Cory Monteith was found dead in a hotel room in Vancouver, Canada yesterday afternoon. He was 31. An unpretentious star, he put as his bio on his Twitter feed: “tall, awkward, canadian, actor, drummer, person.” For four seasons, he played Finn Hudson on “Glee,” a high school football quarterback turned glee club member.

Like his character, Monteith never thought of himself as a singer. (In the show, Glee club adviser Mr. Shue hears Finn singing in the locker room shower.) Monteith grew up in Canada, and before joining the popular television series, “I was a Walmart people-greeter, I drove a schoolbus, I looked after kids, I worked at coffee shops, restaurants,” he told Ellen DeGeneres. He grew up playing the drums, so for an audition tape for Glee, he included footage of his playing “drums” using a pair of pencils on glasses and buckets.

Here are some videos featuring his singing on “Glee” and interviews with him