Erika Rivera

Managing Editor

Co-Written With Brittany Goldfield Rodrigues

The cast of Glee has given us many talented individuals over the years, especially on the singing front. There is one of them, however, that standouts for something else: Harry Shum Jr. aka Mike Chang.

While all the rest of the Gleeks are belting out songs for us, Harry’s Mike Chang is showing us that he has moves BETTER than Jagger, and he can also express much more with said moves than most of the power ballads performed on the show.

In his four years on the hit show, Shum Jr. has covered all kinds of dance genres and given us treat after treat with his skills. He has also shown us that there is so much more than meets the eye with him, especially when it comes to showcasing his talents.

We here at PopWrapped think he’s one of the best talents out there in show business, and for that very reason, we salute and honor Harry Shum Jr. with this Pop Five Reasons of Why We Love Harry Shum Jr.

1) His Commitment and Dedication to His Art

Like most amazing people, Harry has been perfecting his craft for years. This is not a person who just rolled out of bed and “Hey, I think I’ll start dancing.”

He started dancing with his high school dance team and continued to hone his craft and further his career in San Francisco under several different studios. Harry is a chameleon with his dancing as he incorporates various different styles into his dance, including popping, tutting, waving, locking, breaking and also contemporary.

2) His Relationship With His Fellow Glee Cast Members

Vines, exchanged tweets, behind the scenes photos, and interviews, prove that the cast of Glee shares a special dynamic. The cast loves one another and goofing of together.

Harry seems to share a very special bond with his cast mates, having shared vines with Naya Rivera and acting silly in behind the scenes videos with Chord Overstreet and Darren Criss.

Cast members have only nice things to say about the humble actor who quite ironically shares a birthday with Jenna Ushkowitz. The pair behind “Tike,” also seem to have a special friendship after acting as a couple for so many episodes of the show.

Whenever Harry tweets one of his fellow cast members or interacts with them on camera, he does so in a way that shows how at ease he is with them. He is enthusiastic about everyone he works with. Personal favourite moments include his “Peter Pan” instagrammed photo with Chris Colfer, and this Vine.

Seriously. God bless the Glee cast and Vine.

3) His Dancing. Just…ALL OF HIS DANCING.

Before we saw his epic moves in the choir room, Harry was dancing with the likes of Beyoncé, Mariah Carey, Jennifer Lopez and Jessica Simpson. After some guest stints on shows like iCarly, his dancing landed him the role of Mike Chang on Glee. Harry may have branched off into acting and even singing since landing the role on the hit dramedy, but he is a dancer at heart. Outside Glee, Harry is part of the dancing troupe The League of Extraordinary Dancers (The LXD). You can check out the webseries HERE.

Audiences got to see Harry perform live with troupe at Glee Live before his fellow cast members joined him on stage. Harry moves in a way that is mesmerizing.

His talent and the ease with which he moves are astounding. When he dances, it is as if he is one with the music. It is always mind blowing to witness. People can learn to dance sure, but the way Harry is able to move is a god given talent. He is a master of his craft, and witnessing him perform on stage or on screen is always incredible.

I seriously wish that I could have some moves like that.

(The video above is some of the best dancing of Glee’s fourth season. Can we get another Harry Shum and Jacob Artist dance duet?)

4) His Personality (Vine, Apple, and Music)

It seems naïve to think you know a celebrity when you have never met them personally. As much as it is true that a lot of us never meet our favourite celebrities, interviews and social media, does a good job at allowing actors and musicians to represent themselves.

Through his Twitter and Vine, Harry portrays himself as someone we can all love. He is humble, funny, and over all a big goof. His vines prove him to be someone who can laugh at themselves and isn’t shy to be dorky. That makes him an awesome person in our books here at PopWrapped.

His obsession with Apple was first made evident in his blog post regarding Steve Jobs. Interviews with cast members also point towards Harry as the cast’s resident gadget geek. In the past, Darren Criss has noted that if you need help with tech stuff Harry is your guy. As if his dorkiness on Vine and passion on his Tumblr blog isn’t enough to convince you of his dynamo personality, his music taste will.

In multiple interviews Harry has credited Bobby Darrin and Frank Sinatra as artists he admires and enjoys listening too. Can Mike Chang please perform Darrin’s “More?” or “Itt Bitty Pretty One?” He has also tweeted and blogged about his love for Justin Timberlake, allowing us to conclude he loves crooners both of now and then. We approve of this music, and will now go blast “Fly Me To The Moon.”

Oh, and he told BulletMedia that he thinks Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” from The Bodyguard soundtrack is the greatest love song of all time. Yeah, his music taste is pretty perfect.

5) His Growth as An Artist

As we have mentioned before, Harry is mainly known for his dancing skills and has gotten down with some of the biggest names in the music business as a back up dancer. He’s definitely come a long way from launching his career as the only male dancer on BET’s Comic View back in 2002. While Glee has mainly chosen to showcase his dancing, they did give him the opportunity to sing in Season 3 and boy, did he ever impress us with his rendition of “Cool” from West Side Story.

Harry also shone in his duet with Kevin McHale’s Artie as the pair took on “Scream” by Michael Jackson and totally made it their own. (He also ROCKED that eyeliner.)

Harry is also growing as an actor as well. He’s landed feature roles in the Step Up movie franchise, the indie darling White Frog and will be taking on the role of the Kuai Liang (the younger Sub-Zero) in the second season of Mortal Kombat: Legacy soon. As you can see, there is definitely something about Harry Shum Jr. that makes one pay attention and get to know one of the most humble and talented people out there in the show business.

Aubrey Lynch once said “To touch, to move, to inspire. This is the true gift of dance.”

To us, Harry Shum Jr. embodies this perfectly and so much more.

As his character once said on Glee:

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