All About Glee: Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison)

Fox's new series "Glee" has gotten a lot of hype, no doubt helped by the network's advertising blitz and its unusual decision to air the entire pilot episode several months before the show premieres.

If you're curious about Will Schuester, the earnest glee club director (played by Matthew Morrison), here's a look at the character and the actor.

ABOUT THE CHARACTER: WILL SCHUESTER

In the pilot episode of "Glee," we're introduced to Will Schuester, an optimistic, engaging Spanish teacher at McKinley High.

Schuester, who has fond memories of his own experience in McKinley's glee club when he was a student there, offers to take over McKinley's glee club, which is in sorry shape and is largely populated by a band of outcasts and misfits.

Schuester has to convince McKinkley's apathetic principal to give him a shot, and he also has to battle against evil cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester, who has it out for the glee club big time.

Schuester's challenges don't stop when he leaves McKinley.

At home, his wife Terri criticizes him for just about everything he does, and she's particularly negative about his work with the glee club.

The pilot episode also hints that Schuester's marriage is in jeopardy not only because of the tension with his wife, but also because he and fellow teacher Emma Pillsbury seem dangerously close to a forbidden relationship.

ABOUT THE ACTOR: MATTHEW MORRISON

Matthew Morrison, 30, is best known as a Broadway performer. In 2003, he starred as Link Larkin in "Hairspray," and he's also performed in "Footloose" and "The Light in the Piazza," for which he received a Tony nomination.

Morrison's television acting career began to gain steam shortly after his "Hairspray" run, with one-off appearances on procedural dramas like "CSI: Miami" and "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," followed by a recurring role on soap opera "As the World Turns" in 2006, where he played Adam Munson.

He's also appeared on the big screen with bit parts in "Music and Lyrics," "I Think I Love My Wife," and "Dan in Real Life."

Previous television appearances didn't make much use of Morrison's talent as a singer, but "Glee" features his singing prominently.

For instance, in the pilot of "Glee" that aired this spring, a scene in which he performed the song "Leaving on a Jet Plane" was cut -- but the scene was added back in to the "Director's Cut" of the episode, which aired Sept. 2.

And in a teaser clip for an upcoming episode that Fox released in anticipation of the season's premiere, Morrison is seen singing the Kanye West/Jamie Foxx hit "Golddigger."