☆ FULL NAME: James "Jamie" Vincent Schuester
☆ GENDER: Cisman
☆ PRONOUNS: He/Him
☆ AGE: 37 (July 28th, 1987)
☆ TYPE: Full sibling; solo (open to twin)
☆ HOMETOWN: Columbus, Ohio
☆ JOB: Veterinarian
☆ SCHOOL: PSU Alumni
☆ SEXUALITY: Heterosexual
☆ FACECLAIM: Dustin Milligan
Being the first born Schuester, James always knew that he had large shoes to fill. His parents expected a lot out of him without ever really pressuring him, but he still listened nonetheless. They’d enroll him in acting classes, vocal lessons, dancing lessons and everything in between, hoping that he would follow in Will’s footsteps. James absolutely loved it. He loved being surrounded by music, to watch people move their bodies in sync with a rhythm, the way they brought characters to life. It all fascinated him, and he grew quite fond of the community. The issue, however, was that James wasn’t good at any of it. Will had hoped that the more classes that he took, that this would be an improvement. Unfortunately, that never came. What he had in enthusiasm, he lacked in talent.
James continued doing what he loved, though - he was oftentimes cast as the chorus, or the character that didn’t have a line in the school play. He was rejected, but he didn’t mind - he wanted to be like his father, and he was going to continue working at it. Around the time when James was a teenager, he came to the realization that he just simply had no talent. The firstborn of Will Schuester had zero talent. Embarrassing, but he embraced it anyway. He still saw how music had transformed people, the way his father took so much care in the people he’d taught - and how it could change their lives. He took this knowledge with him, and always had a soft spot for music anyway.
What they didn’t expect was James’ love for animals. While he was trying to connect to music, instead he was connecting with animals. He would bring home different types of animals and try to nurse them back to life. Will and Emma always helped him take these animals to the veterinarian, and watching them bring back to life animals made James realize exactly what he wanted to do. He wanted to be exactly like them – he wanted to save animals lives. They weren’t disappointed at all, and they encouraged him to learn more and more, which is why choosing his degree was easy: he was going to become a veterinarian, but more specifically, a surgeon - so he could save their lives.
After college and starting his career, James met Addy Corcoran. The two fell in love quickly, and for a while, their relationship felt like the one stable thing in James’s life. But work became more demanding and he found himself increasingly consumed by work. The long hours started to create a rift between him and Addy. James struggled to separate his professional life from his personal one, and the constant stress led to more and more fights. Despite how much he loves Addy, James finds himself repeating the same mistakes —working too much and not knowing how to balance his career with his relationship.
The very epitome of theater kid himself, Will Schuester’s life was always going to be surrounded by performance. Unfortunately for him, marrying his high school sweetheart, Terri, turned out to be more sour than sweet, and when their relationship turned toxic, with Terri faking a pregnancy in an effort to keep him around, Will had to give up on his then-dream job of coaching a winning high school Glee Club for free to focus on his main Spanish teaching job. When news of Terri’s fake pregnancy came to light, Will filed for divorce, seeking comfort in the arms of his colleague, the school’s guidance counselor, Emma Pillsbury. The two wed in the year to follow.
Supported by his new wife—who made more than him financially anyway—Will decided to quit his job as high school Spanish teacher, and instead secure a space to open a performing arts studio. The studio and its classes growing in popularity quickly, Will was approached by a production company interested in making a reality show. Soon, The Schue Must Go On, a show focusing on the studio’s child performers with Will the adult face as the main teacher and owner, was born. It was supposed to be something of a filler show, but it gained followers quickly, and soon America was obsessed with watching bratty children compete against each other in their dance, voice and acting classes under Will’s guidance, his family shooting to fame in the blink of an eye.
As parents, Will and Emma can be described best as helicopter parents. They’re very over-protective, and try to be involved in every aspect of their children’s lives, despite how busy they are with The Schue Must Go On, which, somehow, is still going strong and has spawned many an off-shoot instalment. Will is an esteemed performing arts coach, and has appeared as a guest judge on various talent shows (AGT, The Voice, DWTS, etc.) alongside his role as head of his studio, and of the Schuester family.
