McKinley High students Alistair Alistair (
Finneas O'Connell) is a McKinley High student who transfers in during the sixth season of the show and was first introduced in "
Child Star" as a friend of Roderick who Spencer (
Marshall Williams) is smitten with. Spencer convinces Alistair to join New Directions, and the two of them become a couple. New Directions ultimately goes on to become the National Show Choir Champions.
Azimio Azimio (James Earl, initially credited as "James Earl, III") is a McKinley High football player who was first introduced in the episode "
Mash-Up", giving
Finn Hudson grief over being in the glee club. Azimio is one of the school's bullies, and friends with teammate and fellow bully Dave Karofsky. Although he is usually seen harassing members of the glee club, Azimio was the first of the football players in "
The Sue Sylvester Shuffle" to agree to perform in the halftime show the night of the championship game in order to be allowed to play in the second half, saying he wanted to win the game because it would mean so much to his father. Although he has typically been seen in tandem with Karofsky, he was featured on his own late in the second season, first as part of a "heckling club" organized by Sue to disrupt the glee club's benefit concert in "
A Night of Neglect", during which he states that he writes devastating anonymous commentary in
NCIS and
CSI: Miami chat rooms, and then as one of Sue's staffers for the school newspaper when she revives
The Muckraker in "
Rumours" to spread damaging rumors about New Directions members. Karofsky, having given up bullying, confronts Azimio in "
Born This Way" about his own bullying. Azimio appears once in the third season in "
Asian F"; he is still a member of the football team.
Jacob Ben Israel portrays Jacob Ben Israel. Jacob Ben Israel (
Josh Sussman) is the vain, creepy editor of the school newspaper, in addition to running his own gossip blog. He has been compared in the media to
Perez Hilton and
Gossip Girl. Jacob has a crush on Rachel, who feels uneasy around him but relies on him for positive reviews. Jacob however has a crush on Rachel so he can have the best reviews even if it means over stepping boundaries, and blackmailing her to give him bras and panties. Although he attends Celibacy Club meetings, Jacob behaves in a sexually forward manner toward Rachel, threatening to sabotage her musical career unless she shows him her bra, blackmailing her for a pair of her panties in the episode "
Throwdown" and masturbating over video footage of her in "
Britney/Brittany". He briefly joins New Directions in order to fill the membership quota for sectionals, as a temporary replacement for
Finn. Although he does not sing in the competition, he remains with the club throughout the remainder of the episode, helping them to listen in on the judges.
Rory Flanagan Rory Flanagan (
Damian McGinty) is an Irish
foreign exchange student who is living with Brittany's family. Rory first appeared in the fourth episode of the third season, titled "
Pot o' Gold". Brittany was initially convinced that Rory was a magical
leprechaun whom only she could see and was there to grant her three wishes. Additionally, Rory is a fan of Finn Hudson, and is persuaded by Finn to join New Directions—he auditions with the song "
Take Care of Yourself" in a performance characterized by Rachel as "magical". Rory looks up to Finn, and tries to defend Finn when Santana insults him, only to get his own share of insults from her. He is given his first lead vocal in a
Hall & Oates mash-up, singing one verse in a duet with Tina. The character of Rory was created for McGinty after he won a recurring role for seven episodes on
Glee as a contestant on
The Glee Project. The idea of his character interacting with Brittany was first broached in the penultimate episode of
The Glee Project, with the judges speculating that Brittany would not be able to understand a word the character said due to his Irish accent. McGinty was retained as a recurring cast member past his initial seven-episode prize through the end of the third season, but is not at McKinley as the fourth season begins. He does appear in a fantasy dream sequence during that season's Christmas episode, "
Glee, Actually", as Artie's guardian angel. In "
I Am Unicorn", her father makes a huge donation to the school to set up a second glee club that will feature Sugar as the star, and recruits
Shelby Corcoran to direct it. When Mercedes, Santana and Brittany join, Sugar assumes they'll be her backup singers, but Santana openly tells her she's not a good singer, and she should stay out of their way, at which point Sugar admits that she "just wanted to be on the winning team for once". Sugar has subsequently been seen dancing and singing in several polished performances, indicating that she has greatly improved. After the Troubletones place second at Sectionals, Shelby resigns as director, and the Troubletones are told they are all welcome in New Directions, Sugar accompanies Mercedes, Santana and Brittany when they return, and sings "We Are Young" with the group. Her first in-tune solo was in "
Summer Nights" in "
Yes/No". In "
Heart", she gives Will money to pay for costumes and makeup for Regionals, and throws a big Valentine's Day party. Artie and Rory compete to be her date at the party, and Rory is chosen after his claim that he is being deported at the end of the school year wins her sympathy. Sugar remains with New Directions at their Nationals victory, and returns the next year to continue with the glee club at Sectionals and Regionals, but has not appeared in the fifth season. Sugar returns in the sixth-season episode "A Wedding", performing "I'm So Excited" with Mercedes, Santana, Brittany, Blaine's mom, Santana and Brittany's moms and Kurt's stepmom. According to Lengies, Sugar's self-diagnosed Aspergers is part of her character. She said that it was difficult to sing poorly on purpose, especially with piano accompaniment. Sugar's debut was praised by
Salon Matt Zoller Seitz, who said of the new addition to McKinley, "She's awful. She's also an entitled little snot... She's a great character, and I hope we haven't seen the last of her."
Entertainment Weekly Abby West praised Sugar, and with Sue otherwise occupied hoped to see more of Sugar as "a thorn in the Glee club's side". On the other hand,
TV Guide "jeered" Sugar, calling her "an off-key addition to the cast".
The A.V. Club Emily St. James concurred, and said of "I Am Unicorn", "Sugar continues to be one of my least favorite new characters in ages".
The Huffington Post named Sugar Motta one of the "Worst TV Characters" in 2012.
