the progression of glee

auditions & casting

when choosing the cast, the producers wanted fresh faces and they chose a cast that went through their big new-found fame together

- Cory Monteith
in cory monteith's original audition, he did not sing or dance. he drummed on tupperware with unsharpened pencils. the producers liked his originality so much, they had his agent fly him to los angeles for a live audition

- Lea Michele
lea came into her audition still pulling glass out of her hair due to the minor car accident she got into right outside of the studio

during her audition, the pianist skipped the second verse so lea said "we have to go back to the second verse" which made the producers and writers laugh. they knew she was perfect for rachel

- Chris Colfer
the part of kurt was written specifically for chris, who had originally auditioned for artie. the writers told chris he looked like one of the von trapp kids and he told them he had previously played kurt von trapp in the sound of music

- Mark Salling
mark auditioned with the mohawk and the producers liked it so much that they decided to keep it for puck. right after shooting the pilot, mark started begging them to let him shave it

when mark auditioned, he was 26 years old but he told the producers he was 19. when they found out he was really 26, they were happy because they wanted actors who were a little older than the characters they played

- Dianna Agron
dianna was the last actor to be cast for the pilot. she was chosen as quinn the night before filming began

- Heather Morris
heather was originally hired by choreographer zach woodlee to teach the cast the single ladies dance after working as a back-up dancer for beyoncé. they liked her so much that she earned the role of brittany

- Darren Criss
darren got the role of blaine after a nationwide open audition through youtube

he originally auditioned for the role of finn and after seeing that cory got the role, darren said "oh duh"