Filipino-American actor Darren Criss won his first Emmy Award for his role in the US television series “American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace”.
Criss bagged the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie for playing the role of serial killer Andrew Cunanan in the said show.
The 31-year-old actor beat out some of the biggest names in Hollywood for the award. Other nominees included Antonio Banderas (“Genius: Picasso”); Benedict Cumberbatch (“Patrick Melrose”); Jeff Daniels (“The Looming Tower”); John Legend (“Jesus Christ Superstar”); and Jesse Plemons (“Black Mirror: USS Callister”).
Because of his win, Criss became the second Asian-American actor to have claimed an acting award at the Emmys with Riz Ahmed being the first one. Ahmed won the same award last year for his role as Nasir “Naz” Khan in “The Night Of”.
Criss rose to fame after appearing on “Glee” as Blaine Anderson. Born to a Cebuana mother and a father of English, Irish, and German descent, he was primarily raised in California and, for some time, in Honolulu, Hawaii.
He obtained his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Michigan, majoring in Theater Performance and minoring in Musicology and Italian.
Criss also received his first Emmy nod for composing the song “This Time” for “Glee’s” finale in 2015.
Aside from Criss’ acting award, “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story” also won the Primetime Emmy Award for Best Limited Series beating out “The Alienist”, “Genius: Picasso”, “Godless”, and “Patrick Melrose”.
The Emmy Award is one of the four major awards in Hollywood, together with the Grammy, Oscar, and Tony awards.
Photo credits: Getty Images / Kevin Winter