Joe Hart Joe Hart (
Samuel Larsen) first appears as a new transfer student to McKinley High in the third-season episode "
Heart". He is a Christian, wears his hair in
dreadlocks, and has been
home schooled until that point; he joins the "God Squad" club, whose other members include three who are members of the glee club: Mercedes, Sam, and Quinn. After Quinn is in an automobile accident and becomes a wheelchair user, he prays for her, and also helps her with her physical therapy; she, in return, recruits him into the glee club. Joe finds himself having feelings for Quinn and turns to Sam for advice, since the feelings are partially physical, which is frowned on by his faith. New Directions wins Nationals, and Quinn graduates. He continues at McKinley and in New Directions in the show's fourth season, and performs in both Sectionals and Regionals competitions, but has not appeared in the fifth season; Larsen cut his trademark dreadlocks after fourth-season filming ended. Joe appears again in season six in "
The Rise and Fall of Sue Sylvester" and accuses Sue of having cut off his dreadlocks. Larsen was one of the two winners of
The Glee Project first season, and his prize was a seven-episode arc on
Glee. Like his character, Larsen is Christian, and had thought "being Christian and trying to make it in this business as opposites working against each other" and that "you have to be very secure in your faith to approach this business". He was therefore surprised—and thrilled—when his religious beliefs seemed to interest and inspire Glee's Ryan Murphy during an episode of
The Glee Project. Jane is implied to come from a wealthy family, and was previously at the lowest performing school in Ohio before her father sued Dalton and made her the first ever female student to attend there. Jane asks
Blaine Anderson if she can become a Warbler, but even after a successful audition, the Warbler council voted against her, making her ultimately transfer to McKinley to become a member of the New Directions.
Becky Jackson portrays Becky Jackson. Rebecca Faye "Becky" Jackson (
Lauren Potter, narration as Queen
Elizabeth II provided by an uncredited
Helen Mirren) is a member of the Cheerios with
Down syndrome, who becomes a sidekick to Sue. Becky appears in three episodes of the first season, "Wheels", "The Power of Madonna" and "Home" and returns in the second season as cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester's assistant. Becky does everything Sue tells her to do, including heckling the glee club in "
A Night of Neglect", though her honest reactions to events have an effect on Sue. Becky is briefly kicked off the cheerleading squad by Sue in "
Funeral" after Sue's sister, who also has Down Syndrome, dies; Becky asks to join the glee club, but she is told that it's too late in the show choir season, though she is offered a spot next year. Sue then apologizes to Becky, reinstates her, and tells Becky she'll be captain of the Cheerios in the fall. To Becky's dismay, when the third season commences she is not the sole captain, but is made co-captain with Santana. She also assists Sue with her Congressional campaign, though Sue loses the race. In the episode "
Yes/No", she decides she wants Artie to be her boyfriend. She asks him out on a date, and while they do have a good time, he balks at a more serious relationship, to her great disappointment. Sue comforts her afterward. When Becky fails to get enough nominations to be on the ballot for senior class prom queen, she is very upset, and joins the anti-prom set up by Rachel and Kurt. She wins a game of strip poker with Puck after the others go to the prom after all, and he crowns the two of them the anti-prom king and queen. They then go to the real prom, and she helps him spike Sue's punch bowl. Becky is still a student at McKinley in the fourth season, still a Cheerio, and still Sue's aide-de-camp. In "
Feud", Sue names her Cheerios co-captain again, along with the newly recruited
Blaine Anderson. Becky is frightened in "
Shooting Star" about having to leave McKinley when she graduates, so she brings her father's gun to school as protection, but it accidentally goes off when Sue tries to get Becky to give her the gun. Sue takes the blame for having the gun, which she gets rid of, and is fired by Principal Figgins. Becky wants Sue to come back to McKinley, and later misbehaves in "
Lights Out" so that Roz Washington, who has taken over as coach of the Cheerios, brings her to the principal's office, as she wants to tell Figgins something important. According to Sue, when she returns as principal at the beginning of the fifth season, Becky did confess to having brought the gun to school, and is suspended for one month. Artie later encourages Becky to go to college, and Becky visits the
University of Cincinnati. She graduates in the second part of the 100th episode, "
New Directions". She returns in the final season during homecoming, and in the
series finale, she become the head of the secret service for the vice president Sue. Potter is a member of the Down's Syndrome Association of Los Angeles, and was contacted about auditioning through the association's in-house talent agency, Hearts and Hands. Fourteen actresses auditioned for the role, which Potter deemed "a great experience" to perform.
Dave Karofsky David "Dave" Karofsky (
Max Adler) is introduced as a bully and McKinley High athlete in the episode "
Mash-Up". He is a member of the hockey team who
slushies Finn, He later warns Kurt not to tell anyone about it, threatening to kill him if he does. He is expelled for his death threat, but allowed to return by the school board as no physical violence was witnessed—and Kurt had not revealed the kiss. He is briefly kicked off the football team with the other non-glee club members in "
The Sue Sylvester Shuffle", but they return to perform the championship game's half-time show mashup of "
Thriller/
Heads Will Roll" with the club, and ultimately win the game. In the episode "
Born This Way", after being blackmailed by Santana, he issues an apology to Kurt at a group meeting involving their fathers, Principal Figgins and Will. In "
Prom Queen", when Karofsky wins prom king and Kurt, shockingly, wins prom queen, the two walk onto the floor for the traditional king and queen dance, but Karofsky is unable to come out as Kurt suggests, and leaves. He next appears in the third-season episode "
The First Time". He has transferred to another high school from McKinley for his senior year; he sees Kurt in a gay bar, and tells Kurt he has become a regular there and feels accepted. He is later outed at his new school and bullied so mercilessly that he attempts to commit suicide but is saved by his father; Kurt visits him in the hospital and they agree to become friends. Adler had previously questioned his character's motivations, but was surprised by the scene in which Karofsky kisses Kurt. He commented that he was "glad to represent such a large group of people", expanding: "I've gotten so many messages from people all around the world these last couple of days thanking me because either they are Karofsky, they were Karofsky or they know a Karofsky."
