'Glee' cast: Where are they now? (2024)

Matthew Morrison (Will Schuester)

Matthew Morrison was already a Broadway star when he took on the role of determined glee club founder/teacher (and man who should never rap) Will Schuester. On the stage, Morrison played the role of high school heartthrob Link Larkin in Hairspray and delivered highly-praised turns in The Light in the Piazza and Lincoln Center's revival of South Pacific. Though he'd also done some television guest work, it wasn't until Glee that Morrison became a household name. While on the show, he released his first studio album and he still regularly does small concert tours.

In a February 2024 interview with the And That's What You REALLY Missedpodcast, Morrison revealed he planned to leave Glee before Cory Monteith died. "In season 5, I asked to be off the show, just ‘cause like, I’m no longer being used in the way I wanted to," he said. "They agreed to let me off the show... Cory passed, and then they said they couldn’t do it. Because you can’t have the two main guys on the show [leave]. So yeah, it was an interesting time.”

Since Glee ended, he has had recurring roles on Younger, The Good Wife, and Grey's Anatomy. He also returned to the Ryan Murphy fold as Trevor for the ninth season of American Horror Story. Never one to forget his Broadway roots, he originated the role of J.M. Barrie in the musical adaptation of Finding Neverland. In 2020, he returned to musical TV with the special Dr. Seuss' The Grinch Musical!, playing the titular Christmas hater.

On Oct. 18, 2014, Morrison married actress Renee Puente, with whom he welcomed two children: son Revel James Makai and daughter Phoenix Monroe. The actor made headlines in 2022 when he was removed from his post as a judge on So You Think You Can Dance after reportedly sending inappropriate messages to a contestant.

Jane Lynch (Sue Sylvester)

When Jane Lynch was recruited to play the polarizing, vitriol-spewing cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester, she had enjoyed years of steady work as a character actress and comedian. A stalwart familiar face in Christopher Guest films, she also logged scene-stealing roles in the likes of The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005) and Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006). Lynch had regular roles on Party Down and The L Word, but Glee shot her to new heights.

"[Sue is] a great character, and I think that, as she ages, 10 years older than the finale, I think there are other things to be added. I think it would be really fun to play Sue Sylvester 10 years later," Lynch told PEOPLE in May 2024. "The character was a big deal. All the characters were a big deal. It kind of hit the psyche of America. And it still lives, which is really nice."

Since then, her career has spanned Broadway (Miss Hannigan in Annie, Mrs. Brice in Funny Girl), animation (Wreck-It Ralph, Ralph Breaks the Internet, UglyDolls, Tuca & Bertie, Velma, The Great North), and far more television (Angel From Hell, The Good Fight, Criminal Minds, Only Murders in the Building). She's also taken on hosting duties for such game shows as Hollywood Game Night and Weakest Link. From 2017 to 2023, she appeared on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel as popular comic Sophie Lennon, who is really an elitist charlatan. She has won five Emmy Awards, including one for Glee.

In November 2021, Lynch married her longtime partner, Jennifer Cheyne. She was previously married to clinical psychologist Lara Embry from 2010 to 2014.

Lea Michele (Rachel Berry)

Lea Michele had a deep Broadway résumé by the time she joined Glee, having made her professional stage debut at the age of 8 as young Cosette in Les Misérables. She earned a wider following when she originated the role of Wendla Bergmann opposite future Glee costar Jonathan Groff in Spring Awakening. The actress puts her Broadway chops to good use as the ambitious perfectionist (and Barbra Streisand obsessive) Rachel Berry on Glee, earning Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for the role.

Her experience on Glee is one she often reminisces about, regularly watching old episodes in her spare time. "I'm so proud of the work that we did," Michele told Pride Source in April 2017. "But sometimes it's so fun. I'll be like, 'Remember when we did that number?' I think I watch it more because I can't believe that we did it. It's just to remind myself, 'You did that. You did that! And that's incredible. And you should be proud of it.'"

In the years since joining the show, she's released four studio albums, published two books, and reunited with Glee costar Darren Criss for a special joint concert tour. Michele made her film debut in 2011's New Year's Eve, but she's largely remained on television, continuing to work with Ryan Murphy on Scream Queens, appearing on The Mayor, and breaking into the holiday movie market with ABC's Same Time, Next Christmas (2019).

