Early life

Morrison was born in Fort Ord, California, the son of Mary and Tom Morrison. He was raised in Orange County, and is of Scottish heritage. He was part of the Collaborative Arts Project 21 (CAP21) and the Orange County High 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.

By freshman year of college Morrison already was a regular performer on Broadway. He states in Details "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 erotic and sexual. I definitely hooked up with a lot of girls when I was a young guy on Broadway. It was fun, I guess. Very joyous and free."

Career

Morrison's career began when he made his musical theatre debut on Broadway in the musical version of Footloose, followed by a revival of The Rocky Horror Show in 2002. His big break came, however, when he landed the role of Link Larkin in the Broadway production of John Waters', Hairspray. After performing in the role for some time, he started working in television, guest-starring on shows such as Ghost Whisperer, Numb3rs, CSI: Miami and Hack. He also had small roles in films such as Marci X, Primary Colors, Music and Lyrics, and Simply Funk. He followed up these performances by performing the role of Sir Harry in the ABC-TV production of Once Upon a Mattress, starring Tracey Ullman, Zooey Deschanel and Carol Burnett.

In 2001, Morrison was recruited to complete the quartet for the band LMNT. He was replaced instead by Jonas Persch by the time its first album was released. He commented in an interview about his experience in the boy band by remarking, "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." Matthew Morrison also was a member of Buena Park Youth theater, located at Buena Park

Morrison starred in the Original Cast of the musical Hairspray as Link Larkin from its opening in 2002 through January 2004. In 2005 Morrison changed gears, playing the role of Fabrizio Nacarelli in Adam Guettel's The Light in the Piazza. He was nominated for a Tony Award for his performance. He left the show August 28, 2005.

Morrison joined the cast of the CBS soap opera, As the World Turns, as Adam Munson on October 24, 2006, but left abruptly soon after due to a "scheduling conflict," last airing on the soap on November 27. Morrison appeared in a benefit performance celebrating Andrew Lippa, and the 25th Anniversary of the performing troupe 'The Kids in the Hall' at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa, California in December 2006. The performance benefited The California Conservatory of the Arts, a non-profit arts education organization focusing on pre-professional training for young students, grades six through twelve, in Orange County, California.

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.

Morrison played Will Schuester in the Fox Broadcasting television series Glee, which had its television preview on May 19, 2009. He resumed his role in the show as the series premiered on September 9, 2009. He plays a high school Spanish teacher who takes on the task of restoring the school's glee club to its former glory. Morrison also appeared in the show's second season. He returned for the third season, which premiered on September 20, 2011. He made his directorial debut in the third season's ninth episode.

In addition on January 14, 2010, it was announced that Morrison signed a solo record deal with Mercury Records. His first studio album was released on May 10, 2011. Morrison duets with Elton John on "a medley of 'Mona Lisas and Madhatters' going into 'Rocket Man'". His first single, "Summer Rain", premiered on Ryan Seacrest's website on February 28, 2011. Additionally, a duet of "Over the Rainbow" with Gwyneth Paltrow appears on the self-titled album. 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". Morrison was on the cover of the June 2011 issue of MetroSource.

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. The production was held at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre and broadcast on YouTube to raise money for the American Foundation for Equal Rights.

A Morrison concert at Connecticut's Bushnell Center was recorded by PBS and scheduled to air in spring 2013. On April 28, 2013, Morrison made his first major appearance in the UK as a guest performer at the 2013 Laurence Olivier Awards at the Royal Opera House in London. On June 4, 2013, 222 Records released Morrison's second studio album, Where It All Began.

Morrison returned to Broadway as J.M. Barrie in the new musical, Finding Neverland, which opened in April 2015.

Personal life

While working on a Broadway production together, he briefly dated future Glee co-star Lea Michele. Morrison became engaged to actress Chrishell Stause on December 9, 2006. Their relationship later ended. In 2011, Morrison began dating Renee Puente. On June 27, 2013, Elton John helped Morrison announce that Morrison and Puente were engaged. Morrison and Puente were married on October 18, 2014 at a private home on the island of Maui.

Awards and nominations

Year	Award ceremony	Category	Project	Result
2003	Outer Critics Circle Award	Best Featured Actor in a Musical	Hairspray	Nominated
2005		Best Featured Actor in a Musical	The Light in the Piazza	Nominated
	Drama Desk Award	Outstanding Actor in a Musical		Nominated
	Broadway.com Audience Award	Favorite Featured Actor in a Musical		Nominated
	Tony Award	Best Featured Actor in a Musical		Nominated
2008	Drama Desk Award	Outstanding Actor in a Musical	10 Million Miles	Nominated
2009	Screen Actors Guild Award	Best Performance by an Ensemble in a Television Series	Glee	Won
	Satellite Awards	Best Actor in a Series, Comedy or Musical		Won
2010	Teen Choice Award	Choice Male Scene Stealer		Nominated
	Satellite Awards	Best Actor in a Series, Comedy or Musical		Nominated
	TV Land Award	Future Classic		Won
	Golden Globe Awards	Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Comedy or Musical		Nominated
	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Performance by a Lead Actor in a Comedy Series		Nominated
	Grammy Award	Best Compilation Soundtrack Written for Visual Media		Nominated
	Screen Actors Guild Award	Best Performance by an Ensemble in a Television Series - Comedy or Musical		Nominated
2011	Grammy Award	Best Compilation Soundtrack Written for Visual Media		Nominated
2015	Broadway.com Audience Award	Favorite Actor in a Musical	Finding Neverland	Won
		Favorite Onstage Pair (w/ Laura Michelle Kelly)		Won
	Drama Desk Award	Outstanding Actor in a Musical		Nominated
	Drama League Award	Distinguished Performance		Nominated

Discography

Studio albums

Title	Details	Peak chart positions
		US	AUS	UK
Matthew Morrison	Release date: May 10, 2011 Label: Mercury Records Formats: CD, music download	24	61	63
Where It All Began	Release date: June 4, 2013 Label: 222 Records Formats: CD, music download	95	—	163
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

EPs

Title	Details	Peak chart positions
		US	AUS	UK
A Classic Christmas	Release date: November 19, 2013 Label: 222 Records Formats: music download	—	—	—
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

Singles

Year	Single	Peak chart positions			Album
		US	US AC	UK
2011	"Summer Rain"	—	16	—	Matthew Morrison
	"Still Got Tonight"	—	—	182
2013	"It Don't Mean a Thing"	—	—	—	Where It All Began
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

Notes

[ Source: Wikipedia ]