Madison McCarthy Madison McCarthy (
Laura Dreyfuss) is a student at McKinley and a member of the New Directions.
Matt Rutherford Matt Rutherford (
Dijon Talton) is a football player who joins New Directions in the fourth episode, "
Preggers", Talton has called Matt a typical football player with a talent for singing and dancing, who always wanted to perform but felt forced to choose between performing and being "cool". Talton explained that Finn joining the glee club made it more acceptable for Matt to be honest with himself about what he wanted to do, and that he is becoming more comfortable being in the glee club, "what it stands for, how it makes him feel". He said the following about Matt's characterization:
Lauren Zizes Lauren Zizes (
Ashley Fink) is the McKinley High AV club president and a state champion in
Greco-Roman wrestling. During the first season, Kurt tells his father that Lauren's parents had to sue the school district to get Lauren a spot on the wrestling team. Lauren has an acerbic personality and is admired by Puck for being "a bigger bad-ass" than he is. She is overweight and has a love of candy, specifically
Cadbury Creme Eggs. Lauren has occasionally been seen dressing in the Goth style and is a fan of the
Twilight book series. She is seen in the episode "
The Substitute", in which she is taken advantage of by Sue Sylvester to spread a disease, which Sue calls "loud
bisexual primate flu", to a number of students and faculty, namely Will Schuester and Principal Figgins. She joins New Directions in the episode "
Special Education", enabling the club to meet the member quota for sectionals. Early in her tenure, she claims that show choir is stupid, but on several subsequent occasions she is seen enjoying singing and performing in the background. She performs "
I Know What Boys Like", her first solo, in "
Comeback". She campaigns with Puck for prom king and queen, though they both lose, and the two are still a couple at the end of the second season. However, after the glee club finishes twelfth at Nationals, Lauren concludes that being in New Directions is hurting her credibility, so she quits the group and breaks up with Puck at the start of the new school year. She returns in the fourth season's "
Sadie Hawkins" as a member of Tina's "too young to be bitter" group, but regains her confidence, dances with Joe Hart, and announces that she's applied to go to Harvard on a wrestling scholarship. Although being credited as guest starring in season 2 she appears in 17/22 episodes.
Other McKinley High students In the pilot episode,
Pilot,
Ben Bledsoe appears as Hank Saunders, a member of the McKinley glee club before its transformation into New Directions, singing “
Where is Love?” from
Oliver!.
Sandy Ryerson is said to have behaved sexually inappropriately towards him, leading to Sandy's dismissal and a restructuring of the glee club. For unknown reasons, Hank does not audition to re-join the club, unlike Rachel, who does. In the season one episode "Ballad",
Sarah Drew makes a guest appearance as Suzy Pepper, a senior with "an insane, absurd, psychotic crush on Mr. Schuester". Drew described Suzy as "kind of stalkerish and creepy", but ultimately redeemable. James Poniewozik of
Time commented positively on Suzy's characterization, observing that while she appeared to be a "throwaway dorky-girl stereotype", she was "fleshed-out as a person", a feat he doubted the series would have been capable of earlier in the season. In season three,
LaMarcus Tinker portrays Shane Tinsley, a new love interest for Mercedes and a "massive linebacker for the McKinley Titans". Rock Anthony appears as Rick "The Stick" Nelson, a hockey player who slushies Finn and runs for senior class president against Kurt and Brittany. In the season five premiere, a new McKinley cheerleader and "mean girl", Bree, played by
Erinn Westbrook, is introduced as a nemesis for the glee club.
William McKinley Jazz Ensemble The William McKinley Jazz Ensemble frequently accompanies New Directions in their on-screen musical numbers. While this student ensemble was introduced in the
pilot episode, with numerous appearances throughout the series, none of these instrumentalists were given character names. The only instrumentalist to receive an acting credit is Scott Henson (as "Scott T. Henson, guitarist") for having a line of dialogue in "
A Very Glee Christmas". Regular members of the group include a drummer played by John Lock and a bassist played by Scott Henson (later a member of the real band
Nightmare and the Cat), both introduced in the pilot; a guitarist played by Spencer Conley in the first two seasons, first seen in "
Throwdown"; a guitarist played by Derik Nelson in seasons three to five, replacing Conley in season three opener "
The Purple Piano Project"; and a keyboardist played by Mark Nilan Jr. in the first two seasons, who first appears in "
The Power of Madonna". John Lock is frequently shown waiting for
Finn Hudson to relinquish the drums to him, and Spencer Conley was featured in amongst the glee club females in their performance of the "Start Me Up / Livin' on a Prayer" mash-up in "
Never Been Kissed". Lock and Henson temporarily abandoned their instruments to sing and dance with New Directions for Sectionals competition in the episode "
Hold On to Sixteen". Henson, Lock and Nelson appear, with the Jazz Ensemble, in the
flashforward to 2020, accompanying the collected cast in the final performance of the show's
final episode. Other student instrumentalists regularly accompany New Directions, alone or with the Jazz Ensemble, including string and horn players, additional guitarists, keyboard players and percussionists, and a harpist.
McKinley High faculty Lillian Adler Lillian Adler (Jane Galloway Heitz) was the glee club director until 1997 when she died of unknown causes. She was the director of glee club when Will Schuester was a member. Adler first appears in the uncut version of the premiere episode, "
Pilot", and her memorial plaque serves as inspiration for Will to take over as glee club director. Her plaque was viewed during the course of the series by Will and other glee club members as a further source of inspiration. The plaque resided in the choir room until the episode "
100", when it was moved to the auditorium. Adler's final appearance is seen in a flashback by Will to the pilot episode in the series finale "
Dreams Come True". The last scene of the series showed Adler's plaque alongside a plaque of the rededication to the auditorium and a memorial plaque for Finn Hudson.