In 2020, Samantha Marie Ware — who joined Glee in its final season — among other former Glee costars, accused Michele of making the set a "living hell," leading the latter to release an apology amid a storm of backlash against her. (She also later admitted to having made personal reach-outs to those she affected.) Two years later, in a case of life imitating art, Michele realized her dreams of playing Fanny Brice on Broadway — much like Rachel Berry — replacing Beanie Feldstein in the revival of Funny Girl.

While filming Glee, Michele dated her castmate, Cory Monteith, up until he died in 2013. Six years later, she married businessman Zandy Reich, with whom she had a son named Ever, and — as of March 2024 — is expecting their second child, a daughter.

Cory Monteith (Finn Hudson)

Cory Monteith had made headway in bit parts and supporting roles when Ryan Murphy plucked him from near obscurity to portray Finn Hudson, the high school quarterback with a softer side and a killer set of pipes. The actor became an instant fan favorite and the standout heartthrob of the cast, which earned him a quick movie role opposite Selena Gomez in 2011's Monte Carlo.

“When they picked me for the part, I thought they were mistaken,” he toldEntertainment Tonightin 2010, per PEOPLE. “I never did sing growing up, so it’s a change for me. I sang in the car, in the shower, but never for anyone. That’s scary.”

The summer before the fifth season of Glee hit the air, Monteith tragically died at the age of 31. His character's passing was worked into the plot with one of the most heartbreaking episodes in the show's six seasons.

Chris Colfer (Kurt Hummel)

Chris Colfer was a recent high school graduate when he landed his breakout role as out high school student Kurt Hummel — a part that was created for him (and based partly on his resemblance to Kurt in The Sound of Music). Colfer earned praise and a Golden Globe award for his sensitive portrayal of Kurt's journey, which included several timely bullying storylines.

"I would not be where I am today if it weren't for it and I get really scared when I think about an alternate universe whereGleedidn't exist because there's no way I would've made such a difference, or there's no way I would've been given any material that affected so many lives," Colfer told EW in March 2015. "It turned me into a role model, which was a very, very hard thing to embrace and accept at the time. It was the beginning of a great book, but a great chapter nonetheless."

Since Glee, Colfer appeared in Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie (2016) and made appearances as himself on Julie's Greenroom and RuPaul's Drag Race. He has primarily focused his attention on writing, beginning with 2011's The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell. Colfer has written more than a dozen books overall. He also wrote, produced, starred in, and novelized a coming-of-age film that premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival called Struck by Lightning (2012).

Since 2013, Colfer has been in a relationship with actor and producer Will Sherrod.

Kevin McHale (Artie Abrams)

Kevin McHale was best known as a member of the boy band NLT when he was cast as Artie Abrams, a wheelchair-user, often using the dancing chops from his pop music days in dream sequences on Glee.

"[NLT]" ended up being this incredible training ground for basically everything I'd be doing onGlee, but that would be successful — the group was not," McHale told EW in September 2022. "I'd done all of my extracurricular learning pre-Glee."

After Glee ended, he hosted the British panel show Virtually Famous for three years. On TV, he appeared in Dustin Lance Black's miniseries When We Rise as AIDS activist Bobbi Campbell. In 2020, he reunited with former Glee costar and onscreen love interest Jenna Ushkowitz to host the podcast Showmance, which recapped episodes of Glee. While the podcast was ultimately short-lived, the duo returned with a rebranded version called And That's What You REALLY Missed in 2022 (the same year they competed together in season 2 of RuPaul's Secret Celebrity Drag Race). McHale also writes original music and released his EP, Boy, in 2019. He returned to the Murphyverse in 2021 in an episode of American Horror Stories.

In April 2018, McHale revealed he was gay in a post on X (formerly Twitter), writing: "#NoTearsLeftToCry is gayer than me and I ACCEPT. Ty @ArianaGrande." He's been in a relationship with actorAustin P. McKenzie, who he met on the set of When We Rise, since 2016.

Jenna Ushkowitz (Tina Cohen-Chang)

Jenna Ushkowitz was a Spring Awakening costar of Lea Michele's when Ryan Murphy cast her to play the onetime-goth Tina, who fakes a stutter to stand out at school. The role marks Ushkowitz's television debut.

