CORY MONTEITH

If people are taking pictures of me at Starbucks, it's not the end of the world. It's cool, it's fun, it's exciting.

I'm lucky on so many counts - I'm lucky to be alive.

I'll go out, but I leave early, before the shenanigans. I don't really do the Hollywood party thing. I'd rather watch sports or play videogames or work out or sleep, to be totally honest.

Maybe it'll be like 'The Simpsons,' and everybody will remain unchanged. Maybe that's what 'Glee's about. Maybe this is kind of a stasis show. I don't know.

But when the 'Glee' audition came around, my manager literally had to talk me into it. I was petrified to sing in front of anyone.

I've worked as a labourer, driven taxis and school buses, and been a car mechanic - whatever I could do just to get by. But it does mean that I know a little bit about a lot of things.

At some point, you realize your parents are human. They make the best decisions they can with the options available to them.

I think if you show up and you work hard and you're straightforward, you can always create your own opportunities. I hope I'm right.

I like Lady Gaga!

It's always exciting to explore adult roles when the vast majority of viewers that have seen me on TV know me from 'Glee,' from something of a different tone.

I'm a cat whisperer. When I go to people's houses, their cats always like me better than the owners.

I'm Canadian, but no, I don't speak French.

I see the people in the tabloids, the ones that get bad press, who have kind of gone off the edge, and I try to study them so that I don't do that. It seems like they lost focus at some point - that's the one thing they all have in common.

I was dirt-poor. I could barely hold down a job. Eventually, though, I started getting small parts on shows like 'Smallville,' 'Supernatural'... and lots of really bad sci-fi movies. I was running around the woods in wolf contacts, covered in fake blood made out of pancake syrup, roaring.

I recently had a few days off while shooting a movie in Budapest, so I took a cab from the set to the airport, looked at the departure board, and decided where I wanted to go right then and there. I spent four days in Rome and didn't tell anyone I was going.

I was 20 years old, working as a roofer and a telemarketer and driving a taxi, just barely getting by. A friend of a friend suggested I try acting. I was like, 'Why? What am I going to do? Community theater?' But I took a class, and the teacher thought that I had potential, so I moved to Vancouver and started auditioning.

How do I put this? 'Glee' is like 'High School Musical' if 'High School Musical' had its stomach punched and its lunch money stolen.

I play a lot of ultra-violent video games.

I'm a big fan of 'Glee.' I think it's really smart. And I think it's well-timed. But you can't not be surprised at the reception this show's received. It's really something else.

I say eat fast and die young.

I have a solo deal with Columbia Records. So it's about, do I want to release an album, when can we do it, what kind of album should it be, how should it be released and marketed and what's the right timing? Do I have time to do it? It's all about questions.

I'm pretty focused on my career, and if it comes down to hanging out with somebody or learning my lines, it's gonna be learning my lines.

I remember I'd come home from fifth, sixth grade, and I'd watch 'Saved by the Bell' and be like, 'I hope my high school experience is like that.' And it totally wasn't. It sucked.

I keep a pretty low profile. I live in Culver City with some roommates. I don't do the whole 'Hollywood' thing.

I like the idea of dating, but I'm not dating anyone exclusively, particularly right now. It's hard to be in a relationship unless you're ready to go public with it. So it's a lot easier for me to not be in a relationship. I really don't want that part of my life to be tabloid fodder.