Shelby Corcoran portrays Shelby Corcoran. Shelby Corcoran (
Idina Menzel) is the coach of rival glee club Vocal Adrenaline during season one, described by Murphy as "a sort of
Faye Dunaway of
Network". She makes out with Will shortly after meeting him, but she resists sleeping with him when he says his divorce is not yet final and that he has just broken up with his new girlfriend, Emma. Fans had lobbied for Menzel to be cast as Rachel's biological mother, due to the strong resemblance between Menzel and Michele. In the episode "
Dream On", it is revealed that Shelby is, in fact, Rachel's biological mother. She had signed a contract that stated that she could not seek out her daughter until she was eighteen. In the season one finale, "
Journey to Regionals", Shelby adopts
Quinn Fabray and
Noah Puckerman's newborn daughter, Beth. She leaves Vocal Adrenaline before the beginning of the next school year. "Principal" is his real first name. Figgins allows Will to take over the school glee club; however, he insists that the students must place at Regionals in order for the club to continue.
Holly Holliday Holly Holliday (
Gwyneth Paltrow) is a substitute teacher at McKinley High. Her first appearance was in the second-season episode "
The Substitute", when she temporarily takes over as the director of the glee club while Will Schuester is out sick. Paltrow's
Glee appearance marked her first ever scripted-series guest performance. The role of Holly was created for her by series creator
Ryan Murphy, a personal friend who suggested that she showcase her vocal and dancing talent ahead of the December 2010 release of the film
Country Strong, in which Paltrow plays a
country singer. Holly makes a return appearance in the episode "
Sexy", this time subbing for McKinley's
sex education teacher. In that same episode she also begins a romantic relationship with Will. Holly's third and final appearance that season is in the episode "
A Night of Neglect", in which she breaks off her relationship with Will because she knows he is in love with Emma. Murphy stated at PaleyFest in March 2011 that Paltrow as Holly would be returning in season three for a series of guest appearances, but she has not appeared on
Glee in the two years since that announcement.
Sandy Ryerson Sandy Ryerson (
Stephen Tobolowsky) is the former director of the McKinley High glee club. He is a bully, and a tyrant, and behaves inappropriately towards male students. Although he claims to have a girlfriend, Rachel refers to him as a "
closet case", and he is fired for his inappropriate sexual behavior towards a male student. Following his firing, he becomes a drug dealer, reselling
medical marijuana. and gives Will advice about beating rival glee club Vocal Adrenaline. Tobolowsky, who plays Sandy, describes him as a humorous character who "just cannot connect with the normal world" and exists on the "outer boundary of reality". Tim Stack for
Entertainment Weekly has praised Sandy as "one of the most reliable characters for great lines and laughs". In the first few episodes, it was implied heavily that Sandy was gay. The second-season episode "
A Night of Neglect" confirmed this, with Sandy characterizing himself as a "predatory gay". In that episode, he joins Sue Sylvester's "League of Doom", using the codename "The Pink Dagger", but ends up donating money to support the school's
academic decathlon team, spoiling Sue's plans.
Ken Tanaka Ken Tanaka (
Patrick Gallagher) was the head coach of the football team and was previously engaged to Emma. Gallagher has stated: "I think you understand where Ken comes from as they go on. You understand where the bitterness comes from, and people may start to like him a little. Ken will keep going [after Emma]. Ken will go after what he wants. The one thing Ken won't do is give up." Though Gallagher is
Chinese-
Irish, Ken is
Japanese. Comparing himself to his character, Gallagher detailed: "I'm more like him than I care to admit. I realized I was going for what I like to think as an older version of me from years ago. I think Ken is not happy with where he is in life. I think he's still got a good heart, but there's this insecurity and bitterness piled on top of it. I think love is in Ken's head, and love for me is kind of an idealistic concept. But one thing I really respect about him is that he goes after something: He just doggedly pursues Emma. I wish I was more like that. In some ways, he's a little bit braver than I am. I mean—look at what he wears. That takes guts." Gallagher feels that he draws much of Ken's characterization from himself, while also "channeling" his high school gym teachers. Principal Figgins explains that Ken had a nervous breakdown. Coach Roz appeared again in "
The Spanish Teacher", during which she directs a routine for the Cheerios, to cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester's disgust. Roz manages to convince Principal Figgins to appoint her as cheerleading co-coach, which outrages Sue who doesn't want to share power, though the two team up to teach the glee club girls that spousal abuse is nothing to joke about. Sue makes a deal with Figgins: if she helps the glee club win the Nationals competition, she will regain full control of the Cheerios. The club wins Nationals, and Sue is triumphant. Roz returns late in the fourth season to take over the Cheerios after Sue is fired, and is still coach early in the fifth season after Sue returns as school principal. The role of Roz was created by Ryan Murphy, who noted that Leakes herself was part of the inspiration for the character, from her appearances on
The Celebrity Apprentice and
The Real Housewives of Atlanta, and only afterward did he realize he could offer the role to Leakes herself. Ian Brennan writes most of Roz's dialogue, much as he write most of Sue's. Leakes as Roz has received mostly praise for her work. Billboard's Rae Votta said she was "arguably the best part" of "Yes/No", and after her second appearance in "The Spanish Teacher", declared that the show "should never let NeNe go". Crystal Bell of
Huffington Post said of her first appearance only that Leakes "does well", but by the time of her third appearance in "Big Brother", after having praised guest star Matt Bomer, she added that "he's no NeNe Leakes, but not everyone can be that fabulous".
Other McKinley High faculty John Lloyd Young guest stars in the episode "Acafellas" as Henri St. Pierre, "a retired wood shop teacher with an excellent singing voice".
Molly Shannon appears twice during the first season as Brenda Castle, an alcoholic astronomy teacher and badminton coach who clashes with Sue.
