In 2008, Chris Colfer was a high school senior who was regularly bullied for being gay.
Now, he’s an actor in a hot show who has performed at the White House, the World Series and on “Oprah,” and is regularly trailed by paparazzi — for playing a high schooler who’s mocked and bullied for being gay.
For the 20-year-old, Clovis, Calif., native, the best part of this “two-year roller coaster with lots of loops” is not the White House or Oprah or the Emmy nomination; it’s playing Kurt Hummel on “Glee” because it “means so much to so many people.”
Colfer is not pushing a hollow, it’s-such-an-honor-to-be-nominated Hollywood line. As “Glee” tackles bullying tomorrow night (8 p.m. on Fox), with the start of a non-continuous three-episode arc, Colfer believes his show is doing something “important.”
When several gay-teen suicides made headlines as the episode was being filmed, the story line came to “mean so much more than it was intended to.”
For a season and a half, Kurt has been shoved into lockers, thrown into dumpsters, and had countless slushies thrown in his face. This week, Colfer says, “the bullying just reaches a peak. Kurt gets fed up with it and stands up for himself for the first time.”
As the actor explains, his character seeks advice from Blaine, a gay student (played by Darren Criss) from a rival school’s glee club.
“Rather than let this continue,” says Colfer, “he decides to put his foot down. He’s not going to have it anymore. He’s going to confront this bully and . . .”
At that, Colfer stops himself before revealing what happens.
Even if he won’t say more, Colfer lets slip that Kurt has no big musical number this week. “I don’t sing anything in the bullying episode.”
But does the emotional impact of the bullying come through in a song Kurt sings in an episode to follow? “Perhaps,” he says.
“But I hope all the kids out there dealing with the same situation watch it,” says Colfer, who wishes there had been a Kurt when he was being bullied for being gay — before he was even sure if he was.
“I personally was never physically bullied or tossed into dumpsters, but I definitely was verbally and socially bullied,” he says.
Colfer credits some of his skills as a performer to those tough situations. “It definitely taught me to be quick on my feet with witty comebacks.”
He had some “legendary ones.”
“I remember one time someone screamed ‘fag’ at me in the hallway, and I screamed back, ‘Yeah, but can you spell it?’ Everyone in the hallway laughed at the other kid; it was nice to reverse the abuse.”
“The emotions that Kurt goes through are very real. I’ve personally gone through all of those,” says Colfer.
Colfer himself is openly gay, but experiencing a sudden rush of fame at a young age has made him protective of his personal life. “I had to draw some boundaries,” he says, and leaves it at that — something Kurt would never do.
In other ways, Colfer is not Kurt.
“Kurt is much more flamboyant and he’s very fashionable. I am not.”
Calling from his home in West Hollywood, where he’s resting after a late-night shoot, Colfer explains, “I’m sitting in jeans and a Kermit the Frog T-shirt.”