Darren Criss
Darren Criss
Darren Everett Criss is an American actor, singer, and Emmy-nominated songwriter. One of the founding members and co-owners of StarKid Productions, a musical theater company based in Chicago, Criss first garnered attention playing the lead role of Harry Potter in StarKid's musical production of A Very Potter Musical. The theater troupe made Billboard history when their original album, Me and My Dick, became the first charting student-produced musical recording, debuting at number eleven on the Top Cast Albums chart in...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionTV Actor
Date of Birth5 February 1987
CitySan Francisco, CA
CountryUnited States of America
I've always loved Broadway, but I never thought I'd actually do it because I was never a full Broadway dancer. And I don't have a big, booming voice.
I've always enjoyed fashion and dressing up for things, whether it's high fashion or play fashion.
I was inadvertently raised in the 'gay community.' I had straight parents, but I spent massive amounts of time at a very early age with gay, theater-hopeful thirty-somethings.
Theater is a living creature. It takes a while to break in, like a new pair of shoes.
I always make time for the things that are important to me.
I'm like any other composer. If you give me five years to write a symphony, I'm still going to be asking for more time two days before it's due.
The cool thing about music is no one can take music away from you, writing wise.
When I play live in restaurants and cafes, I don't play my own stuff. I play jazz and 'American Songbook' standards, and I'll fuse it with top 40.
I remember seeing 'Aladdin' when I was five or six and loving it. I looked at the big screen and said to my mum, 'Whatever this Genie guy does, I want to do.' Mum said I couldn't be a genie, but that Robin Williams, who did the voice-over in the film, was an actor. So I said, 'OK, then, I want to be an actor.'
When I'm in the U.K. I find myself using a lot of Britishisms.
The first time you do anything, people always take a minute to try to figure it out, but once you witness it in person, the word starts to spread and it gains momentum year after year.
No matter how much we're on our phones, going to the show is the goal - you look at things online and watch videos and read blogs and comment, all so that you can go in person and see it yourself, and meet these people in real life, and then so you can go home and talk about it again on your screen.
I'm in a real minority as far as having really supportive parents in regards to the arts. They never batted an eye as far as not letting me do that stuff. That's invaluable. I can't believe how unabashedly supportive they were about everything, between music and acting.
I'd like to be writing songs for other people - I just like writing songs.