Brad Ellis has a recurring role as Brad Ellis, the pianist who accompanies New Directions, and did not show any sympathy towards the club when they lost Sectionals in 2012.
Barbara Tarbuck appears in the third season as Nancy Bletheim, a geometry teacher who's been at McKinley High for 42 years, who supports Sue's congressional run. Mary Gillis plays Mrs. Hagberg, who appears in "
Prom Queen" teaching home economics, in "
I Am Unicorn" teaching geography, in "
I Kissed a Girl" teaching math, and retires from her tenured position as a history teacher in "
The Spanish Teacher", though she returns for an end-of-the-year ceremony in "
Nationals".
Ricky Martin portrays David Martinez, a night school Spanish teacher, in the episode "The Spanish Teacher". He replaces Will as McKinley's Spanish teacher; Will instead begins teaching history.
Jean Sincere had a recurring role as the school's "Ancient Librarian" in 2010 and 2011.
Phoebe Strole first appears in the fifth season as Penny Owen, a college sophomore who wants to become a nurse though she is not yet very skilled, and whom McKinley High senior Sam Evans is attracted to. Also in the fifth and sixth season,
Christopher Cousins plays Superintendent Bob Harris.
Rival choir personnel Sunshine Corazón , credited as Charice Pempengco, portrays Sunshine Corazón. Sunshine Corazón (
Jake Zyrus, credited as Charice Pempengco) is a
foreign exchange student from the
Philippines. Rachel invites her to join the glee club after seeing Sunshine sing along to New Directions' version of "
Empire State of Mind". However, when the two later sing "
Telephone", Rachel feels threatened by Sunshine's singing prowess and tricks her into going to a
crack house instead of the auditions. Rachel is eventually found out and Sunshine does audition, amazing the club with "
Listen". Though she is immediately accepted into the club,
Sue Sylvester contacts Dustin Goolsby, the new director of rival glee club Vocal Adrenaline, who secures permanent U.S. residency and a condominium unit for Sunshine and her mother provided she join his club. Sunshine confesses that she would have loved to be in New Directions, but she felt that Rachel would have made her stay a "living hell". He is first introduced in the episode "
Audition", escorting his new recruit
Sunshine Corazón out of William McKinley High School and taking her away from its glee club, having been tipped off about her by Sue Sylvester, and employed the underhanded tactics of offering to sponsor Sunshine's
visa and arranging an apartment for her and her family as payment for her joining Vocal Adrenaline despite her being enrolled at McKinley High. He returns in "
A Night of Neglect", joining Sue's "League of Doom" to help her sabotage the McKinley glee club, and returns again at the National show choir competition in the season two finale, "
New York", where Vocal Adrenaline comes in second—as is subsequently revealed in the third-season episode "
I Am Unicorn"—and Goolsby is fired as director for failing to win a fifth national crown. Jackson was originally considered for the role of Will, and in 2009 was initially cast in the
Glee episode "
Acafellas" as Vocal Adrenaline choreographer Dakota Stanley, but he was unable to perform due to illness.
Harmony Harmony (
Lindsay Pearce) is introduced in "
The Purple Piano Project" at an Ohio mixer for future applicants to the New York Academy of Dramatic Arts (NYADA), and is one of a group of aspiring students to have been attending monthly since they were freshmen. She has been working in show business since before birth—an ultrasound of her was featured in an episode of
Murder, She Wrote, and she later appeared in commercials for Gerber baby food. When
Rachel and
Kurt come to their first NYADA mixer, Harmony sings lead on an extensively choreographed mashup of "
Anything Goes" and "
Anything You Can Do" from the musicals
Anything Goes and
Annie Get Your Gun, which intimidates the two new arrivals. and her debut was met with critical acclaim. Emily St. James of
The A.V. Club wrote that hers might be "the best new character ever", and
TVLine Michael Slezak felt that Harmony was "brilliantly bought to life" by Pearce. Kevin Fallon of
The Atlantic said that her introduction bodes well for future
Glee Project contestants and that "she brought, which the best new characters do, fresh and exciting aspects in the show's established leads". Lisa Respers France of
CNN named Pearce's performance the best moment of the episode, and found that the character positively reminded her of "
Glee of old". However,
AfterEllen.com Christie Keith was critical of her appearance, and wrote, "Since Lindsay is one of the reasons I couldn't stand to watch
The Glee Project, and no, she can't sing remotely as well as Lea Michele, and none of the boys there was close to being as darling as Kurt, I was forced to suspend disbelief when the whole experience devastated Kurt and Rachel."
Grace Hitchens portrays rival glee club director Grace Hitchens. Grace Hitchens (
Eve) is the show choir director of the
Jane Addams Academy for troubled female youth. She is persuaded by Sue to use songs from New Directions' set list at Sectionals to give her group an edge in the competition.
Whitney Houston had been contacted to appear, but declined, so Eve took her place. Discussing her casting, Eve stated: "I got asked and I'd heard the buzz about the show. When the first
pilot episode came out, I figured it was something different and something we haven't seen on TV before. I didn't want to turn it down!" Gerrick D. Kennedy for the
Los Angeles Times was impressed by Eve's acting and "on-screen charm", and felt that she worked nicely in the "Hairography" episode. In contrast, Bobby Hankinson for the
Houston Chronicle was disappointed Houston had not taken the role, and criticized Eve for her lack of personality.
