'Glee' Power Rankings: Which Alum Is Most Likely to Succeed?
As the curtain prepares to fall on Glee, we have to ask: Will we ever see any of these kids again? The short answer is yes. Quite a few of them aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. But, then again, quite a few more will disappear into the Hollywood ether the minute the clock strikes 10:01 p.m. on Friday.
After careful consideration of all aspects of their careers — from awards and movie and TV projects to book deals, albums, and other ventures — we’ve ranked the futures of the 27 actors who played members of New Directions for at least five episodes and determined which one deserves to be crowned Most Likely to Succeed.
27. (TIE) Damian McGinty (Rory Flanagan) and Samuel Larsen (Joe Hart)
This pair of Glee Project Season 1 winners who played the Irish guy and the Christian with the dreadlocks, respectively, irritated fans more than anything, so their television futures are likely rather grim. Still, McGinty will be rejoining the cast of Celtic Thunder for the group’s 2015 tour and Larsen released an EP in October, so at least they’re putting forth some effort to avoid total obscurity.
25. Dijon Talton (Matt Rutherford)
Confession: We don’t remember this guy ever even speaking, though he apparently has 20 episodes under his belt.
24. (TIE) Laura Dreyfuss (Madison McCarthy) and Billy Lewis Jr. (Mason McCarthy)
The awkward brother and sister duo might be able to sing, but they kind of made us uncomfortable. Trying to predict their futures with so little to go on makes us feel the same.
22. Jenna Ushkowitz (Tina Cohen-Chang)
Jenna’s had six seasons to make a splash in Hollywood, and yet we’ve seen her all of nowhere. Three performances of Hair at the Hollywood Bowl last year can only get you so far.
21. Marshall Williams (Spencer Porter)
Williams, a former contestant on Canadian Idol, starred in a Disney movie — How to Build a Better Boy — before joining the final season of Glee and we’re guessing he’ll star in more after. Because, well, look at him.
20. Noah Guthrie (Roderick Meeks)
Guthrie sang on Dancing With the Stars a couple times before joining McKinley’s last class and we hope they have him back soon. One need only to see his performance of “Take Me to Church” from Glee’s penultimate episode to understand this kid’s exceptional set of pipes.
19. Kevin McHale (Artie Abrams)
Fame couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy… but maybe that’s the problem. Here’s hoping that whatever’s next for McHale isn’t a return to his pre-Glee boy band days.
18. Alex Newell (Wade “Unique” Adams)
There’s no question this Glee Project alum, who made a splash when he arrived on the show as a transgender teen, can sing. Since arriving in our living rooms, Newell has appeared in several shorts, as well as the film Geography Club, and landed a record deal with Atlantic Records and Deep Well Records.
17. Chord Overstreet (Sam Evans)
We may not have heard much about what Chord’s been up to lately, but he actually has been working, appearing in Fourth Man Out and Warrior’s Heart (opposite Kellan Lutz and Ashley Greene) and dropping a few covers as singles.
16. Samantha Marie Ware (Jane Hayward)
Did you see the girl do Janelle Monae’s “Tightrope”? There might not be anything visable on Ware’s dance card right now, but there will be.
15. Amber Riley (Mercedes Jones)
A few years ago, we might have pegged Riley to follow a Jennifer Hudson-like path, but not so much today. Winning Season 17 of Dancing With the Stars instead of releasing an album everyone used to want to hear isn’t going to catapult anyone to A-list status.
14. Becca Tobin (Kitty Wilde)
Becca is all “it” factor. She’ll have a career because, well, she just will. We can’t quite explain it.
13. Mark Salling (Noah “Puck” Puckerman)
A few behind-the-scenes scandals may have set Salling back, but there’s certainly a chance this singer/songwriter, who has already released two albums, could turn it around.
12. Blake Jenner (Ryder Lynn)
Jenner won more than just the second season of The Glee Project. He’s also landed a role in Richard Linklater’s first post-Boyhood feature, That’s What I’m Talking About. Additionally, he wrote and stars in the upcoming feature Billy Boy, along with his fellow Glee alum (and off-screen fiancée) Melissa Benoist.
11. Vanessa Lengies (Sugar Motta)
Remember American Dreams? Yeah, Lengies had a career long before Glee and she’ll have one long after.
