Mark Salling

Born
August 17, 1982 · Dallas, Texas, USA
Died
January 30, 2018 · Los Angeles, California, USA (asphyxia caused by hanging)
Birth name
Mark Wayne Salling
Height
6′ (1.83 m)

On January 30, 2018, Salling's body was found hanging by rope, a death later ruled as suicide. News of Salling's death broke a few weeks before his sentencing for possession of child pornography.
On December 29, 2015 Salling was arrested in connection with possession of child pornography. He was booked in downtown Los Angeles. Police obtained a warrant to search his house in Sunland, California where officers found hundreds of images on his computer. This was not his first brush with the law. He paid an ex-girlfriend $2.7 million for knocking her to the ground after she confronted him with a charge of sexual battery.
Originally lied about his age in his Glee (2009) audition -- he said he was 19, but he was really 26. Ryan Murphy finally called him out on this fib, but to Salling's relief his older age was preferred for the role.
Played the guitar, piano, bass, and drums.
Distant cousin of actress Tiffani Thiessen.

[on his most memorable moment filming Glee] I can think of two moments. One moment would be shooting a scene with Kristin Chenoweth where she is singing. I was sitting right in front of her and she was just belting it out. She can let loose like no other! She's singing a song and it was pretty much directly to me. I was sitting right in front of her and she was singing it to the group of people I was in. It was one of those moments where I thought, "Wow! How did I end up here?" She is so beautiful and talented.
[on his hairstyle for Glee] I had knee surgery about four months before the audition, and I cut my hair in a mohawk. I don't know why, but I did. So I decided to do it again for this audition because of this part; maybe it would make me stand out from the rest of the guys. Lo and behold, it worked out. And now I'm stuck with it.
I've been playing piano since I was 5, and started writing when I was 6 or 7. It was never a revelation I had, it was just what I did. Playing music was always a part of my life, I don't know anything else.
You don't really have time to watch TV if you work on TV.