Tonight at 8pm Eastern, Ryan Murphy and his principal Glee cast face down a heavy grilling from host James Lipton on Bravo’s Inside the Actors Studio. “From Chris Colfer‘s never-before-seen audition tape to Lea Michele‘s first big break on Broadway to Cory Monteith‘s troubled past, no stone is left unturned as they give viewers an inside look into their fascinating careers and reveal behind-the-scene stories from the set of the hit series.”
Bravo shared some preview snippets from tonight’s episode.
In the clip below, series creator Ryan Murphy explains how the character of Sue (played by Jane Lynch) came to be.
Matthew Morrison on his high school breakdance gang
Matthew Morrison: [When I was ten] my parents sent me to Arizona. I had some family that lived out there, and they threw me and my cousin into this children’s play to get us out of their hair for the summer.
James Lipton: Were there gangs? California had gangs. Did you ever join one?
Matthew Morrison: The mean streets of OC… a group of friends and I kind of started this gang. That was my first foray into dance [laughs]. We got together and we would breakdance. We would get together and we would show each other moves every week. [James makes MM breakdance on stage]
Cory Monteith and Chris Colfer on what they would like to hear God say at the pearly gates
Cory Monteith: Sorry I haven’t been around – there’s a good explanation.
Chris Colfer: Don’t listen to them – you get to come in too.
Chris Colfer on early acting
James Lipton: You’ve said you’ve wanted to be an actor since [you were] an embryo.
Chris Colfer: Embryo – yes. I used to pose for the sonograms.
Ryan Murphy on his love for his “bawdy” grandmother
Ryan Murphy: My mother worked, so I was pretty much raised by my grandmother. She was just this great, bawdy lady who would make me watch her put on her makeup and would explain why she was doing that, and she would encourage me to shoplift. She was just great; she was a character; she was my true love of my life as a child. I feel like everything I was interested in was really because of her.
Lea Michele on totaling her car on the way to her Glee audition
Lea Michele: I was listening to music and singing “On My Own” in the car and about to pull into the Fox lot and totaled my car at the time. I’m from New York and was driving in LA. I ran up the lot pulling glass out of my hair, and I had nicks on my body. I ran into the building – and exactly what Rachel Berry would have done – they were like, you don’t need to audition today! And I said, there is no way that I’m not auditioning. They didn’t even believe I got in a car wreck!
Chris Colfer on his Glee character, Kurt
James Lipton: You’ve described Kurt as a tough guy in designer clothes- can you define that further for our students?
Chris Colfer: What I love about Kurt the most is that he is himself, despite having his world constantly tell him he should not be who he is. And it takes a lot of strength to be who he is and wear those tight pants.
Ryan Murphy on his social standing in high school
Ryan Murphy: I was an odd creature in high school because I was a target but also I was popular, and that’s because on the sly, I was dating a lot of the football players.
