006), Bomer portrayed Eric, a Vietnam-War veteran who is driving across Texas to re-enlist after his brother is drafted. The brothers run afoul of Sheriff Hoyt and are taken captive by the Hewitt family. Bomer costarred in Traveler (2007), a short-lived midseason replacement television series which premiered on ABC on May 30, 2007. He has had the recurring role of Bryce Larkin on action-comedy series Chuck (2007–2009) on the NBC television network.

On October 23, 2009, Bomer began starring in White Collar, which chronicles the fictional partnership between a con artist named Neal Caffrey (Bomer) and FBI agent Peter Burke (Tim DeKay).^[7]

BuddyTV ranked him #1 on its list of "TV's Sexiest Men of 2011".^[8]

In September 2011, Bomer starred in the Broadway debut of Dustin Lance Black's play, '8', a staged reenactment of the federal trial that overturned California's Proposition 8.^[9] In March 2012, he was featured in the Wilshire Ebell Theatre production as well, portraying Jeff Zarillo, one of the plaintiffs in the trial.^[10][11]

In October 2011, Bomer appeared in the science fiction thriller film In Time, in which he plays a 105-year-old man Henry Hamilton, who gives his "time" to Justin Timberlake before committing suicide, setting the main plot into motion.

Personal life[link]

Bomer is in a relationship with publicist Simon Halls. They have three sons via surrogacy, including a set of twins.^[12][13] Bomer publicly came out as gay in February 2012, when he thanked Halls and their children during his acceptance speech for a Steve Chase Humanitarian Award.^[13]

Bomer is good friends with his high school classmates Lee Pace and Lynn Collins.^[14]

Filmography[link]

Television[link]

Film[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Matthew Bomer

• Matthew Bomer at AllRovi
• Matthew Bomer at the Internet Movie Database

Darren Everett Criss (born February 5, 1987) is an American actor, singer, songwriter, instrumentalist, and composer. He is also a founding member and co-owner of StarKid Productions, a media and musical theater production company based in Chicago, Illinois. He is best known for portraying Blaine Anderson, an openly gay high school student, on the FOX television series Glee.

Criss first garnered attention playing the lead role of Harry Potter in StarKid's musical productions of A Very Potter Musical and A Very Potter Sequel. In January 2012, he made his Broadway debut, starring as J. Pierrepont Finch in the revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.

Early life and education[link]

Criss was born in San Francisco, California, the youngest son of Cerina (née Bru) and Charles William Criss, a banker and a former director of the San Francisco Opera, the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, the Stern Grove Festival, and San Francisco Performances. Criss is Eurasian – his mother, a native of Cebu, Philippines, is of Chinese, Spanish, and Filipino descent, while his father, a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is of Irish descent. He has an older brother named Charles "Chuck" Criss (born April 15, 1985), a musician and member of the indie rock band Freelance Whales. Criss and his brother were raised in San Francisco, apart from 1988 to 1992, when the family relocated to Honolulu, Hawaii, and their father started the East West Bank, serving as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.^[1][2][3][4]

Criss' interest in music and the performing arts started in his early childhood — at the age of five, he began taking violin lessons, and, at ten, he was accepted into the Young Conservatory program of the American Conservatory Theater; concurrently, he made his professional stage debut, performing at the musical theater company 42nd Street Moon. Criss later became a multi-instrumentalist, mastering the violin, guitar, piano, cello, mandolin, harmonica, and drums, and he began composing songs by the age of fifteen.^{[5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]}

Criss completed his elementary education at Stuart Hall for Boys, and then later graduated from Saint Ignatius College Preparatory in 2005; both are private Catholic schools located in the San Francisco Bay Area. During his time at Saint Ignatius, he was a member of various clubs, including the school government and the performing arts program, for which he was awarded the "Theater Arts Leadership" and the "Fine Arts" awards. Criss was also active in the school music scene - he was a violinist in the school orchestra (where he held the position of concertmaster), fronted his own band, and was voted "most likely to win a Grammy" by his peers. Academically, he received the National Latin Exam Award in 2002 (Maxima Cum Laude) and 2003 (Magna Cum Laude).^{[13][14][15][16][17][18][19]}

Criss majored in Theater Performance at the University of Michigan (he additionally pursued minors in Musicology and Italian, until opting out prior to graduation), and obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2009.^[20][13] 

Acting career[link]

For a list of acting credits by Criss, click here.

