Corbin Bleu
Corbin Bleu Reivers is an American actor and singer. He began acting professionally in the late 1990s before rising to prominence in the late 2000s for his leading role as Chad Danforth in the High School Musical trilogy. Songs from the films also charted worldwide, with the song "I Don't Dance" peaking inside the Top 70 of the Billboard Hot 100. During this time, he also starred in the Disney Channel Original Movie Jump In! and the film To Write Love on Her Arms. He competed in the 17th season of Dancing with the Stars.
Bleu has also pursued a music career and his debut album Another Side was released in 2007, which included the hit "Push It to the Limit". The album debuted and peaked at number 36 on the U.S. Billboard 200 album chart, selling 18,000 copies in its first week. His second album, Speed of Light, was released in 2009. He returned to television, starring in the short-lived Ashton Kutcher–produced CW series The Beautiful Life: TBL and the movie Free Style. He has appeared in the films The Little Engine That Could, Scary or Die, Nurse 3D, Sugar, The Monkey's Paw, Walk. Ride. Rodeo., Remember Me: The Mahalia Jackson Story, and Camp Hideout.
In 2010, Bleu made his Broadway debut as Usnavi in the musical In the Heights. In 2012, he returned to Broadway in the revival of Godspell. In 2013, he was cast as Jeffrey King in the short-lived online revival of the daytime soap One Life to Live. In 2016, Bleu played Ted Hanover in the Broadway company of Holiday Inn, the New Irving Berlin Musical. He subsequently signed a recording contract with Ghostlight Records, to distribute his Holiday Inn soundtrack music, released in 2017. In 2019, he returned to play Bill Calhoun/Lucentio in the Broadway company of Kiss Me, Kate. He subsequently signed a recording contract with Ghostlight Records, to distribute his Kiss Me, Kate soundtrack music, released on June 7, 2019. Bleu later made his West End debut in the European premiere of The Great Gatsby at the London Coliseum as Nick Carraway in April 2025.
Early life and education
Corbin Bleu was born in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, the son of Martha and David Reivers, an actor. His mother is Italian-American and his father is Jamaican-American. He has three younger sisters. As a child, Bleu studied dance for several years, focusing on ballet and jazz. His great-uncle is actor Joseph Callari.Bleu appeared in television commercials starting at age two, for products such as Life cereal, Bounty, Hasbro and Nabisco. He began taking jazz and ballet classes, usually as the only boy in the class. By age four he was a model with the Ford Modeling Agency in New York. He appeared in print ads for stores such as Macy's, Gap, Target and Toys R Us and in fashion spreads in Child, Parents, and American Baby magazines, as well as having his image on toys and game packaging.
At age six, Bleu appeared in his first professional theater production, at The Town Hall. This three-concert series, created, written, and hosted by Scott Siegel, took place over one weekend and included a tribute to David Merrick. Bleu played an abandoned homeless mute in the play Tiny Tim is Dead.
Bleu graduated from Los Angeles County High School for the Arts. He trained in dancing at the Debbie Allen Dance Academy and attended the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts as a theater major, following in his mother's footsteps. Bleu graduated from high school in 2007 and was admitted to Stanford University, but declined to matriculate.
Acting career
1996–2005: Early career
Bleu moved with his family from New York to Los Angeles in 1996. He worked steadily in episodic television and feature film roles, including a recurring role on the short-lived ABC police drama High Incident and a guest star appearance on ER. He also appeared in some films, like Beach Movie and the sci-fi thriller Soldier. His feature films from this period include the Tim Allen comedy Galaxy Quest, the comedy Mystery Men, and the drama Family Tree, Bleu also had roles in Malcolm & Eddie, as Matthew, and Cover Me: Based on the True Life of an FBI Family, as Nick Elderby, and smaller roles like in the comedy series Nickelodeon's show The Amanda Show.Additionally, Bleu was developing his dance skills and in 2001 began intensive training at the Debbie Allen Dance Academy. There he undertook a full gamut of dance instruction, including ballet, jazz, tap, modern, hip-hop, African, break dance, salsa, flamenco and ballroom. Debbie Allen, the choreographer who starred in the TV series Fame, told Dance Spirit magazine: "I think really has a career. Success is one thing, but a career is a much longer, broader journey".
Bleu attended the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, a magnet school like the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, which was portrayed in the movie and television series Fame and which Bleu's mother attended. During his freshman year, he won his first sizable film role in the teen action caper Catch That Kid, about a girl named Maddie Phillips and her friends Austin and Gus who decide to rob a bank after learning that money is needed to aid her ailing father Tom Phillips, alongside Kristen Stewart and Max Thieriot. It was a box-office flop, grossing $10 million, but served as an important step for Bleu, who was still building his acting career. During high school, he performed in student productions of Footloose and Grease, winning the honor of Theatre Student of the Year.