10. Ashley Fink (Lauren Zizes)
Glee was just the beginning for Ashley, who’s been working consistently since her main stint on the show. She followed it with a lead in Huge on ABC Family and arcs on Austin & Ally and Anger Management, as well as a role in the Kristen Bell rom-com You Again. And she has plenty more to come, with parts in the web series Zombie Basement and Zendaya’s Disney Channel show, K.C. Undercover.
9. Jacob Artist (Jake Puckerman)
He can sing, he can dance, and, also, he’s pretty easy on the eyes. Artist was accepted to Juilliard for dance, but moved to Los Angeles instead to pursue his acting career. With roles in White Bird in a Blizzard (opposite Shailene Woodley), After the Dark, and Blue Lagoon: The Awakening already under his belt, we can’t say that was a bad call.
8. Heather Morris (Brittany S. Pierce)
Dancing does a body good… and a career as well, apparently. This hot stepper has already landed gigs in Spring Breakers, Romantically Speaking, and Fired Up!, to name a few.
7. Naya Rivera (Santana Lopez)
Naya has already proven that she can survive on TV without her Cheerios uniform — she’s joining the cast of Lifetime’s Devious Maids this summer. Further, she made a splash in the cult horror flick At the Devil’s Door. And, while we’ve mostly tried to ignore tabloid headlines for this list, she recently announced her pregnancy, so we’ll be seeing plenty of photos of her… at least for the next few months.
6. Dianna Agron (Quinn Fabray)
The final third of the unholy trinity may have the most mainstream movie credits of the bunch, including I Am Number Four, Burlesque, and The Family (we didn’t say they were good movies), as well as the most high-profile ones in the works with Conspiracy on Jekyll Island and Michael Polish’s Headlock. She’s appeared in numerous music videos and has dabbled in directing as well. Lastly, Dianna runs a music, art, and photography website called You, Me, and Charlie. So, yeah, she’s busy.
5. Darren Criss (Blaine Anderson)
The StarKid Productions founder already had Very Harry Potter Musicals in his arsenal when Blaine and the Warblers made their debut, and he’s been singing left, right, and center since. Criss put out an album, Human, in 2010, made his big screen debut opposite Kristen Wiig in Girl Most Likely in 2012, and became an investor in mens’ online grooming retailer The Motley in 2013. However, with his past gig in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and his upcoming lead role in Hedwig and the Angry Inch, something tells us he found what will become his true home: Broadway.
4. Harry Shum Jr. (Mike Chang)
It’s harder to name a dance movie franchise Shum hasn’t done than list the ones he has. Step Up? Check. Stomp the Yard? Double check. You Got Served? Yeah, that too. In between, he’s appeared in several popular web series, including The LXD and Mortal Kombat, served as a judge on TruTV’s Fake Off, and appeared in the Martin Scorsese-produced film Revenge of the Green Dragons. Next on his docket? A lead in the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon sequel coming out this summer.
3. Melissa Benoist (Marley Rose)
Benoist had already appeared topless on Homeland when Marley was making a play to be the new Rachel. Since her departure, however, things have been going straight uphill, with no signs of slowing down. She had the female lead in Best Picture Oscar nominee Whiplash and is following it up with this weekend’s Danny Collins (also starring Al Pacino and Jennifer Garner). And then she went and landed the title role in Super Girl, only one of the hottest TV pilots this season. In fact, Benoist may well deserve to top this list if we were doing it a few months from now.
2. Lea Michele (Rachel Berry)
Man, we wish Lea’s debut album, Louder, was stronger and her movies (New Year’s Eve and Dorothy of Oz) were considerably better, but there’s no denying her star power. That voice is here to stay. Her Emmy nomination and two Golden Globe nods are nothing to laugh at either. Looking forward, the Broadway alum (who would likely be welcomed back anytime, in any show) will be releasing her second book and starring in her second Ryan Murphy/Fox TV creation, Scream Queens, later this year.
1. Chris Colfer (Kurt Hummel)
There’s so much to be said for ambition and work ethic. The Golden Globe winner, who also has two Emmy nominations to his name, may have the brightest — and broadest — future ahead. Colfer is the author of the New York Times bestselling The Land of Stories middle grade book series, which will see its fourth entry released this summer. He also wrote, executive produced, and starred in Struck by Lightning and has been tasked with writing an adaptation of The Little Leftover Witch for the Disney Channel. Lastly, he’s been cast as famed playwright No?l Coward in an upcoming biopic. Not too shabby, right?
The series finale of Glee airs Friday, March 20 at 8 p.m. on Fox.