The youth heartthrob Darren Criss appeared for the very first time in a short film entitled “I Adora You” that many may not have watched. Criss is an actor who has played numerous roles in American TV series. He was hired as a guest star in the very great teen flick TV series Glee in November 2010. But soon he became a regular face on the show. He graduated from the University of Michigan in 2009 and soon started his acting career by starring in few episodes of ABCs Eastwick. Before he made the guest appearance in Glee, he released Human, a self-produced EP. “This time”, the song he wrote for the Glee finale got him his first Emmy Nomination in 2015.
Early life
Born on 5th of February 1987, in San Francisco, California, Criss is the youngest child in the family. His elder brother Charles Criss also plays music in the band Freelance Whales. Darren was named Darren Everett Criss but became famous with the name Darren Criss. He has a mixed ethnicity as his mother is a Pilipino and his father, a native of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. His father is an investment banker and a former director of San Francisco Opera.
Childhood and education
Criss lived with his family in Honolulu, Hawaii from 1988 to 1992. Rest of his youth, he spent in San Francisco. He showed his musical interest from a very young age. He started taking classical lessons in Violin at the age of five. Darren tried to understand the theory of music and trained himself in playing a variety of instruments. He was the concertmaster in his school and started writing compositions at the age of 15.
Criss began studying theatre performance from American Conservatory Theater since he was at the tender age of 10. He went to Stuart Hall for Boys, a Roman Catholic school in his childhood days. He graduated from another Catholic School, Saint Ignatius College Preparatory in 2005. His major was Theatre performance. He also minored in Musicology and Italian. He was a part of a student-run theatre troupe named Team StarKid in his college.
Early Career
His career as an actor, singer and songwriter started after he graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in Bachelors of Fine Arts. He starred in A Very Potter Musical with StarKid. It gave him a light of fame as an emerging actor. He went on acting in the series A Very Potter Sequel, and A Very Potter Senior Year as well. These musical comedies were based on the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling.
In the same year A very Potter Musical aired, in 2009, he did few TV series like Eastwick and Little white lie. His early works as an actor include a couple of short films like Walker Phillips and Clowns on Earth both of which came out in the year 2009. He started his musical career the same year with the release of his self-produced EP, Human which also included the songs he wrote and composed as a teenager.
Career
Theatre
Darren Criss proved his skill and interest in theatre performance at a very young age. The young conservatory program, American Conservatory Theatre accepted him at the age of 10, and he studied theatre acting under the plan. He debuted as a theatre actor in 1997 aged 10 in 42nd Street Moons production of Fanny as Cesario. Throughout his school days, he acted in plays ranging from The Voysey Inheritance to Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night Dreams. As a university student, he performed in some plays like Few Good Men, Price and Prejudice and many others.
The Starkid Productions, the musical theatre group that he co-founded with some of his friends at the University of Michigan, proved to be another milestone in his acting career. He did the famous TV movie A Very Potter Musical with the group. His theatre journey doesn’t end here but gets more prominent leading him to Broadway. Criss made his Broadway debut in the role of J. Pierrepont Finch in the revival of “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” in January 2012 at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre. The play was very successful one. Criss did the role of Hedwig in Hedwig and the Angry Inch that played at the Belasco Theater on April 29, 2015, to July 19, 2015. He has won the Broadway.com Audience Choice Award twice.
Television
Criss made his debut as a TV actor in Eastwick as Josh Burton in 2009. The same year he did the role of Toby Phillips in another TV series, Little White Lie. Throughout his career as a TV actor, he has done more than a dozen television series to date. Some of his prominent work in TV include Archer, The Chicago 8, The Cleveland Show, Stan Lee’s mighty seven and Web Therapy. He got his breakthrough after playing Blaine on the second season of Fox television series, Glee and became an instant TV star.
Criss debuted in the series in the episode “Never Been Kissed”. His first season was aired on 2010. He continued his association with the show and appeared regularly in every season after that till date. He has acted in many other TV series like Cold Case (2009), Transformers: Rescue Bot (2011), American Horror Story (2015) and Transformers: Robots in Disguise (2015-2016).
Movies
Girl most likely that released in 2012 is the debut movie of Darren Criss. It is a comedy that stars Matt Dillon and Kristen Wiig besides Criss. The film was premiered at Toronto International Film Festival in 2012. The following year, he gave his voice to the English version of “The Wind Rises” and “The Tale of Princess Kaguya”. He has done the role of Tyler Hutton in the movie “Smitten!” which is yet to be released. The film is said to be completed and set to be released on 2017.
Music
Darren Criss started his professional music career in 2010. However, he had trained in classical music for fifteen years since the age of 5. He began as a solo artist while he was a college student. Criss released his self-produced EP called Human independently On July 20, 2010.It reached the No. 17 on the Billboard Top Heatseekers Albums chart. He got a contract with Sony Music Entertainment in 2011. Criss received an honorary member of Yale University’s a cappella singing group The Whiffenpoofs on April 14, 2013. Criss has written and composed many songs for Starkid Productions. His musical contributions are included in the pieces like, “Little White Lie”, “Me and My Dick” and “A Very Potter” series.
Darren toured around 17 cities in the United States, Canada, and France during his first solo concert in 2013. He has given numerous musical performances in Glee as Blain. From May 21–July 3, 2011, Criss toured around the U.S.A., Canada, England, and Ireland along with the cast of Glee performing in Glee Live In Concert! Among all the concerts that happened in 2011, it was considered the 16th most successful concert tour according to Billboard Magazine. The concert had an overwhelming attendance of 485,000, and it grossed more than $40 million. Criss got his first nomination for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics for the song “This Time” that he composed for the series finale of Glee.
Personal information of Darren Criss
Because Criss played an openly gay character Blain in Glee, many people somehow think him to be a homosexual in real life as well. So he opened up about his sexuality saying he is straight in an interview with Out magazine. Criss has an especial interest in youth philanthropy and advocacy of LGBT rights. He has performed for charity on numerous occasions. He has been involved in various organizations like UNICEF, We Day, Rock, the vote as a spokesperson. Many magazines like Entertainment weekly, Playbill, Out, Billboard, etc. has had him on their cover.
Darren Criss Dating history
Darren’s girlfriend is Mia Swier, and both are dating since 2010. Though he did not talk about their relationship for some time, now he does not hesitate to acknowledge the fact.
Darren Criss Net Worth
Criss has been in the entertainment industry since the year 2009. He is also very popular in the social media with a huge following. The total net worth of Criss net worth is around $3.5 million.