2009–2015: Beginnings and Glee
Overstreet began to pursue his passion of performing after his high school graduation in 2007. After two unsuccessful years, Overstreet started his acting career on the web series Private as Josh Hollis. He was also featured in an episode of iCarly titled "iSpeed Date" and starred in the unaired pilot of No Ordinary Family. His first film role was that of Adam in the 2009 thriller The Hole, and he starred in the 2011 film A Warrior's Heart as Dupree, alongside Ashley Greene and Kellan Lutz.
Overstreet played the character of Sam Evans, a transfer student and athlete, on the FOX comedy-drama television series Glee. He landed the role after auditioning with the Commodores' song "Easy" and Gavin DeGraw's "I Don't Want to Be". He later sang "Billionaire" by Travie McCoy featuring Bruno Mars as a studio test, and eventually sang this in his debut episode titled "Audition". His cover of "Billionaire" was released as a single and charted at No. 15 in Ireland, #24 in Canada, #28 in the United States, and #34 in Australia. On April 21, 2011, the video for Hot Chelle Rae's "Tonight Tonight" was released on YouTube and featured a series of cameos of Overstreet alternately making out with a girl (whom he stole from the lead singer) on an office copier, DJing at a club, then playing guitar and mugging for the crowd with his brother, Hot Chelle Rae band member, Nash.
On July 1, 2011, TVLine's Michael Ausiello broke the news that Overstreet's contract option to become a series regular on Glee had not been picked up for season 3, but that he could possibly come back as an occasional guest star. In reaction to the announcement, fans launched a campaign to promote Overstreet's cover of "Billionaire" and various tags related to the actor, most notably "#DontCutTheChord", began trending on Twitter. The song made its way into the iTunes top 5 Glee charts during the campaign.
At the 2011 Comic-Con event, Glee co-creator Brad Falchuk reported that they had offered Overstreet a ten-episode deal with a possibility to become a series regular at mid-season, but that Overstreet had declined the option. Overstreet later stated to Ausiello during an interview that he had decided to leave the show to focus on his music career, explaining: "They offered me the chance to come back for a few episodes, but there was nothing guaranteed so I decided to dive into the music thing." It was reported on October 18, 2011, and confirmed by series co-creator Ryan Murphy six days later, that Overstreet would be returning to Glee as a recurring character starting with the third season's eighth episode. On July 23, 2012, it was confirmed that Overstreet would be a series regular for the fourth season of Glee, where he continued until the last season.
