On Glee, Mark Salling plays a high school badass who refers to the glee club as "homo explosion" (and then can't help but join in on the geeked-out fun). This wasn't exactly the kind of music Salling expected to make when he moved from Dallas to Hollywood eight years ago with his acoustic guitar strapped to his back, searching for a record deal. When asked if he'll get to perform any of his original tunes when the Glee kids go on tour this summer—they're playing sold-out shows at Radio City Music Hall, among other venues—he says, laughing, "I think Fox would probably shit a brick over that."
We can't blame the network for wanting to protect its breakout hit, whose mix of power ballads, show tunes, and ironic tween hip-hop has led to a Golden Globe win and serious music-biz sales. (Four and a half million iTunes downloads and counting!) In April, the cast hit the publicity "bifecta," appearing on Oprah and singing for President Obama's Easter party. Yes, the irrepressible show has become visits-to-the-White-House kind of big. And in a cast of misfit characters, Salling, 27, may be the one to watch. His Puck is prime-time cougar bait, a football star turned Neil Diamond crooner who outshines the goody-goodies; think Emilio Estevez in The Breakfast Club, but with a lovely tenor. As for the perks of fame, Salling says he doesn't get recognized nearly as much since he shaved his character's trademark Mohawk. And though he's enjoying things like photo shoots with bikini-clad surf girls (see these pages), unfortunately he doesn't really remember this shoot. "I was right in the middle of one of those cleanse fasts," he says. A cleanse? Sounds like something Puck would call a "homo explosion."