They had no way of knowing at the time that they would find themselves basking in the limelight together at Sunday's Golden Globes, winners in their respective categories that, unlike other award shows, lump dramatic actors in with comedic actors, and pits series actors against those in miniseries and made-for-TV movies.
Colfer, who plays relentlessly bullied gay teen Kurt Hummel on Glee -- winner of last year's and this year's Golden Globe for best comedy -- moved the Golden Globe audience with a defiant acceptance speech that ended with a clarion call for tolerance and mutual respect.
Colfer ended his speech by saying: "To all the amazing kids that watch our show and the kids that our show celebrates, who are constantly told 'no' by the people in their environment, by bullies at school, that they can't be who they are or have what they want because of who they are -- well, screw that, kids."
That was a long way from Colfer's initial audition. He read for the part of wheelchair-bound teen Artie Abrams, played by Kevin McHale, and was rejected.
"I got a call that night from my agent, and he said, 'They don't want you for Artie, but they want you for a new character they're creating.' I had no idea what the new character was, what it consisted of. 'OK, great.' Even in the third audition, when we were in front of the executives and the studio, I was still auditioning for Artie. The character of Kurt wasn't really created until after I was already attached to the show."
Lynch, who won her Golden Globe over a field that included Boardwalk Empire's Kelly Macdonald, Dexter's Julia Stiles, The Special Relationship's Hope Davis and Modern Family's Sofia Vergara, quipped that she felt "falsely humbled," and noted that her character was the creation of "a deranged young man," Glee co-executive producer, Ian Brennan.
Days earlier, a stone's throw from Glee's main stage on the 20th Century Fox studio lot, Lynch talked about how women of a certain age can't help being typecast in TV and the movies as the girlfriend or the devoted wife. "I was never seen as the girlfriend of anybody."
When she started in the business, Lynch said, "I did a lot of roles originally written for me. I played the doctor or the counsellor. My agent would say to casting directors, 'Do you see a woman in this role?' and they would walk away thinking they were geniuses. 'Yes, I do.' My role in The 40-Year-Old Virgin was written for a man."
In Glee, Lynch plays acerbic, hard-as-nails cheerleader coach Sue Sylvester.
"Sue Sylvester is a man," Lynch said, deadpan.
Lynch's inspiration, growing up and wanting to pursue a career in films and on the stage, was decidedly not a man: Carol Burnett.
"She was unique for her era," Lynch said. "I mean, she wrote, produced, acted. She was the head honcho of her own show, and one of the most gracious, lovely people in the world. When I watched her show, I thought to myself, 'I want to do that,' because they looked like they were having so much fun. She was unique. And she definitely wasn't the girlfriend type. She was kind of wacky. She wasn't the traditionally pretty type, and so it was pretty amazing, in that day and age, to see her head up a show."
Glee returns Feb. 6 with a post-Super Bowl episode on Fox, before returning to its regular day and time, Tuesdays at 8 p.m., beginning Feb. 8.
"What's the Super Bowl?" Colfer said, deadpan.
It's no surprise the post-Super Bowl episode will focus heavily on football. It has already been filmed, and is in the process of being edited. The cast members have been told not to leak any details, but Colfer said that, as Glee episodes go, it was one of the more challenging and demanding hours to work on.
"I'm surprised there were no fatalities on that episode," Colfer said, "because it was insane. It's by far the most expensive episode we've ever done, I'm sure. There was one scene -- I kid you not -- where they had two ambulances on standby, which is two more ambulances than they usually have."
Colfer never imagined he would be categorized as a comedic actor when he was growing up.
"I'm not funny," he said, "so I'm kind of questioning why I'm here. I do love the dramatic scenes that I get to do in the show, because they're fun. It's like candy. You get to be gritty and gross. Any time Kurt's having an emotional breakdown, I'm loving it. Good fun for me."
For her part, Lynch said performing in a weekly, hour-long series is a young person's game.
"It's for the 23-year-old who can still go out to a party on the weekends," she said.
Her own workload on Glee is light, compared to that of some of the others, such as Colfer and Lea Michele, she added.
"I come in one, two times a week," Lynch said. "I lay down some lines and I'm on my way. I don't work as hard as they do. They work really, really, really hard."
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