Theater[link]

Criss' Broadway debut How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

Criss made his professional stage debut at the age of ten in 42nd Street Moon's 1997 production of Fanny, in the role of Cesario. The next year, Criss played Mauro in the Richard Rodgers and Stephen Sondheim musical Do I Hear a Waltz?, followed by Babes in Arms in 1999, in which he played Beauregard Calhoun.^[21][22][23]

Criss spent his formative years at the American Conservatory Theater, studying theater performance and appearing in a number of plays, notably A Christmas Carol, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and The Voysey Inheritance. He continued to hone his craft at St. Ignatius College Preparatory, taking on roles in classics such as The Music Man, The Diary of Anne Frank, and Fiddler on the Roof.^[7][24]

From 2005 to 2009, while attending the University of Michigan, Criss took part in numerous stage productions, including Pride and Prejudice, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, A Few Good Men, and The Cripple of Inishmaan. He was also a participant in Basement Arts, the university's student-run theater organization, as both an actor and director. In the spring of 2008, he spent a semester abroad in Arezzo, Italy, studying Commedia dell'arte, among other theater-related subjects, at the Accademia dell'Arte.^{[24][25][26][27]}

In 2009, after receiving his Bachelor of Fine Arts, Criss, along with his friends and fellow classmates from the University of Michigan, founded StarKid Productions, a media and musical theater production company. His most prominent acting role with StarKid is that of Harry Potter in the YouTube viral musicals A Very Potter Musical and A Very Potter Sequel. Both productions are musical-comedies based on the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. StarKid's plays have been viewed more than 100 million times on the company's YouTube channel, since its launch on June 19, 2009.^[28][29][30]

In January 2012, Criss made his Broadway debut, replacing Daniel Radcliffe in the role of J. Pierrepont Finch in the revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, for a three-week engagement at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre. His stint proved to be a success – aside from Daniel Radcliffe's final week, the musical had the three most lucrative weeks of its 11-month run with Criss in the lead role, grossing over four million dollars.^[31][32]

Television[link]

Criss as Blaine Anderson with The Dalton Academy Warblers

Criss portrays Blaine Anderson, an openly gay high school student, on the FOX television show Glee. He made his first appearance in season two in the episode "Never Been Kissed", which aired on November 9, 2010. Blaine attended Dalton Academy and was lead singer of its glee club, The Dalton Academy Warblers. Blaine initially served as a friend and mentor for Kurt Hummel, the bullied gay member of the Warblers' rival glee club, New Directions. Chemistry between the two characters, combined with fan support for the potential couple, led series co-creator Ryan Murphy to pair them romantically onscreen. At the beginning of the third season, Blaine transfers to McKinley High and joins New Directions; concurrently, Criss was promoted from recurring guest star to the show's main cast.^[33][34][35]

Discussing public response to his character, Criss stated that he particularly enjoyed comments from "people from parts of the world who are maybe not as exposed to certain ideologies", but had reconsidered their stance on relationships and human rights as a result of the Blaine and Kurt storyline. He called this response "phenomenal", and said: "I was a straight kid growing up in a very gay community and it's something that I've had to watch so many friends have to struggle with and have no place to go to identify in kind of a grander media culture. To be a small piece of that machine is incredibly wonderful."^[36]

The character of Blaine Anderson was voted No. 1 on AfterElton's list of Top 50 Favorite TV Characters (2012).^[37]

Criss' early television career includes roles on the television series Eastwick and Cold Case.^[38]

Films[link]

In August 2011, Criss made his feature film debut in Glee: The 3D Concert Movie.

In 2012, Criss will appear in the upcoming comedy Imogene. The film co-stars Kristen Wiig, Annette Bening, and Matt Dillon.^[39]

Internet[link]

In 2007, Criss made his online debut playing the role of Toby Phillips in the web series Little White Lie. It was released in 2009 by StarKid Productions.^[40]

Criss voices the character of Leopold Bonar from the Funny or Die web series Life of Leopold.^[41]

Music career[link]

For a list of select musical performances by Criss, click here.

