Chord Overstreet

Chord Overstreet

Overstreet on the set of Glee, 2011
Born February 17, 1989 (1989-02-17) (age 23)
Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.
Occupation Actor, singer, musician
Years active 2009–present
Parents Julie and Paul Overstreet

Chord Overstreet (born February 17, 1989) is an American actor, singer and musician, best known for his role as Sam Evans on the television series Glee.

Contents

Early years

Overstreet was born in Nashville, Tennessee, to make-up artist Julie Miller and country music singer-songwriter Paul Overstreet.[1] He has an older brother, Nash, who plays in the band Hot Chelle Rae,[2][3] an older sister, Summer, and three younger sisters, Harmony, Skye and Charity.[4][5][6] He is of German, Irish, English and Native American descent.[7] He was named after the musical term of the same name.[5] Overstreet was raised on a farm outside of Nashville.[8] Encouraged by his parents to pursue music, he started playing the mandolin at an early age, and moved on to the drums, flute, piano, and guitar.[7][9] He is also a songwriter, but is unsigned.[5] In his teenage years, he modeled for advertisements for Famous Footwear and Gap.[10]

Acting career

Overstreet began to pursue his passion of performing after his high school graduation in 2007. After two unsuccessful years, Overstreet started his acting career on the web series Private, as Josh Hollis.[11] He was also featured in an episode of iCarly iSpeed Date (for a few minutes) and the unaired pilot of No Ordinary Family.[9][12] His first film role was that of Teenage Boy in the 2009 thriller The Hole, and he will star in the 2011 film A Warrior's Heart as Dupree, alongside Ashley Greene and Kellan Lutz.[12]

Overstreet plays the character of Sam Evans, a transfer student and athlete, on the television show Glee.[9][13][14] He landed the role after auditioning with Commodores' "Easy" and Gavin DeGraw's "I Don't Want to Be".[5] He later sang "Billionaire" by Travie McCoy featuring Bruno Mars as a studio test, and eventually sang this in the season premiere "Audition", along with "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" by Poison.[5][15] He played the role of Rocky in the The Rocky Horror Picture Show-themed episode "The Rocky Horror Glee Show".[16]

On April 21, 2011, the video for Hot Chelle Rae's "Tonight Tonight‬" was released on YouTube and featured a series of cameos of Overstreet alternately making out with a girl (whom he stole from the lead singer) on an office copier, DJing at a club, then playing guitar and mugging for the crowd with his brother, bandmember Nash.[17]

On July 1, 2011, TVLine's Michael Ausiello broke the news that Overstreet's contract option to become a series regular on Glee had not been picked up for season 3, but that he could possibly come back as an occasional guest star.[18] In reaction to the announcement, fans launched a campaign to promote Overstreet's cover of "Billionaire" and various tags related to the actor, most notably "#dontcutthechord",[19] began trending on Twitter. The song made its way into the iTunes Top 5 "Glee" charts during the campaign.[20]

At the 2011 Comic-Con event, Glee co-creator Brad Falchuk reported that they had offered Overstreet a ten-episode deal with a possibility to become a series regular at mid-season, but that Overstreet had declined the option.[21][22] Overstreet later stated to Ausiello during an interview that he had decided to leave the show to focus on his music career, explaining, "They offered me the chance to come back for a few episodes, but there was nothing guaranteed so I decided to dive into the music thing."[23]

It was reported on October 18, 2011, and confirmed by series co-creator Ryan Murphy six days later, that Overstreet would be returning as a recurring character starting with the season's eighth episode.[24] That episode, "Hold On to Sixteen", which featured Overstreet's character Sam, aired on December 6, 2011.