"I think that parts ofGleedefinitely stand the test of time and I really appreciate that. I mean, we've said from the very beginning that music is a universal language in our show," she told BuzzFeed in November 2022. "I thinkGleehits on all these amazing progressive social issues in the show. And that's a nod to Ryan Murphy, his choice, the things that were happening in the world, and things that impacted him in his life. I'm grateful that we were able to kind of push the bar during that time, and that people are still experiencing it that way."

Since Glee, she was featured in a film adaptation of Hello Again (2017) alongside Audra McDonald and Martha Plimpton, but has primarily dedicated her energy to the stage, appearing on Broadway as the nerdy Dawn Williams in Waitress and opposite Tracie Thoms and Rachel Dratch in New York's annual The 24 Hour Plays. She also won a Tony Award in 2018 for producing that year's Best Revival of a Musical, Once on This Island, and another in 2020 for Best Play winner The Inheritance. The actress has frequently worked alongside her former Glee costar Kevin McHale, cohosting the recap podcasts Showmance and And That's What You REALLY Missed and competing together on RuPaul's Secret Celebrity Drag Race in 2022.

In July 2021, Ushkowitz married philanthropist David Stanley, with McHale being her "Man of Honor" during the ceremony. The couple welcomed their first child, daughter Emma, in June 2022.

Amber Riley (Mercedes Jones)

Famously passed over by American Idol producers, Amber Riley shows off her stellar pipes and makes her screen debut in the role of resident high school diva Mercedes Jones, always competing with Rachel Berry for the top spot in the glee club. While still starring on Glee, she competed on the 17th season of Dancing With the Stars in 2013 and won.

Riley had a deep understanding of her character, as she revealed in a February 2024 episode of the And That's What You REALLY Missed podcast that she once rejected a scene where Mercedes lost her virginity to boyfriend Sam (Chord Overstreet)."I was just like, ‘No, I’m not doing it. I don’t ever tell you guys no.' I don’t fight about anything… But, this?!"She later explained that she felt that Mercedes — a devout Christian who practiced pre-marital abstinence — deciding to have sex was just not “what my character would’ve done.”

Since Glee, she guest starred on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and portrayed the Good Witch of the North Addapearle in NBC's The Wiz Live! (2015). In late 2016, Riley portrayed Effie White in a West End revival of Dreamgirls, earning an Olivier award for her performance. She formed a group with fellow British musical theater stars Beverley Knight and Cassidy Janson, known as the Leading Ladies, and released an album with them in 2017.

Riley also voiced plant Audrey II in a 2019 Los Angeles revival of Little Shop of Horrors, and released an EP titled RILEY in 2020. In 2022, she returned to the world of reality competition on The Masked Singer (which she also won) and starred in Lifetime's Single Black Female — later returning for the 2024 sequel. In the 2024 world premiere of Tituss Burgess’The Preacher’s Wifemusical, Riley starred in the titular role, playing Julia (who film fans know from Whitney Houston portraying her in the 1996 screen remake).

Mark Salling (Noah "Puck" Puckerman)

Mark Salling was a musician who had scored some bit parts in direct-to-video horror films when he landed the role of resident bad boy Puck.

After the series wrapped, Salling's career ended when he became embroiled in allegations of possessing child p*rnography. Salling was first arrested in December 2015; in December 2017, he pled guilty to the charges. On Jan. 30, 2018, Salling died at age 35 of an apparent suicide.

Dianna Agron (Quinn Fabray)

While playing the role of head cheerleader Quinn Fabray on Glee, Dianna Agron embarked on a film career, starring in movies like the science-fiction thriller I Am Number Four (2011) and 2013's The Family (as the daughter of Robert De Niro's character). She also made a memorable appearance opposite an adulterous Chris Messina in the music video for Sam Smith's "I'm Not the Only One."

"[Looking back on Glee] does feel strange because we were such young people. If I see footage of myself from that period, I see my youth and I see the heart and community and family we had with each other," Agron told Rolling Stone in May 2023. "It’s emotional, nostalgic, heartwarming, and career-affirming. That experience opened up so many doors, and I’m so grateful that that’s how I learned everything."

