Mark Wayne Salling (born August 17, 1982) is an American actor, singer-songwriter, composer, and musician. He is known for his role as Noah "Puck" Puckerman on the comedy television series, Glee.
Salling was born in Dallas, Texas. He is the younger of two children of Condy Sue (née Wherry), a school secretary, and John Robert Salling, Jr., an accountant. He was home-schooled at an early age. Salling was raised in a "strict Christian home" and attended Providence Christian School and Our Redeemer Lutheran during elementary school. He attended, but did not graduate from Culver Military Academy, and later graduated from Lake Highlands High School in 2001. While he attended high school, he was a member of the school wrestling team.
After graduating from high school, he attended the Los Angeles Music Academy College of Music in Pasadena, California and began studying guitar, giving guitar lessons to make a living.
Salling sings, writes, and produces his own music, and plays the piano, guitar, bass guitar, and drums. His solo project (under the stage name "Jericho"), was debut album Smoke Signals, released on February 8, 2008, under Jericho Records. On October 25, 2010, Salling released