Personal life

Overstreet is currently dating actress Emma Roberts.[25]

Filmography

Television
Year Series Role Notes
2009 Private Hollis, JoshJosh Hollis Web series
2009 iCarly Eric Episode: "iSpeed Date"
2010–present Glee Evans, SamSam Evans Recurring role (21 episodes)
2010 No Ordinary Family Fisher, LucasLucas Fisher Episode: "Pilot"
2011 The Middle Mr. Wilkerson Episode: "Hecking Order"
Film
Year Film Role Notes
2010 The Hole Adam
2011 A Warrior's Heart Dupree
2011 Glee: The 3D Concert Movie Evans, SamSam Evans

Discography

Main article: Glee Cast discography

Overstreet's cover of "Billionaire" was released as a single and charted at #15 in Ireland, #24 in Canada, #28 in the United States, and #34 in Australia.[26][27][28][29] His cover of "Lucky" was also released as a single.[30] Overstreet is also featured in Hot Chelle Rae's "Tonight Tonight" music video, appearing with his brother, bandmember Nash Overstreet.

On December 13, 2011, one of Overstreet's solo tracks, entitled "Beautiful Girl", was leaked onto the internet. There is speculation that this will be his first single apart from the Glee cast. [31]

References

  1. ^ [1]
  2. ^ Paulson, Dave (June 19, 2009). "Hot Chelle Rae reaches for pop stardom". The Tennessean. Gannett Company. http://nashville.metromix.com/music/article/hot-chelle-rae-reaches/1266505/content. Retrieved October 3, 2010. 
  3. ^ O'Donnell, Shauna (April 27, 2010). "Hot Chelle Rae". MUEN Magazine. Raven's Nest Records. http://ravennestrecords.com/hotchelleraeinterview.htm. Retrieved October 3, 2010. 
  4. ^ "Chord Overstreet: Bio". US Weekly. Wenner Media. http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrities/chord-overstreet#celeb-2. Retrieved March 4, 2011. 
  5. ^ a b c d e Berk, Brett (September 21, 2010). "Will Chord Overstreet Go Full Brokeback on Glee?". Vanity Fair. Condé Nast Publications. http://www.vanityfair.com/online/oscars/2010/09/hunky-chord-overstreet-may-or-may-not-play-chris-colfers-gay-boyfriend-on-glee-takes-the-fifth-on-going-the-full-brokeback.html. Retrieved September 23, 2010. 
  6. ^ "A Songwriters Project - Volume 1" (PDF) (Press release). Scarlet Moon Records. 1991. http://www.pauloverstreet.com/fans/press/press.pdf. Retrieved September 23, 2010. 
  7. ^ a b http://www.tvguide.com/News/Chord-Overstreet-Glee-1030451.aspx
  8. ^ http://www.allaccess.com/country/artist-info/q/id/1205/chord-overstreet
  9. ^ a b c Nguyen, Hanh (September 21, 2010). "'Glee': Chord Overstreet talks about his big mouth, name and singing in the shower". Zap2it. http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/2010/09/glee-chord-overstreet-talks-about-his-big-mouth-name-and-singing-in-the-shower.html. Retrieved September 23, 2010. 
  10. ^ Arroyave, Luis (December 20, 2010). "New guy on 'Glee' strikes a Chord with auditioners". Chicago Tribune (Chicago: Tony W. Hunter). http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/ct-live-1220-luis-20101220,0,1794680.story. Retrieved December 20, 2010. 
  11. ^ Consoli, John (July 26, 2010). "Chord Overstreet Joins 'Glee' Cast". The Wrap. http://www.thewrap.com/television/column-post/chord-overstreet-joins-cast-glee-19556. Retrieved September 23, 2010. 
  12. ^ a b Vena, Jocelyn (September 22, 2010). "'Glee''s Chord Overstreet Sings His Way Into Our Hearts As This Week's Hump Day Hottie". MTV. MTV Networks. http://hollywoodcrush.mtv.com/2010/09/22/chord-overstreet-glee/. Retrieved September 23, 2010. 
