Matthew James Morrison (born October 30, 1978) is an American musical theater, film and television actor, singer, songwriter, and dancer. Matthew was born in Fort Ord, California, U.S. He was educated at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and the Orange County High School of the Arts. He made his musical theater debut on Broadway in the musical version of Footloose, followed by a revival of the Rocky Horror Show in 1999. His big break came when he landed the role of Link Larkin in the Broadway production of John Waters' Hairspray.