Glee cast: Where are they now?

When Glee premiered in May 2009 (with a preview of its pilot after an episode of American Idol before officially launching that fall), it became an unexpected phenomenon, leading to acting careers, concert tours, and more. The TV show, about a group of high school misfits who form a glee club under the direction of an earnest teacher, made the musical cool again, selling countless iTunes singles and albums. Creator Ryan Murphy went from critical darling to network juggernaut, paving the way for him to become one of the most successful and powerful content creators in Hollywood.

Most of the cast members were young, fresh discoveries, while others were untapped Broadway talents. The show left the air in 2015, so let's see where the gang of Glee is now.

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.

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.

He 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.

Related: Matthew Morrison talks the Glee Christmas episode

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 the work of Christopher Guest, 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.

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, and The Stinky & Dirty Show), and far more television (Angel From Hell, The Good Fight, Criminal Minds). She's also taken on hosting duties for such game shows as Hollywood Game Night and The Weakest Link. Since 2017, she's 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.

Related: Jane Lynch talks Glee series finale, favorite Sue Sylvester moments

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 Jonathan Groff in Spring Awakening. The actress put 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.

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, accused Michele of making the set a "living hell," leading the latter to release an apology amid a storm of backlash against her. 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.

Related: Lea Michele reunites with Glee costars and producers for her first Christmas album

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. 

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 was a recent high school graduate when he landed his breakout role as out high school student Kurt Hummel — a role which 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 story lines.

Since Glee, Colfer appeared in 2016's Absolutely Fabulous movie 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 over 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).

Related: Chris Colfer returns to enchanting Land of Stories with A Tale of Witchcraft

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. 

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 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.

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.

Related: Kevin McHale shares which songs Glee would do if it were still on air

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

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.

Related: Glee stars share wild memories from the show's early days

Famously passed over by American Idol producers, Amber Riley showed off her stellar pipes and made 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.

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.

Related: Watch Glee alum Amber Riley performs Dreamgirls showstopper at Olivier Awards

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 pornography. 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.

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). 

She made a memorable appearance opposite an adulterous Chris Messina in the music video for Sam Smith's "I'm Not the Only One."

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).

Related: Dianna Agron channels her inner frontman in the Killers' "Just Another Girl" music video

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 story line of being a lesbian and coming out to her traditional Hispanic family and grandmother.

After Glee, she had recurring roles on Lifetime's Devious Maids and the dance television series Step Up: High Water. Rivera released a memoir in September 2016 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 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.

Criss made his feature film debut in the 2012 indie film Girl Most Likely. While on Glee, he also led a Broadway revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. After Glee ended, Criss took over the title role in the Broadway production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, a role 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. He reteamed with Murphy again in the Netflix miniseries Hollywood and returned to Broadway in 2022 with the play American Buffalo.

Related: Darren Criss reveals what he considers the worst cover Glee ever did

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.

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).

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 creation: the hilariously dim-witted cheerleader, Brittany S. Pierce.

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 has also welcomed two children with husband Taylor Hubbell.

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

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, but is poised to break out in a major way in a potential sequel, which is still in development. He also appeared in the Oscar-nominated smash indie Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022) and signed on as a main cast member for the 19th season of Grey's Anatomy.

Related: Glee cast reunites to sing "Shallow" karaoke

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 found romantic happiness with Will Schuester, she became a guest star from the fourth season on and went on to appear on series like The Millers and The League. 

Since Glee, she's also appeared on HBO's Getting On and voiced a character on The Adventures of Puss in Boots. On film, she played the love interest in Paul Blart: Mall Cop (2009) and starred as the live-action heroine in two big-screen adaptations of The Smurfs in 2011 and 2013. She was also seen in American Made (2017) opposite Tom Cruise and starred on NBC's underrated 2017 sitcom Trial & Error. Mays played Princess Joanna Preston in 2020's Bill and Ted Face the Music and Ruby in 2022's Disenchanted.