Since Glee, she has largely made her career in indie films, appearing in The Crash (2017), Novitiate (2017), Hollow in the Land (2017), Berlin, I Love You (2019), Against the Clock (2019), Shiva Baby (2020), and As They Made Us (2022). In 2023, Agron starred in Hulu's psychological thriller Clock and Netflix's drama miniseries The Chosen One.

As of 2021, Agron has been in a relationship with Belgian painter Harold Ancart.

Naya Rivera (Santana Lopez)

Naya Rivera had worked in television and commercials since the age of 4, but the role of sharp-tongued cheerleader Santana Lopez proved to be her breakout part. Rivera broke barriers with Lopez's storyline of being a lesbian and coming out to her traditional Hispanic family and grandmother.

ForBillboard‘s 2017 Pride Month coverage, Rivera penned a "Love Letter to the LGBTQ Community," writing: “I have been so incredibly fortunate to portray a character on television that has meant so much to so many within the LGBTQ community.... It has been one of the great blessings in my life to receive such love and touching stories as a result of my portrayal of Santana Lopez onGlee. We are all put on this earth to be a service to others and I am grateful that for some, my Cheerios ponytail and sassy sashays may have given a little light to someone somewhere, who may have needed it."

After Glee, she had recurring roles on Lifetime's Devious Maids and the dance television series Step Up: High Water. In September 2016, Rivera released a memoir titled Sorry Not Sorry: Dreams, Mistakes, and Growing Up.

She also made headlines for her on-again, off-again divorce with husband Ryan Dorsey, which resulted in a 2017 arrest for domestic battery that was later dismissed at Dorsey's request. Rivera died at age 33 in an accidental drowning incident while boating with her son in July 2020.

Darren Criss (Blaine Anderson)

Darren Criss had already earned something of a cult following thanks to his time with internet sensations Team Starkid, for whom he portrayed Harry Potter in the troupe's famous unauthorized YouTube musical adaptations of the beloved book series. Criss rocketed to instant success when he appeared as Warbler Blaine Anderson in the second season of Glee. His first song, a cover of Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream," became the show's best-selling single and hit the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The musician also wrote a song for the 2015 finale, for which he was nominated for an Emmy. While on Glee, Criss made his feature film debut in the 2012 indie film Girl Most Likely and led a Broadway revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.

Though he identifies as straight yet "culturally queer," Criss' portrayal of Blaine and his onscreen relationship with Kurt Hummell broke grounds for LGBTQ representation on TV. "Nowadays, we just call it a relationship on TV. But to contextualize it, a gay relationship on mainstreamFox, that's a pretty cool thing to be a part of," he said during a panel at the Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo (C2E2) in April 2024. "Because when people say they were affected by that show or that relationship, it's not because of me, it's because of that relationship on TV and the risks that people took to put that on TV.... It was a f---ing privilege, and I love talking about it and I'm so grateful I got to do it."

After Glee ended, Criss took over the title role in the Broadway production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, a part he reprised for the national tour's stops in San Francisco and Los Angeles. He has also maintained a close relationship with Ryan Murphy, appearing in the Hotel season of American Horror Story. He's proved perhaps the strongest breakout from the cast, winning an Emmy, Golden Globe, and more for his work as murderer Andrew Cunanan in Murphy's The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story. Criss reteamed with Murphy again in the Netflix miniseries Hollywood, and went on to earn various film and TV credits for Rick and Morty, Hazbin Hotel, and Babes (2024). He also returned to Broadway in 2022 with the play American Buffalo, and is set to play the lead role in Maybe Happy Ending, which opens on Broadway in October 2024.

In February 2019, Criss married his longtime girlfriend, film producer Mia Swier, with whom he shares a daughter named Bluesy Belle. The couple is expecting their second child in 2024.

Chord Overstreet (Sam Evans)

Musician and actor Chord Overstreet had a few guest star credits to his name when he was cast as transfer student and athlete Sam Evans, joining Glee in its second season.

“I was still afraid to sing in front of people beforeGlee. I got really nervous when I did my audition, my leg wouldn’t stop shaking when I was singing," Overstreet told PEOPLE in June 2017. “It was a boot camp in the best way. I learned more than I could have ever learned from acting or singing classes. I couldn’t get that experience anywhere else."

