Matthew Morrison

Matthew Morrison was a Broadway star long before he made a bigger name out of himself on "Glee". The actor who was born on October 30, 1978 had fell in love in stage productions in his younger days, enrolling himself at the Orange County High School of the Arts and plenty of musical projects.

While educating himself at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, he landed a role in the Broadway adaptation of "Footloose". Recalling this experience, he said, "There were all these beautiful, beautiful dancers. As a straight guy I had some room. There were the shared interests in singing and dancing, and I always find dancing with someone very evocative and sexual. I definitely hooked up with a lot of girls when I was a young guy on Broadway. It was exciting. Very joyous and free."

He would later join "The Rocky Horror Show" and "Hairspray". His role as Link Larkin was probably his best acclaim that brought him to the world of television. He landed small roles in both the small and big screens such as "Numb3rs" and "Music and Lyrics". Then in 2005, his stage career took a leap with "The Light in the Piazza". He was nominated for Tony Award on the production.

He was cast on "As the World Turns" back in 2006 but left not long after that for scheduling conflict. He was in the musical "South Pacific" up until the end of 2008 before moving to California in early 2009 to begin the work of "Glee". His character Will Schuester soon propelled his name into stardom.

"Glee" became a number one show for FOX and won numerous prestigious awards including Emmys. Morrison himself was nominated in the year 2010 for Outstanding Performance by a Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. In the middle of the show's success, Morrison prepared for his solo album. He signed with Mercury Records in 2010 and began working on the self-titled album for May 10, 2011 release.

Thanks to his "Glee" stint, he became acknowledged to Elton John who was more than pleased to assist him in "a medley of 'Mona Lisas and Madhatters' going into 'Rocket Man' ". Morrison's first solo single titled "Summer Rain" was released in February 2011 and was followed by "Let Your Soul Be Your Pilot". He collaborated with Sting to remake the classic rock ballad from the rocker's 1996 album "Mercury Falling". He announced a 22-date summer tour that year which starts June 18 in Minneapolis.