Matthew Morrison

Morrison was born in Fort Ord, California, the son of Mary Louise (Fraser) and Thomas Morrison.[2] Morrison was raised in Chico, and has Scottish and English ancestry.[3][4] He was a member of Buena Park Youth theater, located in Buena Park. He was part of the Collaborative Arts Project 21 (CAP21) and the Orange County School of the Arts, while at the Los Alamitos High School campus. While in high school, Morrison did a musical with actress Jodie Sweetin. He attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts for two years before dropping out and joining the Broadway adaptation of Footloose.[5]

In 1999, while still at NYU, Morrison appeared on Late Show with David Letterman and Total Request Live as one of five members of the fictional parody boy band "Fresh Step", an act that was conceived by several Late Show writers.[6] The choreographer hired for "Fresh Step" was also the choreographer for the Broadway musical Footloose, and helped Morrison to get cast in Footloose later that year. Morrison dropped out of NYU to begin appearing in the show.[7]

Morrison with Glee co-star Jane Lynch

In 2001, Morrison was recruited to join the boy band LMNT, turning it from a trio into a quartet. He stayed in the band for one year, then left and was replaced by Jonas Persch; he left before the recording of the group's sole album, All Sides. In a 2010 interview, Morrison stated about the experience, "It was the worst year of my life. You know when you're a performer and you're out there on stage and you're embarrassed that you're doing something wrong. It was pretty bad."[8]

Morrison briefly appeared in a revival of The Rocky Horror Show in 2002. He then starred in the original cast of the musical Hairspray as Link Larkin from its opening in 2002 through January 2004.[9] In 2005, Morrison starred as Fabrizio Nacarelli in the Broadway premiere of Adam Guettel's musical The Light in the Piazza;[9] he was nominated for a Tony Award for his performance.[10] He left the show on August 28, 2005.[10]

Morrison started working in television, guest-starring on shows such as Ghost Whisperer,[2] Numbers,[2] CSI: Miami,[2] and Hack.[2] Morrison also had small roles in films including Marci X (2003).[2] He also appeared as Sir Harry in the 2005 ABC-TV production of Once Upon a Mattress,[2] starring Tracey Ullman, Zooey Deschanel and Carol Burnett.[2]

He earned a Drama Desk Nomination for his role in the Off Broadway show 10 Million Miles which ran at the Atlantic Theater Company in 2007. That same year he appeared in two films: Dan in Real Life, followed by Music and Lyrics as Cora Corman's manager. In 2008, he played Lieutenant Cable in a Lincoln Center production of the musical South Pacific. He left the production at the end of 2008 and in early 2009 returned to California to shoot the first season of Glee.[11]

Morrison played Will Schuester in the Fox Broadcasting television series Glee,[2] which had its television preview on May 19, 2009. Schuester is a high school Spanish (later History) teacher who takes on the task of restoring the school's glee club to its former glory. He made his directorial debut with the third season's ninth episode.[2]

In January 2010, Morrison signed a solo record deal with Mercury Records. His first studio album, Matthew Morrison, was released on May 10, 2011. Two singles were released from the album, "Summer Rain"[12] and "Still Got Tonight". The album also includes duets with Elton John (a medley of "Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters" and "Rocket Man"),[13] Gwyneth Paltrow ("Over the Rainbow")[14] and Sting ("Let Your Soul Be Your Pilot"). On June 16, 2010, Morrison joined Leona Lewis—appearing at London's O2 Arena as part of her world tour—for a one-off performance to sing "Over the Rainbow".[14]

Morrison (center) with LGBT activist couple Kevin and Don Norte at a PFLAG fundraiser in 2010

In March 2012, Morrison was featured in a performance of Dustin Lance Black's play, 8—a staged reenactment of the federal trial that overturned California's Prop 8 ban on same-sex marriage—as Paul Katami.[15] The production was held at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre and broadcast on YouTube to raise money for the American Foundation for Equal Rights.[16][17]

A Morrison concert at Connecticut's Bushnell Center was recorded and aired on PBS in June 2013.[18] In April 2013, Morrison appeared at the 2013 Laurence Olivier Awards at the Royal Opera House in London.[19]

On June 4, 2013, 222 Records released Morrison's second studio album, Where It All Began,[20] an album of show tunes and jazz standards. One single was released from the album, a cover of "It Don't Mean a Thing".[20]

Morrison returned to Broadway as J. M. Barrie in the Broadway debut of the musical Finding Neverland, which opened in April 2015.[21]

On July 7, 2016, Morrison appeared alongside Megan Hilty in a summer evening of Broadway and other songs with The New York Pops at the Forest Hills Stadium in Forest Hills, Queens.[22]

Morrison was a "dance captain" on BBC One's The Greatest Dancer, which aired for two seasons in 2019 and 2020, alongside Cheryl, Oti Mabuse and, in the second season, Todrick Hall as well.[23] In the second half of 2019, he portrayed Trevor in the ninth season of the FX horror anthology television series American Horror Story.[2]

In December 2020, he starred as The Grinch in NBC's production of Dr. Seuss' The Grinch Musical Live!.[24]

On April 4, 2022, he was announced as a judge for the seventeenth season of So You Think You Can Dance,[2] along with JoJo Siwa and Stephen "tWitch" Boss.[25] However, on May 27, he was fired from the show for sending text messages to a female contestant that made her feel uncomfortable.[26] His final episode aired on June 8,[27] and he was replaced by actress Leah Remini.[28] In an Instagram video posted in June 2022, Morrison claimed that his messages were just friendly and that he was a victim of cancel culture.[29]

In June 2023, it was announced that Morrison would star alongside Jen Lilley in the TV film A Paris Christmas Waltz,[2] which will air on Great American Family in November 2023.[30][31]

Morrison became engaged to actress Chrishell Stause on December 9, 2006.[32] Their relationship later ended.

In 2011, Morrison began dating Renee Puente.[33] On June 27, 2013, Elton John helped Morrison announce that he and Puente were engaged.[34] Morrison and Puente were married on October 18, 2014, at a private home on the island of Maui.[35]

On May 16, 2017, it was revealed on his personal Instagram account that he and Puente were expecting their first child.[36] Their son was born on October 22, 2017.[37] On March 16, 2021, Morrison used his Instagram again to announce that he and Puente were expecting their second child together following a series of miscarriages.[38] Their daughter was born on June 28, 2021.[39]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Matthew Morrison.

• Official website at the Wayback Machine (archived April 13, 2020)
• Matthew Morrison at AllMusic
• Matthew Morrison at IMDb 
• Matthew Morrison at the Internet Broadway Database
• Matthew Morrison at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Matthew Morrison at Emmys.com
• {{Rotten Tomatoes person}} template missing ID and not present in Wikidata.