Solo artist[link]

Criss began his solo music career playing in bars and cafes while he was a student at the University of Michigan. After the success of StarKid Productions, and then later finding fame with his breakthrough role on Glee, Criss quickly gained popularity and eventually began headlining notable venues such as Irving Plaza, The Roxy, The Hollywood Palladium, The Troubadour, and Lincoln Center. His repertoire consists of standards from the American Songbook and contemporary songs, as well as his own compositions. Being an avid Disney fan, he often includes songs from one of his musical idols, Alan Menken.^[42][43][44]

Criss continues to collaborate and perform with fellow University of Michigan alumnus, singer-songwriter Charlene Kaye. He duetted with Kaye on her songs "Skin and Bones" and "Dress and Tie", and is featured in her music videos for "Skin and Bones", "Magnolia Wine", and "Dress and Tie".^[45]

On July 20, 2010, Criss released an independently-produced EP called Human on iTunes. It debuted at No. 30 on the Billboard Top Heatseekers Albums chart and has reached the iTunes Top 20 Alternative chart.^[46][47][48]

On December 10, 2010, Criss became the 400,000th member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).^[49]

In April 2011, Criss signed with Sony Music Entertainment. He will be recording a full-length studio album, though no release date has been set.^[50]

StarKid Productions[link]

Criss is credited as one of the primary songwriters and composers, along with A.J. Holmes and Carlos Valdes, for StarKid Productions. He has contributed songs to A Very Potter Musical (2009), Me and My Dick (2009), and Little White Lie (2009). Subsequently, Criss solely composed all the songs and music for A Very Potter Sequel (2010), its companion album A Very StarKid Album (2010), and Starship (2011).^[29]

On January 6, 2010, the soundtrack to Me and My Dick was released through iTunes. The album became the first-ever student-produced college musical to reach the Billboard charts, coming in at No. 11 on the Top Cast Albums chart.^[51]

On July 22, 2010, A Very StarKid Album was released digitally through iTunes and Amazon.com. The album reached No. 14 on the iTunes Pop Albums chart and No. 27 out of all Top Albums, officially topping Lady Gaga (No. 29) and Glee (No. 31) on the charts. The album also reached No. 19 on Billboard Top Compilations chart.^[48][47]

On April 29, 2011, the Starship album was released. It debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Top Cast Albums chart and No. 134 on the Billboard 200 chart, and reached No. 2 on iTunes Soundtracks chart and No. 4 on iTunes Top Albums chart.^[52]

Over the Thanksgiving holiday in 2011, Criss participated in StarKid's first national concert tour, The SPACE Tour, in the New York and Boston shows.^[53]

On March 13, 2012, The SPACE Tour album was released. It debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard Top Cast Albums chart, and reached No. 4 on iTunes Pop Albums chart and No. 17 on iTunes Top Albums chart.^[54]

[edit] Glee

Criss has contributed to the Glee soundtrack as lead singer of the The Dalton Academy Warblers and as a member of William McKinley High's New Directions. The Warblers are an all-male a cappella choir group whose backing vocals and arrangements are done by Tufts University's Beelzebubs.

Criss' first song on Glee, "Teenage Dream", hit No. 1 on the Billboard Digital Songs chart and the iTunes song chart, selling 214,000 singles in its first week, outselling the original version in its first week of digital sales. It was the first time a Glee cast track had reached the top spot, and is the show's fastest selling track to date. On July 13, 2011, the song was certified gold for selling over 500,000 copies.^[55][56][57]

Due to the chart success of singles by Criss and the Warblers in season 2, the album Glee: The Music Presents the Warblers was released on April 19, 2011. It debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart and reached No. 2 on the iTunes Albums chart.^[58]

From May 21 to July 3, 2011, Criss and the cast of Glee performed in Glee Live! In Concert!, touring the U.S.A., Canada, England, and Ireland. According to Billboard Magazine, it was the 16th most successful concert tour of 2011, grossing more than $40 million, with total attendance topping 485,000. All 40 dates sold out, including shows at Staples Center, Nassau Coliseum, and The O2 Arenas in London and Dublin.^[59][42]