Music Before becoming an actor, McHale joined the American four-member boy band
NLT ("Not Like Them") as one of two lead singers. They were discovered by
Chris Stokes in 2006, who subsequently signed them to his label,
The Ultimate Group. On March 13, 2007, they released their first single, "That Girl". The following month, they opened (with
Chantelle Paige) for
The Pussycat Dolls. The band also made a guest appearance in the film
Bratz: The Movie as an auditioning band. While in the group, McHale, along with
Timbaland and his bandmates, co-wrote the song "
She Said, I Said (Time We Let Go)". On April 30, 2009, member
Travis Michael Garland announced that NLT had split. McHale, who has a record deal with
Universal Music Group, writes original music in his spare time. In an interview with
Mario Lopez, McHale stated that he plans to pursue solo music post-
Glee. In 2015, McHale, Chris Moy, and Justin Thorne co-wrote the song "Heartless" which was featured on the latter's debut EP
The Heartbreaker. That same year, he starred in the music video for Thorne's song "Summer Nights". In April 2019, McHale released the pop song "Help Me Now", directed by Justin Thorne. The accompanying music video stars McHale and actor
Nolan Gould. McHale described the video as having "a bootleg kinda gay
Wes Anderson vibe." In June 2019, he released the song "James Dean". The accompanying music video stars McHale and
Pose actor
Johnny Sibilly. In 2019, McHale released his first solo album,
Boy. Also in 2019, he competed in
The X Factor: Celebrity, in which he finished in seventh place. In 2021, McHale (with Chris Moy, Shelby Rabara, Justin Thorne, and
Jenna Ushkowitz) began production on a musical children's show called
The AlphaBeatZ. McHale voices Ross, one of the five animated teddy bear characters. A five-song Christmas EP was released on December 17, 2021. McHale is credited as co-writer of the three original songs on the EP.
Acting In 2007, McHale made a guest appearance on
NBC's comedy series
The Office in the season four episode "
Launch Party", portraying a pizza delivery boy who is taken hostage by
Michael Scott (
Steve Carell). He guest starred in three episodes of
Nickelodeon's teen drama series
Zoey 101 as Dooley Fibadoo. In 2008, McHale guest starred in two episodes of
HBO's dark fantasy drama series
True Blood, appearing as Neil Jones, a coroner's assistant. In 2009, McHale landed his breakout role as
Artie Abrams in the
Fox musical comedy-drama series
Glee. His character, who uses a wheelchair owing to a car accident, joins the McKinley High
glee club in the first episode. He had his first solo performance on the show when he sang "
Dancing with Myself" in the episode "
Wheels". In the episode "
Dream On", he danced in a fantasy sequence to "
The Safety Dance", and sang "
Dream a Little Dream of Me". In the second-season episode "
Britney/Brittany", he sang a solo (in a dream sequence) of "
Stronger", after being anaesthetized for dental surgery. He also danced in a dream sequence alongside
Harry Shum, Jr. to
Michael Jackson's song "
Scream" in the third-season episode "
Michael". McHale, along with the main cast of the series, was nominated for the
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series four times,
winning in 2010. In 2010, McHale appeared briefly in
One Call's music video "Blacklight" alongside former NLT bandmate Justin Thorne, who was a member of One Call. In June 2011, McHale appeared in
Katy Perry's music video for her song "
Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)" as the character Everett McDonald. On July 22, 2012, McHale co-hosted the
2012 Teen Choice Awards with
Demi Lovato. In January 2014, it was reported that McHale would host a comedy panel show,
Virtually Famous, for the British digital television channel
E4. The show features comedian
Seann Walsh and radio presenter
Chris Stark as series regulars and team captains. On February 24, 2014, it was announced that McHale had signed on to play a supporting role in the
Kathy Bates and
Dustin Hoffman led independent film
Boychoir. McHale's character, Wooly, is a young music teacher who helps a troubled young boy at his school. In July 2014, it was announced that he and
Aaron Tveit had signed on to star in the comedy film
They Might Be Kennedys, but the film was postponed indefinitely in 2015 after the production was failed to be cast in time. McHale was cast to play one of the leads, Teddy Mulligan. In 2015, McHale competed with his mother, father, sister, and uncle on
Celebrity Family Feud against
Fred Willard. In April 2016, McHale joined the cast of
Dustin Lance Black's drama miniseries
When We Rise as AIDS activist
Bobbi Campbell. In December 2020, McHale was a part of a mini musical music video called "Stay Inside". He co-starred alongside dancer Haley Fitzgerald. The song and video were written by the composers of the
Broadway and
West End musical
Six,
Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss. The video was choreographed by Kyle Hanagami. Viewers were encouraged to make donations to
Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, the philanthropic heart of Broadway. On June 3, 2021
Ryan Murphy revealed McHale to be one of four actors starring in the upcoming spin-off series
American Horror Stories. McHale starred alongside
Dyllón Burnside of
Pose,
Charles Melton of
Riverdale, and Nico Greetham of
The Prom. Murphy announced the new cast via Instagram post where he dubbed the four men the Fantastic Four. The new series premiered on
Hulu July 15, 2021 and concluded on Halloween. McHale played the role of Barry, a member of the fictional social media influencer group "The Bro House", in the fourth episode of the anthology series which was titled "The Naughty List". In December 2021, McHale was a part of an
off-Broadway workshop for
Radiant Baby, a musical about artist
Keith Haring, where he was cast as Haring. The workshop was postponed due to a surge in
COVID-19 cases. The production was originally set to run at
Two River Theater in
Red Bank, New Jersey from June 4–26, 2022, but was ultimately canceled.
Radio and podcast Beginning in 2014, McHale and
Glee co-star
Amber Riley hosted a radio show on
Dash Radio called
McRiley. The show aired on Fridays at 3 PM PST/6 PM EST, but went on indefinite hiatus in 2015 due to their busy filming schedules for
Glee. McHale went on to become one of the four hosts of
Sick of My Own Voice on Dash Radio in 2015. The other hosts included his
NLT bandmate and longtime roommate Justin Thorne, songwriter and photographer Brittany Burton, and YouTuber Amy Lynn Thompson. The four have been friends since high school. The show aired on Thursdays at 1 PM PST/4 PM EST. In 2019 Kevin McHale and former
Glee co-star
Jenna Ushkowitz launched the podcast
Showmance to discuss their on-screen and offline relationship. One of the most requested discussion topics of Season 1 of the podcast was their time on
Glee. In season 2 they started an in-depth recap of
Glee Season 1. Each episode featured McHale and Ushkowitz re-watching episodes of
Glee and sharing behind-the-scenes secrets while also sharing personal sentiments and reflections about filming. The podcast was part of the LadyGang network on
PodcastOne. The podcast started an indefinite hiatus in July 2020 following the
death of Naya Rivera. In September 2022, McHale and Ushkowitz announced their new podcast endeavor ''And That's What You Really Missed
on iHeartRadio. Their rebranded and reimagined Glee'' recap podcast will start at the beginning, recapping and sharing memories from all six seasons of the show. ==Personal life==