Why Barry From American Horror Stories' The Naughty List Looks So Familiar
"American Horror Stories," the spinoff of FX's very popular TV series "American Horror Story," has been offering up smaller bites of horror for a couple of weeks. The latest episode, currently available for streaming through FX on Hulu, focuses on a group of young social media influencers living in a content house (think Offline TV, for example). Barry turns out to be the group's lone voice of reason when its leader, Zinn (Nico Greetham), decides to take some footage of a jumper at "Suicide Bridge." Shockingly, this put off a bunch of their viewers. Barry continues to try to get these guys to do the right thing as they try to get back their followers with other additional, mean-spirited content (Mr. Beast, they are not). Horror ensues.
The nerdy, ineffectual Barry is played by Kevin McHale, and you may recognize him from a few high-profile acting gigs he's done in the past. Early in his career, he had guest stints on a couple of Nickelodeon shows ("All That" and "Zoey 101") as well as in "The Office," where he played an unnamed delivery kid. He had guest starring roles in shows like "Elite" and he was in the TV miniseries "When We Rise." He's also a musician, who released the indie EP "Boy" in 2019. If you think you know him, or if you'd just like to know more about this actor, we've put together an essential list of his other gigs.
Kevin McHale played Artie Abrams for six seasons on Glee
The most likely place you'll have seen this actor's face before is in "Glee." He played Artie Abrams, the wheelchair-bound singer and William McKinley High School student who also had a nerdy appearance. He had plenty of solo performances during his six seasons on the show, along with romantic relationships with Kitty (Becca Tobin) and Tina (Jenna Ushkowitz). He has been forthright about souring on the show in its final seasons, agreeing with co-star Ushkowitz that the series became "rough" and "tone-deaf" in the end (via Glamour). He told Billboard that the show lost its way after the overdose death of star Cory Monteith, who died at age 31 in 2013 (via CNN).
Play It By Ear Magazine noted that one of the show's strengths was diversity and said McHale's performance was instrumental in changing perspectives about people with disabilities. "Over time, though, the character of Artie became more than just the wheelchair-bound character, he grew into a charming soul that surpassed his physique — a credit much due to the performance of Kevin McHale," the publication said.
In 2019, during an appearance on the Celebrity version of "The X Factor" in the U.K., the actor called his "Glee" days "the greatest experience of my entire life."
He met an untimely demise in HBO's True Blood
In the first season of HBO's "True Blood" in 2008, McHale played a minor character with a tragic destiny. Neil Jones was a coroner's assistant and fangbanger who hung out at the bar Fangtasia. He was around for just a couple of episodes, and in one early story, "Burning House of Love," he died along with antagonist Malcolm Beaumarchais (Andrew Rothenberg), Liam McKnight (Graham Shiels) and Diane Hardwicke (Aunjanue Ellis), when vampire hunter Royce Williams (Caleb Moody) and his friends decide to burn down their house in the middle of the day.
Unfortunately, his tenure on the vampire-focused series didn't last long, but that's okay. He was then available to star in "Glee" a year later, which was clearly an instrumental milestone for him. It opened plenty of doors for both his future acting and singing endeavors. "I'm only in the position of getting to do what I want now, because people watched me and watched 'Glee,'" he told Paper magazine.
McHale made a 2019 appearance on The X Factor: Celebrity
McHale's long-running work on "Glee" led to many appearances on awards shows, reality shows like "Virtually Famous," a concert experience called "Glee: The 3D Concert Movie," and guest spots on shows like "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" Among these projects in which he appeared as himself, he was a contestant in 2019's "The X Factor: Celebrity." It aired on ITV in the U.K., so if you didn't see it that's why. During the course of the competition McHale gathered plenty of fans, who ended up being pretty angry when he was eliminated in the quarterfinals. This was Simon Cowell's decision, made over the offer of Vinnie Jones, actor and former pro soccer player, to step down in order to save McHale's spot (via The Sun). In the end, McHale took seventh place.
"After 'Glee,' I still feel like I have this part of me that I didn't get a chance to do music the way I wanted to do it yet," he said in a show story segment posted by Talent Segment UK. "Just because people know me from a musical TV show, they think that gives me a leg up. However, I don't feel that way at all."
McHale is clearly still trying to find himself a more prominent place in the entertainment landscape, but perhaps his role in "American Horror Stories" will help him get there.