In the summer of 2004 Bleu landed a starring role in the television series Flight 29 Down, alongside Allen Alvarado, Hallee Hirsh, Lauren Storm, Jeremy James Kissner, Johnny Pacar and Kristy Wu, which aired for three seasons on the Discovery Kids network. The program, a juvenile version of the ABC series Lost, concerned a group of teenagers stranded on a tropical island after their plane crashes. Bleu played Nathan McHugh, a Boy Scout whose leadership skills do not quite measure up to his self-confidence.
2006–2008: ''High School Musical'' and breakthrough
Bleu's next television project was the Disney Channel original film High School Musical, in which he portrayed the basketball player Chad Danforth, who tries to persuade his teammate Troy Bolton to give up his interest in theater and focus on winning a basketball championship. High School Musical premiered on January 20, 2006; with an audience of 7.7 million television viewers, it was the Disney Channel's most successful TV movie up to that point. The film, which also starred Ashley Tisdale, Lucas Grabeel, Vanessa Hudgens, and Monique Coleman, was a major success and helped Bleu gain recognition among teenage audiences. The film's soundtrack was certified quadruple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.He joined co-stars on the 51-date High School Musical: The Concert tour to promote the film, work on the second film in the series began, and Bleu was confirmed to be returning for the sequel. High School Musical 2 was released on August 17, 2007. The premiere was seen by over 17.2 million viewers in the U.S., almost 10 million more than its predecessor, making it the highest-rated Disney Channel movie of all time. Disney Channel aired a weekly program called Road to High School Musical 2, beginning on June 8, 2007, and leading up to the premiere of High School Musical 2 in August. The show offered viewers a behind-the-scenes look into the movie's production. The world premiere of the opening number "What Time Is It" was on Radio Disney on May 25, 2007, and "I Don't Dance" premiered on August 14, 2007. The film was generally well received by critics, gaining a score of 77/100 at Metacritic and 82% on Rotten Tomatoes. It broke opening-weekend records and grossed over $250 million worldwide. Its soundtrack, featuring many contributions from Bleu, sold over three million copies in the U.S. alone. "I Don't Dance", a duet with Lucas Grabeel, became his first top-40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, and was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America. It was named the official theme song of the 2007 Little League World Series. During this time, Bleu began singing on soundtracks for the Disney Channel, and released a cover of "Two Worlds" to promote Tarzan.
In 2007, Bleu starred in his next film, the Disney Channel original Jump In!, which aired on January 12, 2007. Directed by Paul Hoen, the movie revolves around a young boy, Izzy Daniels, who trains regularly to try to follow in his father's Kenneth Daniels ' footsteps and win the Golden Glove, an amateur boxing tournament. Bleu played Izzy and Keke Palmer portrayed Mary Thomas, his friend who has a crush on him. Again, Disney scored a crossover hit with the Jump In! soundtrack album, released in January 2007, on which Bleu sings the track "Push It to the Limit". Reaching the screens on the Disney Channel that January, Jump In! was a major hit among young viewers and quickly became the network's highest-rated premiere, breaking the record set by The Cheetah Girls 2 in 2006. Its soundtrack was also a commercial hit, achieving gold status from the RIAA three months after its release. Bleu appeared in the Atlanta group Small Change's music video "Don't Be Shy", featuring Chani and Lil' JJ.
He guest starred as Johnny Collins in the premiere two episodes of Disney's Hannah Montana. He also had a small role as Spencer on Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide, appearing in the episodes "Dismissal & School Plays" and "Revenge & School Records". He also appeared at the Mother Goose Parade as Grand Marshal in 2006 and 2007. While with Disney Channel, Bleu also participated in the first ever Disney Channel Games and co-captained the blue team along with Jake T. Austin, Maiara Walsh, Cole Sprouse and Kiely Williams. A year before, he returned to repeat his captaincy of the blue team with Brenda Song, Vanessa Hudgens, Monique Coleman and Jason Earles. In August 2007, Bleu starred in Flight 29 Down: The Hotel Tango, a teen drama film version of the television series of the same name. Also in 2007, he was the voice of the Magic Gourd in The Secret of the Magic Gourd, He appeared on The Tyra Banks Show in 2008.
Bleu went on to reprise his role of Chad Danforth in High School Musical 3: Senior Year, the first film in the High School Musical franchise to receive a theatrical release. It opened at number one at the North American box office in October 2008, earning $42 million in its first weekend, which broke the record previously held by Mamma Mia! for the biggest opening by a musical. The film finished with $252 million worldwide, which exceeded Disney's expectations. The song "The Boys Are Back", a duet with Zac Efron, became his second top forty hit on the Billboard Hot 100, and was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America and Australian Recording Industry Association. For his role as Chad Danforth, the team captain of the school's basketball team, he was nominated for an NAACP Image Award, a Young Artist Award and Teen Choice Awards in 2007 and 2009 respectively. Bleu lent his voice for the role of Chad Danforth in various High School Musical video games.