Corbin Bleu, born Corbin Bleu Reivers on February 21, 1989, in Brooklyn, New York City, to Martha (Callari) and David Reivers, an actor. His mother, of Italian descent, and his father, Jamaican.
Corbin began appearing in television commercials at the tender age of two, promoting products such as Life cereal, Bounty, Hasbro, and Nabisco. During this time, he discovered his passion for dance by taking jazz and ballet classes, often the only boy in the class. By the age of four, he was a model with the Ford Modeling Agency in New York, appearing in print ads for stores like Macy's, Gap, Target, and Toys R Us, as well as fashion spreads in Child, Parent, and American Baby magazines, and having his image on toys and game packaging.
At the age of six, Corbin made his professional theater debut off-Broadway in the play "Tiny Tim is Dead," playing an abandoned homeless mute. In 1996, his family moved to Los Angeles, and he quickly landed a recurring role on the television series High Incident. He went on to land small roles in feature films like Soldier (1998) with Kurt Russell, Mystery Men (1999) with Ben Stiller, William H. Macy, and Greg Kinnear, and Galaxy Quest (1999) with Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, and Alan Rickman.
Corbin also guest-starred on television shows like ER (1994),Malcolm & Eddie (1996),Cover Me (1999),and The Amanda Show (1999). He continued dancing, eventually becoming one of the first students at the prestigious Debbie Allen Dance Academy. He then attended the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts as a theater major, following in his mother's footsteps who attended New York City's famed High School of Performing Arts.
In his freshman year, Corbin was cast in his first lead role in the feature film Catch That Kid (2004). During his sophomore year, he played the lead role of Ren in the musical "Footloose" and the role of Sonny in the musical "Grease." That same year, he was honored with the award of Theatre Student of the Year.
In the summer of 2004, Corbin became a part of the ensemble cast for the new Discovery Kids television series Flight 29 Down (2005),filmed on location in Hawaii on the island of Oahu. During the summer of 2005, Corbin was cast as Chad in the Disney Channel Original Movie High School Musical (2006),which was directed by Kenny Ortega. As a big fan of musical theater, Corbin was thrilled to be a part of this musical movie project, showcasing his dance skills.
