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
As a composer and as a musician I'm a true believer - and this is not to be overly diplomatic - I'm a believer that there's artistry in everything from a lawn gnome to a desk chair to a symphony to an Andy Warhol painting. There's art in absolutely everything.
As a musician, I hear the harmonic value of everything - I just enjoy music.
My name's Darren. I'm a musician, part time idiot. That's a full time job actually.
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.