Sebastian Smythe portrays Dalton Academy student Sebastian Smythe. Sebastian Smythe (
Grant Gustin) is a student at Dalton Academy who transfers into the school in the show's third season. He is introduced as a new Dalton Academy Warbler in the fifth episode, "
The First Time". When
Blaine Anderson comes to Dalton to invite his Warbler friends to see a musical he's starring in at McKinley, Sebastian is attracted to him and propositions him. However, Blaine is happy with his current boyfriend,
Kurt Hummel, and turns him down. Sebastian suggests that he and Kurt join him at a local gay bar, though his further efforts to come between Blaine and Kurt are unsuccessful and Kurt later warns Sebastian away. Sebastian becomes captain of the Warblers, and in "
Michael", he spikes the New Directions plan to do Michael Jackson songs at Regionals by adding Jackson's music to the Warblers setlist. When the McKinley glee club challenges the Warblers for the right to use Jackson, Sebastian throws a slushie spiked with rock salt intended for Kurt that injures Blaine – damaging his cornea and requiring surgery to repair. Santana gets him to privately admit his perfidy, but unknown to Sebastian his admission was taped and the other Warblers are made aware of his actions. Undeterred, Sebastian tries to blackmail Rachel into not competing at Regionals by threatening to post faked nude pictures of Finn on the internet, but destroys the pictures after Dave Karofsky attempts suicide. Sebastian had cruelly rebuffed Karofsky at a gay bar and blames himself. The Warblers lose to New Directions at Regionals. His last appearance on the series was in the fifth-season premiere
"Love, Love, Love", when Blaine asks the Warblers to help him propose to Kurt. It seems that he is the Warblers' captain again when he is the one to announce that they agree to do so. When Gustin made his first appearance, it was reported he was playing a new "major" recurring character, a "gay Dalton Academy Warbler who sets his sights on Blaine". Gustin won the role after "an exhaustive, weeks-long casting search", and the character is referred to as "promiscuous" and "scheming". He had been playing the role of Baby John in the touring company of Broadway revival of
West Side Story since it opened on September 30, 2010, and left the show after performing on September 23, 2011, to return for his first day with
Glee.
Jesse St. James portrays Jesse St. James. Jesse St. James (
Jonathan Groff) is the male lead of Vocal Adrenaline and one of the main antagonists of the first season, becoming a supporting character in the later seasons. Introduced in the episode "
Hell-O", he is directed to befriend Rachel by Vocal Adrenaline coach Shelby Corcoran (
Idina Menzel), who is secretly her biological mother. Jesse and Rachel begin dating, and he briefly transfers to McKinley High, joining New Directions. Once the truth about Shelby is revealed, however, Jesse transfers back. He admits to Shelby that he agreed to "seduce" Rachel because he thought it would be a good acting exercise, but he started to develop real feelings for her. However, he ends his relationship with Rachel by egging her in the McKinley High parking lot along with his fellow members of Vocal Adrenaline, humiliating her. In "
Journey to Regionals", Jesse and the rest of Vocal Adrenaline beat the New Directions at regionals with a standout performance of "
Bohemian Rhapsody". They go on to win his fourth consecutive national show choir championship, which occurs offscreen. In the season 2 episode "
Prom Queen", he returns to Ohio after having flunked out of
UCLA, in an attempt to befriend Rachel again, claiming that his biggest regret was choosing Vocal Adrenaline over love. He joins Rachel, Sam and Mercedes, who have teamed up to go do "prom on a budget", at the McKinley junior prom; however, after getting into a fight with a jealous Finn, he's kicked out of prom. He sets up a consulting business to help show choirs with their performances and offers to consult the New Directions as his first client. His resumed relationship with Rachel ultimately fails when Finn suddenly kisses her in the middle of a Nationals performance and Rachel chooses to get back together with him. Jesse returns in the latter part of the third season as the new coach of Vocal Adrenaline, replacing the fired Dustin Goolsby. In "
Nationals", he and Rachel have a friendly moment when he confides in her how nervous and pressured he is to win after Vocal Adrenaline lost for the first time in years the year before. She encourages him on his first Nationals as a coach and jibes that the New Directions are going to beat him, to which he tells her he likes her cocky side. He also congratulates Finn on being engaged to Rachel. Later, after sadly watching Rachel perform at Nationals (and implying he still has feelings for her), Jesse talks to
Carmen Tibideaux (
Whoopi Goldberg) and tells her Rachel's the most talented person he knows and that she will make an excellent contribution to NYADA. He had auditioned for NYADA a few years prior but was rejected; Carmen tells him at Nationals that despite the rejection, he has remarkable vocal range and passion. New Directions goes on to win Nationals, and it is unknown what happens to Jesse afterwards. He returns in the season 6 episode “
We Built This Glee Club”, where he tries to convince Rachel to join him in a new Broadway show she had auditioned for, a role she was offered after some encouragement to the producers from Jesse. However, she chooses to re-enroll in NYADA instead of accepting the part, a decision he accepts and the two share a kiss. In the series finale, titled “
Dreams Come True”, Jesse and Rachel attend a fictionalized 2020 Tony Awards ceremony. It is revealed that Jesse is now a Tony winner and the director of Rachel's Broadway show, and the two are now happily married. Jesse joins the rest of the New Directions in the auditorium during the group performance "
I Lived". In a
controversial essay for
Newsweek, critic Ramin Setoodeh wrote that Groff, who is openly gay, was unconvincing as the straight Jesse ("he seems more like your average theatre queen; a better romantic match for Kurt than Rachel"). Groff's performance was defended by Murphy and guest star
Kristin Chenoweth, both of whom described Setoodeh's essay as homophobic; it was also condemned by
GLAAD president
Jarrett Barrios.
Other rival choir personnel Whit Hertford appears as Dakota Stanley, a glee club choreographer who worked for Vocal Adrenaline early in season one, and was briefly hired by New Directions. Senior
Dalton Academy Warblers from the second season include Wes (
Telly Leung), David (
Titus Makin Jr.), and Thad (
Eddy Martin), who run the group's meetings. Another Warbler is Nick (Curt Mega), who sings lead for the Warblers in the third season. Jeff (
Riker Lynch) and Trent (Dominic Barnes) are also fellow Warblers. Hunter Clarington (
Nolan Gerard Funk) is introduced in the fourth season's seventh episode as the new captain of the Warblers. Hunter is a new Dalton transfer student, recruited from a Regionals-winning military academy.
