Corbin Bleu Reivers Bio
Corbin Bleu Reivers (born February 21, 1989) is an American actor, singer, songwriter, and dancer who first gained widespread recognition for his role as Chad Danforth in the High School Musical film series (2006–2008). Born in Brooklyn, New York, and raised in Los Angeles, he built an early career in television commercials and small screen roles before Disney Channel stardom made him a household name among young audiences. Across more than two decades in entertainment, he has balanced film, television, recording, and stage work, including Broadway leads in In the Heights, Godspell, Holiday Inn, and Kiss Me, Kate.
Early Life and Background
Corbin Bleu Reivers was born in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, the son of Martha (née Callari) and David Reivers, an actor. His mother is Italian-American and his father is Jamaican-American, and he has three younger sisters. His great-uncle is actor Joseph Callari. As a child, Bleu studied dance for several years, focusing on ballet and jazz, often as the only boy in class.
He appeared in television commercials starting at age two for products such as Life cereal, Bounty, Hasbro, and Nabisco. By age four, he was a child model with the Ford Modeling Agency in New York, appearing in print ads for Macy’s, Gap, Target, and Toys R Us, as well as in fashion spreads in Child, Parents, and American Baby magazines. At age six, he appeared in his first professional theater production at The Town Hall in New York, playing an abandoned homeless mute in the play Tiny Tim is Dead.
Bleu graduated from Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, a magnet school modeled on the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, which his mother had attended. He trained in dance at the Debbie Allen Dance Academy and majored in theater at LaGuardia. He graduated from high school in 2007 and was admitted to Stanford University but declined to matriculate.
Path to Acting
Bleu’s family moved from New York to Los Angeles in 1996, and he soon began working steadily in episodic television. His early credits included a recurring role on the ABC police drama High Incident, a guest appearance on ER, and film roles in Galaxy Quest (1999), Mystery Men (1999), and Family Tree (1999). He also appeared on Nickelodeon’s The Amanda Show and in the comedy series Malcolm & Eddie and Cover Me: Based on the True Life of an FBI Family.
Beginning in 2001, Bleu undertook intensive training at the Debbie Allen Dance Academy, studying ballet, jazz, tap, modern, hip-hop, African, break dance, salsa, flamenco, and ballroom. Choreographer Debbie Allen told Dance Spirit magazine that she believed he had a real career ahead of him. During his freshman year of high school, he landed his first sizable film role in the teen action caper Catch That Kid (2004) opposite Kristen Stewart and Max Thieriot. In the summer of 2004, he was cast as Nathan McHugh in the Discovery Kids series Flight 29 Down, which ran for three seasons.
Corbin Bleu Reivers Career
Early Career (1996–2005)
Throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s, Bleu built his résumé with a string of small screen and film roles, learning the craft on episodic television and feature projects. His appearance in the Tim Allen comedy Galaxy Quest (1999) marked one of his first notable big-screen credits, and he continued taking guest parts across prime-time and children’s programming. During high school, he performed in student productions of Footloose and Grease, earning the honor of Theatre Student of the Year.
The Discovery Kids series Flight 29 Down, in which he starred as Boy Scout Nathan McHugh from 2004 to 2007, established him as a recognizable face in family entertainment. His role in the box-office underperformer Catch That Kid (2004) also served as an important step, even though the film grossed only about $10 million. These experiences helped position him for the Disney Channel roles that would soon transform his career.
Breakthrough (2006–2008)
Bleu’s career changed dramatically with High School Musical (2006), in which he portrayed basketball player Chad Danforth alongside Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale, Lucas Grabeel, and Monique Coleman. Premiering on January 20, 2006, to 7.7 million viewers, it was the Disney Channel’s most successful TV movie to that point, and its soundtrack was certified quadruple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). He joined co-stars on the 51-date High School Musical: The Concert tour from 2006 to 2007.
He reprised the role in High School Musical 2 (2007), which drew more than 17.2 million viewers and became the highest-rated Disney Channel movie of all time, grossing over $250 million worldwide. The duet “I Don’t Dance” with Lucas Grabeel became his first Top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 and was certified gold by the RIAA. In 2007, he also starred as Izzy Daniels in the Disney Channel Original Movie Jump In!, whose soundtrack achieved gold status.
Bleu capped the trilogy with High School Musical 3: Senior Year (2008), the first film in the franchise to receive a theatrical release. It opened at number one at the North American box office with a $42 million opening weekend, ultimately grossing $252 million worldwide. The duet “The Boys Are Back” with Zac Efron became his second Top 40 hit and was certified gold by the RIAA and the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). For his role as Chad Danforth, he received nominations at the NAACP Image Awards, the Young Artist Awards, and the Teen Choice Awards.
Notable Works and Milestones
Bleu’s signature work remains the High School Musical trilogy, where his performance as Chad Danforth helped define a generation of Disney Channel viewers and produced two RIAA-certified gold singles. His transition to Broadway as Usnavi in In the Heights (2010) marked a major milestone, followed by leading roles in Godspell (2012), Holiday Inn, The New Irving Berlin Musical (2016), and Kiss Me, Kate (2019). He also made his West End debut in April 2025 as Nick Carraway in The Great Gatsby at the London Coliseum, earning a Laurence Olivier Award nomination.
Corbin Bleu Reivers Award Nominations
Corbin Bleu Reivers has accumulated multiple award nominations across film, television, and Broadway throughout his career. His early recognition came through the High School Musical franchise, where he was nominated for an NAACP Image Award, a Young Artist Award, and Teen Choice Awards in 2007 and 2009. He later earned a Chita Rivera Awards nomination for Dance and Choreography in 2017 for Holiday Inn, and in 2019 he received a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical for Kiss Me, Kate, along with another Chita Rivera Awards nomination and an Audience Choice Awards nomination. He was also nominated for a St. Louis Theater Circle Award in 2019 and a Helen Hayes Award in 2019 for Anything Goes, and he received a Laurence Olivier Award nomination in 2025 for The Great Gatsby.
Corbin Bleu Reivers Awards Won
Corbin Bleu Reivers has won several honors for his stage work, including a Chita Rivera Award for his performance in Holiday Inn, The New Irving Berlin Musical in 2017, and a Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Musical in 2019 for his role as Billy Crocker in Anything Goes at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. He also earned a BMI Songwriter Award for his work on the song “Deal With It,” originally written and performed by Jay Sean.
Corbin Bleu Reivers Family
Bleu was raised in a close-knit family of performers. He is the son of actor David Reivers and Martha Callari, and he has three younger sisters. His great-uncle is the actor Joseph Callari, and his mother is a graduate of the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, the school famously portrayed in Fame. The family relocated from Brooklyn to Los Angeles in 1996 to support his growing career in television and modeling.
Personal Life
Bleu began dating actress Sasha Clements in 2011. The couple became engaged on October 15, 2014, and married on July 23, 2016. In March 2010, he was added to the Broadway Wall of Fame, with his portrait unveiled at Tony’s Di Napoli Restaurant in New York City. He has supported charitable organizations including Do Something, the Starlight Children’s Foundation, the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.