I recently rewatched both seasons of Glee, and the thing that stood out most to me was the performance of Chris Colfer. Chris’s character, the gay fashionable soprano Kurt Hummel, has always been one of my favorite characters on the show, but watching all 44 episodes in about two weeks gave me an appreciation of how wonderful Chris is as an actor, and how much he has grown as an actor in just two years.
Last month, Chris received his second consecutive Emmy nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy. He is up against Ty Burrell, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Ed O'Neil, and Eric Stonestreet from Modern Family and Jon Cryer from Two and A Half Men. That's some pretty tough competition for a young actor who is just 21-years-old and working on his first professional acting job. But his performance on the show this season has been absolutely stellar, and totally Emmy worthy.
For those of you who aren't familiar with the Emmy process, after an actor is nominated, he chooses an episode of the show to submit to the Emmy voters. It was reported that Chris has decided to submit "Grilled Cheesus" to the voters. In the episode, Kurt’s father suffers a heart attack, and winds up in a coma. Kurt’s glee club friends rally around him, and want to pray for his father. Kurt reveals that he doesn’t believe in God, and tells his friends that he doesn’t want their prayers. The glee club spends much of the episode discussing their religious beliefs, and trying to understand why Kurt doesn’t believe in God. Chris’s performance in this episode was absolutely brilliant, and featured a heart-wrenching performance of the Beatles “I Want To Hold Your Hand.”
Chris did an amazing job of conveying the stages of grief as Kurt was dealing with his father’s illness in the episode. He really displayed the full range of emotion a person goes through when they are dealing with the serious illness of a loved one. He shows pain and anger over his father’s illness. He pushes his friends away and isolates himself as he deals with the stress of the illness. He shows guilt when he stands at his father’s bedside and says some of the things that he regretted not saying to his dad before the heart attack. He shows acceptance when he starts letting his friends in to help him.
I have always felt that a good actor makes you believe a character, but a great actor makes you feel for the character. There are plenty of actors who I think are good actors, but there is only a handful that I consider great. Chris is one of them. I am not one who gets teary-eyed while watching television very often, but Chris has made me cry on many occasions. Chris puts so much emotion, heart, and passion into his portrayal of Kurt that it is easy to become invested in the character, and really care for Kurt.
Chris has an amazing handle on the emotional side of acting. His emotions are spot on in every single scene. I can’t think of another actor on television who shows the range of emotion that Chris shows on Glee. There are lots of actors who can cry on the spot, or show anger and make it believable (and Chris is a master at that). But there aren’t very many actors that can convey more subtle emotions. Chris can convey so much with just an expression and body language.
A great example of the range of Chris’s emotion in his acting can be seen by comparing his demeanor in “Duets” with his demeanor in the later episodes when he starts to develop a friendship with Blaine, a gay student in a competing glee club. In “Duets,” Kurt is feeling very alone because he is the only out gay kid at school, and he is facing some criticism from his friends and his father because he wants to sing a duet with the new boy in class, who he suspects could be gay. My heart broke for Kurt in this episode because Chris did such an amazing job of showing Kurt’s pain and depression over being alone with his facial expressions and his slumped posture. When Kurt meets Blaine, Chris portrays Kurt with so much more confidence, joy, and lightness. He showed newfound happiness in his interactions with all of the other characters. Chris’s body language showed a spring in his step.
Although he may not be the strongest singer on the show, I believe that Chris is the strongest performer in the cast. With the emotion and passion he puts into his individual musical performances, you can tell that he was born to be on a Broadway stage. Most of his solos have been big Broadway numbers complete with choreography. One of my favorite Chris Colfer performances on Glee was “Le Jazz Hot” from Victor/Victoria, which was performed on “Duets” during season 2. “Le Jazz Hot” is a stunning song and dance number which truly shows just how well Chris commands the stage when he is performing. Chris’s dancing is very fluid, and he is so much fun to watch because he seems to be having so much fun performing. When he is performing a show stopping solo, it’s hard to take your eyes off him because he puts so much energy and heart into his performance.
Chris’s best performance on the show (and in my opinion the best individual performance by any actor or actress on Glee) came in the episode “Born This Way,” when Chris performed “As If We Never Said Goodbye” from the Broadway musical Sunset Boulevard. It was actually Chris’s idea to use this song, and they couldn’t have picked a better song to mark Kurt’s triumphant return to McKinley High School, and the New Directions. The song was beautifully performed, beautifully shot, and perfectly placed in the episode. Chris’s performance is absolutely breathtaking—it’s five minutes of pure magic. Chris absolutely nailed the emotional feel of the song. He showed Kurt’s joy and wonderment as he returned to the school where he knew he belonged. He shows Kurt’s increased pride and confidence for overcoming all the difficulties he faced in the past few months. Chris also showed Kurt’s love for his friends as he sang to the glee club, and his excitement to be back with them.
The Emmys are just a few short weeks, and whether or not Chris wins will really depend on how the voters interpret the category. Chris’s performance in Glee is primarily dramatic, so he didn’t really have a strong comedic performance to submit to the voters. It is not unheard of for an actor or actress to win an Emmy for a dramatic performance in a comedy category. If the voters decided to base their decision on a comedic performance, one of the Modern Family actors will win the Emmy. If they base their decision on the best overall acting in the episodes submitted by the actors, Chris should win the Emmy Award.
Win or lose, it is us, the viewers, who are the biggest winners because we are able to watch this amazingly talented young man week after week. Every time Chris is on screen, whether he is performing a show stopping number or he is just in the background, you feel that you are witnessing something special. Chris has a lot going on for him outside of Glee. He just finished filming his first film, Struck By Lightning, which he also wrote. He is developing a television show for Disney, and also has a two book deal to write a fantasy series for children. Chris is truly a multi-talented performer, and I am sure he will continue to entertain and amaze us for many years to come.
I truly believe that Chris has the heart and the drive to achieve anything he sets his mind on. I look forward to seeing where Chris's career leads him next. I'm sure it will be a fun and awe-inspiring journey.
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