American Idol Season 11 runner-up
Jessica Sanchez appeared in two episodes of the fourth season, including the season finale, as a "legendary diva powerhouse singer" named Frida Romero from a school that goes up against McKinley at Regionals.
Family of McKinley students and faculty Kendra Giardi Kendra Giardi (née Del Monico;
Jennifer Aspen) is Terri Schuester's sister. She and her husband Phil (Michael Loeffelholz) have triplet sons (played by Ethan, Aidan, and Ben Freedman). She influences many of Terri's decisions during her hysterical-turned-fake pregnancy by assisting Terri in her schemes, and predicting disaster whenever Terri contemplates confessing the truth to Will. In the episode "
Throwdown", Kendra and Terri bully their obstetrician, Dr. Wu (
Kenneth Choi), into faking an ultrasound to convince Will the baby is real.
Entertainment Weeklys Wendy Mitchell deemed Kendra "hilarious" and wished to see more of her, while her colleague at the magazine, Ken Tucker, described Kendra as "a garish cartoon who exists only to further the pregnancy plotting".
Carl Howell portrays Carl Howell. Carl Howell (
John Stamos) is a dentist, introduced in "
Britney/Brittany" as Emma's boyfriend. As a fan of
The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Carl volunteers to play Eddie in McKinley High's school production of the musical. He dislikes Emma and Will spending time alone together, aware that Will has feelings for her. In the episode "
Special Education", Carl and Emma marry in Las Vegas. However, after Emma naively advocates abstinence to the glee club with a performance of "Afternoon Delight", a song actually about the joys of sex, Carl requests a private couples counseling session with Holly Holliday, the acting sexual education teacher, as his and Emma's marriage hadn't been consummated after four months. Holly forces Emma to admit she is still attracted to Will, leading to Carl walking out and filing for annulment.
Carole Hummel portrays Finn's widowed mother, Carole. Carole Hummel (previously Carole Hudson) (
Romy Rosemont) is Finn's widowed mother and Kurt's stepmother, and wife to Kurt's dad Burt. When Finn was young, she had a relationship with a lawn-care worker who left her for a younger woman. Kurt sets Carole up with his father Burt in an attempt to get closer to Finn. They decide to move in together, until Finn uses a homophobic slur against Kurt and Burt refuses to allow him to stay in his home. She marries him later that fall. James Poniewozik of
Time felt that Carole's reaction to the news of Quinn's pregnancy demonstrated how far
Glee had evolved from the "broadly caricatured show" it was in its early episodes. He commented that in the pilot episode, Carole was "just the slightly pathetic figure we saw pining after the lawn-care guy", however her reaction to Quinn's pregnancy was "a brilliant bit of characterization through small moments", an example of how
Glee was "becoming very good at showing how life happens in small exchanges in people's laundry rooms and finished basements". and
Gina Hecht plays Puck's mother in the eighth episode, and is seen again in the third-season finale and the fourth season's holiday episode.
Gregg Henry and
Charlotte Ross play Quinn's parents Russell and Judy Fabray in the tenth episode; Ross makes additional appearances in each of the first three seasons. In the second season,
Carol Burnett appears as Sue's "famous Nazi hunter" mother, Kari Coleman appears as Donna Jackson, Becky Jackson's mother, and
Daniel Roebuck appears twice as Paul Karofsky, McKinley High student Dave Karofsky's dad, a role he reprises in the third season. Also in the third season, Mike Chang's parents Julia Chang (
Tamlyn Tomita) and Mike Chang, Sr. (
Keong Sim) appear as recurring characters starting in the season's third episode. Emma's parents—Rusty and Rose Pillsbury—are also seen in that third episode and appear again in "
Yes/No" and a third time in season four's "
Girls (and Boys) On Film"; they are played by
Don Most and
Valerie Mahaffey respectively.
Ivonne Coll plays Santana's grandmother in "
I Kissed a Girl";
Gloria Estefan appears as her mother, Maribel Lopez, in the graduation finale to the third season, "
Goodbye". Both actresses return in the sixth season, Coll in the sixth episode, and both she and Estefan in the eighth episode, "
A Wedding". The parents of Sam Evans appear in "
Hold on to Sixteen": his father is played by
John Schneider, and his mother by Tanya Clarke. Rachel's two fathers, Hiram and LeRoy Berry (
Jeff Goldblum and
Brian Stokes Mitchell), first appear in "
Heart" in their two-episode recurring roles, with Stokes Mitchell returning in the season six premiere, "
Loser Like Me". Blaine's brother Cooper Anderson, played by
Matt Bomer, appears in "
Big Brother". Puck's father, played by
Thomas Calabro, appears in the eighteenth episode, "
Choke". In the fourth season, Rob and Betty Adams, the parents of Wade "Unique" Adams, appear in the sixth episode, "
Glease", and are played by
Mark Christopher Lawrence and Davenia McFadden; Jake Puckerman's mother is played by
Aisha Tyler, and appears in "
Glee, Actually"; and
Katey Sagal plays the mother of Artie Abrams, and appeared in the penultimate episode, "
Wonder-ful". In the sixth season, Brittany Pierce's mother and father Whitney and Pierce Pierce appear twice, portrayed by
Jennifer Coolidge and
Ken Jeong, and Blaine Anderson's mother Pam (
Gina Gershon) appears in the second of these, "A Wedding".
Acquaintances of McKinley students and faculty Rod Remington Rod Remington (Bill A. Jones) is a television
news anchor on the newscast where Sue Sylvester has an opinion segment ("Sue's Corner"). Rod and Sue had a brief relationship shortly after his wife drowned that began and ended in the episode "Mash-up"; she caught him making out with his co-anchor, Andrea Carmichael (Earlene Davis). Rod and Andrea later marry and announce it during a newscast in the episode "
Furt", humiliating Sue. As a local celebrity, Rod has been tapped to judge show choir competitions—he has appeared as a judge for four of those that New Directions has competed in: the first and sixth season's Sectionals competitions, and the Regionals competitions for the first two seasons.
