Darren Criss

Darren Everett Criss is an American actor, singer, and songwriter. He gained widespread recognition starring as Blaine Anderson on the television series Glee from 2010 to 2015, and for his leading performance as spree killer Andrew Cunanan in the limited series The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story in 2018. Over the course of his career, Criss has worked across television, film, music, and stage, earning numerous awards for his performances.

Criss was born on February 5, 1987, in San Francisco, California, to Cerina and Charles William Criss. He was raised primarily in San Francisco, apart from four years spent in Honolulu, Hawaii, between 1988 and 1992. Beginning classical violin lessons at age five, he trained for fifteen years while teaching himself to play guitar, piano, mandolin, harmonica, and drums. He attended Stuart Hall for Boys and graduated from St. Ignatius College Preparatory in 2005 before earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts in theatre performance from the University of Michigan in 2009, minoring in musicology and Italian.

Criss made his professional stage debut at age ten in a 1997 production of Fanny. Upon graduating from college in 2009, he co-founded the musical theater company StarKid Productions. He first garnered attention playing the lead role of Harry Potter and contributing music and lyrics for A Very Potter Musical. He subsequently wrote and composed songs for several other StarKid productions, including A Very Potter Sequel and Starship.

In 2010, Criss achieved his mainstream breakthrough when he was cast as Blaine Anderson on Glee. Introduced during the show's second season, his performance of Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream" peaked at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100. Promoted to the main cast in season three, Criss also composed songs for the series, earning a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for writing "This Time" for the series finale.

Alongside his television work, Criss made his Broadway debut in 2012 replacing Daniel Radcliffe in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, and later starred in Hedwig and the Angry Inch in 2015. He made his feature film debut in the 2013 comedy Girl Most Likely. For his portrayal of Andrew Cunanan in 2018, Criss won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries, or Television Film.

Beyond acting, Criss released the EPs Human in 2010 and Homework in 2017, as well as a Christmas album in 2021. He co-founded the outdoor music festival Elsie Fest in 2015 and debuted the indie pop band Computer Games with his brother Chuck in 2017. His later work includes creating and starring in the series Royalties and appearing in the Netflix series Hollywood. In 2025, Criss won two Tony Awards for Maybe Happy Ending, receiving Best Actor in a Musical—becoming the first Asian American actor to win in the category—and Best Musical as a co-producer.