  13. ^ "Chord Overstreet Signs Up for New Directions" (Press release). Fox Broadcasting Company. July 26, 2010. http://foxflash.com/div.php/main/page?aID=1z2z2z268z7z8&ID=6500. Retrieved September 23, 2010. 
  14. ^ Malkin, Marc (August 10, 2010). "New Glee Star Chord Overstreet Wants to "Beat It"". E!. http://ca.eonline.com/uberblog/marc_malkin/b194405_new_glee_star_chord_overstreet_wants.html. Retrieved September 23, 2010. 
  15. ^ Derschowitz, Jessica (September 22, 2010). ""Glee" Season 2 Premiere: "What I Did For Love"". CBS News. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31749_162-20017225-10391698.html. Retrieved September 23, 2010. 
  16. ^ Masters, Megan (October 15, 2010). "Glee's Chord Overstreet Reveals Himself (in the Gold Lamé Shorts and Otherwise)". E!. http://eonline.com/uberblog/watch_with_kristin/b205693_glees_chord_overstreet_reveals_himself.html. Retrieved October 15, 2010. 
  17. ^ Hot Chelle Rae - Tonight Tonight JIVE Records, a unit of Sony Music Entertainment. Youtube.com. 2011.
  18. ^ Ausiello, Michael (July 1, 2011). "Glee Exclusive: Darren Criss and Harry Shum Jr. In, Chord Overstreet Out!". TV Line. Mail.com Media. http://www.tvline.com/2011/07/glee-scoop-chord-overstreet-leaving/. Retrieved July 1, 2011. 
  19. ^ "The Fight To Keep Chord Overstreet On 'Glee' Has Begun!". Screenology. July 5, 2011. http://www.ology.com/screen/fight-keep-chord-overstreet-glee-has-begun. Retrieved July 15, 2011. 
  20. ^ "'Glee': Chord Overstreet fans rally for actor's role". MassLive. July 2, 2011. http://www.masslive.com/television/index.ssf/2011/07/glee_chord_overstreet_fans_ral.html. Retrieved July 6, 2011. 
  21. ^ http://www.tvline.com/2011/07/glee-comic-con-michele-monteith-colfer-overstreet/
  22. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSyAbCagsjY
  23. ^ http://www.tvline.com/2011/08/chord-overstreet-interview-leaving-glee/
  24. ^ Ausiello, Michael (October 18, 2011). "Glee Exclusive: Chord Overstreet to Return!". TV Line. Mail.com Media. http://www.tvline.com/2011/10/glee-chord-overstreet-to-return/. Retrieved October 24, 2011. 
  25. ^ "New couple Emma Roberts and Chord Overstreet jet off on their second romantic getaway this month". Daily Mail (London). July 29, 2011. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2019984/Emma-Roberts-Chord-Overstreet-jet-second-romantic-getaway-month.html. 
  26. ^ "Chart Track: TOP 50 SINGLES, WEEK ENDING 30 September 2010". Irish Singles Chart. GfK. http://www.chart-track.co.uk/index.jsp?c=p/musicvideo/music/archive/index_test.jsp&ct=240001&arch=t&lyr=2010&year=2010&week=39. Retrieved October 2, 2010. 
  27. ^ "Canadian Hot 100: Week of October 09, 2010 (Biggest Jump)". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. http://www.billboard.com/charts/canadian-hot-100?chartDate=2010-10-09&order=gainer. Retrieved October 2, 2010. 
  28. ^ "Hot 100: Week of October 09, 2010 (Biggest Jump)". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. http://www.billboard.com/charts/hot-100?chartDate=2010-10-09&order=gainer. Retrieved October 2, 2010. 
  29. ^ "Glee Cast - Billionaire (song)". australian-chart.com. Hung Medien. http://australian-charts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Glee+Cast&titel=Billionaire. Retrieved October 6, 2010. 
  30. ^ "Lucky (Glee Cast Version) - Single". iTunes Store. http://itunes.apple.com/album/lucky-glee-cast-version-single/id396025041. Retrieved October 12, 2010. 
  31. ^ http://music-mix.ew.com/2011/12/13/chord-overstreet-beautiful-girl-listen/

External links