Christopher Paul Colfer [ 2 ] [ 3 ] born May 27, [ 4 ] is an American actor, singer, and author. He gained international recognition for his portrayal of Kurt Hummel on the television musical Glee β Colfer wrote, starred in, produced, and novelized his first film, Struck by Lightning , which debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival.
As of June [update] , he has published twenty books. When Colfer was seven, his younger sister was diagnosed with severe epilepsy ; he said, "She'd have these horrid, horrid epileptic fits in the middle of the night. At an early age, Colfer showed a passion for writing. He was "born wanting to be a storyteller", using both writing and acting as ways to entertain people and escape reality. Colfer was bullied so severely in middle school that he needed to be homeschooled for half of 7th grade and 8th grade.
He was also active in the drama club , the FFA , "was president of the Writer's Club, editor of the school's literary magazine, and captain of Destination ImagiNation". The first show Colfer acted in was a community theatre production of West Side Story.
Kurt is a fashionable gay countertenor who is routinely bullied at school for his sexuality and participating in the very unpopular Glee Club.
Colfer auditioned for the part of Artie Abrams , who uses a wheelchair, a role which eventually went to Kevin McHale. The show's creator, Ryan Murphy , was so impressed with Colfer that he created the role of Kurt specifically for him, [ 21 ] and in the process, scrapped a planned character called Rajish so they could add Kurt. Murphy explained in the season two finale of The Glee Project that Colfer was the inspiration for the project show because he did not fit the role he auditioned for but was still "incredible and special" so a role was created for him.