Overstreet has primarily focused on his music career post-Glee, releasing the single "Homeland" in 2016. In 2017, he released his first EP, Tree House Tapes, performing the single "Hold On" on both Today and The Tonight Show. He costars on the AppleTV+ comedy Acapulco and with Lindsay Lohan in Netflix's holiday rom-com Falling for Christmas (2022).

Heather Morris (Brittany S. Pierce)

Pre-Glee, Heather Morris was a talented backup dancer who had appeared alongside the likes of Beyoncé on tour and in music videos. She landed a small role on Glee when choreographer Zach Woodlee brought her in to assist, and her gig was then expanded throughout the first season, resulting in a fan-favorite character: the hilariously dim-witted cheerleader, Brittany S. Pierce.

"I was in a scene with Mark Salling and Jane Lynch, this scene in Sue’s office when she’s trying to recruit us to be in her own rival glee club, when she was ranting on about how I was this Dutch girl from the red-light district, and he was this Jewish guy, and Ryan Murphy was watching and I heard this hysterical laughing," Morris recalled of her early performances on Glee to Vulture in April 2010. "He walks in, like, 'Heather Morris: You looked so confused, and it’s one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen.' It was literally from that moment on, it just kept getting worse and worse, the dumb things I was saying."

Morris has continued to work in television comedy and as a dancer. In 2017, she competed on the 24th season of Dancing With the Stars but was eliminated in the sixth week of the competition. She had better luck on the British version of The Masked Dancer, which she won in 2022.

Morris welcomed two children, sons Elijah and Owen, with husband Taylor Hubbell.

Harry Shum Jr. (Mike Chang)

Harry Shum Jr. began his career as a dancer, appearing in an iconic iPod commercial, two Step-Up movies (2008, 2010), and dancing with the Legion of Extraordinary Dancers. His role on Glee as Mike Chang is initially (and problematically) referred to as "Other Asian" and features a few lines before Shum became a series regular in the show's third season.

With his Glee character dating Tina Cohen-Chang throughout the series, Shum Jr. recalled how he and Jenna Ushkowitz would have to share many onscreen kissing scenes. "Making out is so awkward [on camera], especially when you have to do it over and over again and [you're] trying to make it interesting," he said during a May 2024 episode of the And That's What You REALLY Missed podcast. "I remember [Ushkowitz] and me used to eat the worst s--- that we could think of, to just make it a little more interesting."

From 2016 to 2019, he appeared as bisexual warlock Magnus Bane on Freeform's Shadowhunters, based on The Mortal Instruments book series. He had a brief role in Crazy Rich Asians (2018), but is poised to break out in a major way in an upcoming spinoff focused on his and Gemma Chan's characters. The actor also appeared in the seven-time Oscar-winning smash indie Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022); joined the main cast of Grey's Anatomy in 2022 as Dr. Benson "Blue" Kwan; and lent his voice in Kung Fu Panda 4 (2024).

Since 2015, Shum Jr. has been married to actress and dancer Shelby Rabara, with whom he shares a daughter named Xia.

Jayma Mays (Emma Pillsbury)

Jayma Mays had enjoyed two popular recurring roles on Heroes and Ugly Betty before being cast as kindly germophobic guidance counselor Emma Pillsbury on Glee. Though her character finds romantic happiness with Will Schuester, she becomes a guest star from the fourth season on — moving on to appear on series like The Millers and The League.

"I think [Glee is] a show that's so amazing and different and creative and special, but you never know when you're making something how people are going to perceive it, or if they're going to get it, or like it," Mays told CBS News in March 2013. "I think from the start we knew we were doing something different and it was at least special to us. So the fact that people have loved it and people are still watching is really wonderful."

Since Glee, she's also appeared on HBO's Getting On and voiced Dulcinea on The Adventures of Puss in Boots. On film, she played the love interest in Paul Blart: Mall Cop (2009) and Grace Winslow in two big-screen adaptations of The Smurfs in 2011 and 2013. She was also seen opposite Tom Cruise in American Made (2017) and starred on NBC's underrated 2017 sitcom . Mays played Princess Joanna Preston in (2020) and Ruby in Disenchanted (2022).

On Oct. 28, 2007, Mays married her husband, actor Adam Campbell, who she met on the set of Epic Movie (2007). Together, they share a son named Jude Jones.