April Rhodes portrays former glee club star April Rhodes. April Rhodes (
Kristin Chenoweth) is a former member of the glee club who never finished high school and ended up hitting rock bottom, as well as Will's high school crush, who never acknowledged his existence. She briefly rejoins the glee club as an adult, during a period in which Rachel had left the club and it was in need of a female lead. During her revisit to the school, she gives muscle magazines and alcohol to Kurt, she teaches Mercedes and Tina how to shoplift, and has a brief romance with Puck. April appears once again, at which point she has become the mistress to an elderly tycoon and is the owner/operator of a "cabaret roller rink". Suddenly her boyfriend dies and she is paid $2 million in hush money by the widow not to go to the newspapers. April then decides to buy the glee club their auditorium back, now called The April Rhodes Civic Pavilion, and return to
Broadway to back an all-white version of
The Wiz. The show flops, and she returns in the season 2 episode "Rumours" to get Will's help with her new one-woman show,
CrossRhodes. Raymund Flandez for
The Wall Street Journal was equally positive regarding Chenoweth's role, praising her "powerful voice", "kittenish mien" and "commanding presence". Eric Goldman for
IGN stated that Chenoweth was "terrific" as April, and that the character was a "hysterical creation". The
Los Angeles Times Denise Martin praised Chenoweth's versatility as April, opining that her performance was worthy of a second
Emmy win.
Bryan Ryan Bryan Ryan (
Neil Patrick Harris) is Will's high school nemesis. Bryan appears in "
Dream On" as a school board member, out to cut district arts programs and the McKinley High glee club in particular as revenge for the latter giving him false hope back when he was its lead singer. Harris won the 2010
Primetime Emmy Award for "
Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series" for his appearance.
Other acquaintances of McKinley students and faculty Guest stars have included
Josh Groban and
Olivia Newton-John, who appeared as themselves both separately and acting as judges at the first-season show choir regionals competition. The second season's regionals judges are played by
Kathy Griffin and
Loretta Devine as Tammy Jean Albertson and Sister Mary Constance, respectively. In the third season, the judges for the nationals competition are
Lindsay Lohan and
Perez Hilton appearing as themselves, and
Rex Lee as Chicago Alderman Martin Fong. Kent Avenido appears in the first two seasons as Howard Bamboo, Terri's dyslexic coworker who joins the Acafellas and later Sue's "League of Doom", and
Kenneth Choi plays Dr. Wu, Terri's obstetrician. Earlene Davis plays Andrea Carmichael, Rod Remington's TV news co-anchor who later marries him. She quits as co-anchor midway through the fourth season, but is seen again as a co-anchor in the following season.
Kathleen Quinlan appears in "Born This Way" as Dr. Shane, a psychiatrist treating Emma Pillsbury. Cooter Menkins, a football recruiter played by
Eric Bruskotter, came to McKinley in "
The First Time" to scout football players for Ohio State, and is attracted to Coach Beiste, whom he later marries; after Cooter abuses Beiste later in the third season, he leaves Cooter. In the sixth season,
Geraldo Rivera appears as himself, doing an interview with Sue after she has been fired as McKinley High's Principal; a segment of the interview includes an appearance by
Michael Bolton, who denies knowing Sue or having been the parent of Sue's daughter Robin. She appeared again, including at the Nationals competition in Chicago, and returns in the fourth and fifth seasons for scenes set at NYADA. played as Cassandra July, dance instructor at NYADA.
Kate Hudson appears as Cassandra July, Rachel's dance instructor at NYADA who, according to Falchuk, teaches "based on negative reinforcement". She was introduced in the fourth-season premiere for a six-episode arc, however, Cassandra only appears in five episodes: four in 2012 and one in 2013.
Dean Geyer performs the role of Brody Weston, a handsome NYADA junior who shows an interest in Rachel, during the fourth season. Their relationship gets to the point that the two live together for a while, but they break up after Santana discovers that Brody is a
gigolo. played
Vogue.com director Isabelle Wright.
Sarah Jessica Parker is introduced in the third episode of the fourth season, "
Makeover" as Isabelle Wright, who is Kurt's mentor at
Vogue.com after having signed him on as an intern. She appears in several episodes during the season. British actor Oliver Kieran Jones first appears in the fourth-season episode "
Sadie Hawkins" in a recurring role as Adam Crawford, a NYADA senior and the leader of the school's glee club: Adam's Apples, which Kurt looks into joining when he starts classes at the school for the spring semester. Kurt and Adam subsequently begin seeing each other, though the relationship doesn't become serious. Oliver Kieran Jones graduated from
LAMDA, a real London school similar to
Glee fictional NYADA.
Amy Aquino and
Michael Lerner appear in the fourth season as producers of a Broadway production of
Funny Girl that Rachel auditions for; Lerner's character was named Sidney Greene. Lerner appears again in the fifth season, and in that season's premiere, two more
Funny Girl–related roles were introduced:
Peter Facinelli plays Rupert Campion, the musical's director, and
Ioan Gruffudd appears as Paolo San Pablo, the show's lead male actor.
Adam Lambert debuted in the fourth episode of the fifth season, "
A Katy or a Gaga", as Elliot "Starchild" Gilbert, a student at
NYU. Starchild auditions for a band that Kurt is starting, and after initially being refused as too flamboyant, is ultimately asked to join the band—along with Dani, Santana, and Rachel—because he is extremely talented. Starchild was something of a "nemesis" to Kurt, who saw him as a rival, though ultimately they became friends, and Rachel was Elliott's roommate when she temporarily moved out of the loft she shared with Kurt. ==References==