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Darren Criss
Criss at the 2011 Time 100 gala
Born	Darren Everett Criss (1987-02-05) February 5, 1987 (age 37) San Francisco, California
Occupation(s)	Actor, Singer-songwriter

Darren Everett Criss (born February 5, 1987) is an American television actor, singer-songwriter, musician, composer, internet personality, and one of the founding members of Team StarKid, a theater production company. He played Harry Potter in the musicals A Very Potter Musical and A Very Potter Sequel, and currently portrays Blaine Anderson, an openly gay student, in the second season of Glee.

Early life and education

Criss was born in San Francisco, California. His mother, a native of Cebu, is a Filipina of Chinese, Spanish, and Filipino descent, and his father has Irish ancestry. He attended Stuart Hall for Boys and then later graduated from Saint Ignatius College Preparatory. In 2009, Criss obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Performance degree from the University of Michigan.

Criss is a classically trained violinist who began playing at the age of five. He later taught himself guitar, piano, cello, mandolin, harmonica and drums. He played drums in a band with his brother, Chuck, until Chuck moved to New York City to develop his music career (and subsequently joined the indie rock group Freelance Whales).

Criss made his professional stage debut at the age of ten, in 42nd Street Moon's 1997 production of Fanny in the role of Cesario. The next year, Criss played Mauro in the same company's production of the Richard Rodgers and Stephen Sondheim musical Do I Hear a Waltz?, followed by Babes in Arms in 1999, in which he played Beauregard Calhoun.

Career

Criss started out as the host of That Media Show, a San Francisco production which discussed Hollywood, filmmaking and visual effects.

Acting

Criss's early acting career includes roles on the television series Eastwick and Cold Case.

Team StarKid

Criss is part of the theater company Team StarKid, formed by theater students at the University of Michigan. His most popular role with Team StarKid was as Harry Potter in the YouTube viral musicals A Very Potter Musical and A Very Potter Sequel. Both productions are musical-comedies based on the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling.

Glee

On November 9, 2010, Criss joined the cast of Glee in the episode "Never Been Kissed" as Blaine Anderson, a gay student at rival school Dalton Academy and lead singer of Dalton's Glee club, The Warblers. He is currently a recurring character in season two and plays the boyfriend of main character Kurt Hummel, played by Chris Colfer. Glee creator Ryan Murphy stated, "Darren has a major, major arc... He sort of becomes Kurt's mentor and then maybe love - Kurt had to leave his own school because of bullying and goes to an all-boys academy and finds acceptance because that school has a zero-tolerance no-bullying policy. So Kurt really admires him and respects him. He plays someone who's one year older than Chris' character, so he's the old pro."

Life of Leopold

Criss voices the character of Leopold Bonar from the Funny or Die web series "Life of Leopold".

Music

Team StarKid

Criss is credited as one of the primary songwriters and composers, along with A.J. Holmes and Carlos Valdes, for Team StarKid musical productions. He has contributed songs to A Very Potter Musical (2009), Me and My Dick (2009), and composed all the songs and music for A Very Potter Sequel (2010), its companion album A Very StarKid Album (2010), Starship (2011), and the web-series Little White Lie (2007). The Starship album was released on April 29, 2011. It reached #1 on Billboard Top Cast Album Chart, #4 on iTunes Albums Chart, and #134 on Billboard 200 Chart.

Albums

Criss released a self-produced EP called Human on iTunes in the summer of 2010. It debuted at No. 30 on Billboard's Top Heatseekers Albums and has reached the iTunes Top 20 Alternative charts. He is currently signed with Sony Music Entertainment.

Criss frequently collaborates and performs with fellow Michigan alum, New York-based singer/songwriter Charlene Kaye. He sings on her songs "Skin and Bones" and "Dress and Tie", and is featured in her music videos for "Skin and Bones" "Dress and Tie" and "Magnolia Wine."

Glee

Criss has contributed to the Glee soundtrack as lead singer of the "Warblers", an all-male acapella singing group (all backing vocals and arrangements are done by Tufts University's Beelzebubs). His first song on Glee, "Teenage Dream", hit #1 on the Billboard charts, selling 214,000 singles in its first week and outselling the original in its first week of digital sales. It was the first time a Glee track had reached the #1 spot, and is the fastest selling Glee track to date. He followed with other songs he sang in later episodes; "Baby It's Cold Outside," "Bills, Bills, Bills," "When I Get You Alone," "Silly Love Songs," "Hey Soul Sister," "Animal," "Candles," "Misery", "Somewhere Only We Know" and "Raise Your Glass;" most of which have reached the top ten on iTunes. The album Glee: The Music presents The Warblers, released on April 19, 2011, reached #2 on iTunes and the Billboard 200 Charts.

Filmography

Film
Year	Title	Role	Notes
2005	I Adora You	Josh	Short film
2009	Walker Phillips	Elliott	Short film
2011	Glee Live!	Blaine Anderson / Himself	Concert film
2011	The Chicago 8	Yippie Man	Completed

Television
Year	Title	Role	Notes
2009	Eastwick	Josh Burton	5 episodes
2010	Cold Case	Ruben Harris '69	"Free Love" (Episode 7x20)
2010–present	Glee	Blaine Anderson	12 episodes, recurring role
2011	Archer	Mikey and Tommy (Voices)	"Placebo Effect" (Episode 2x9)

Theater

Fanny (1997) as Cesario
Do I Hear a Waltz (1998) as Mauro
Babes in Arms (1999) as Beauregard Calhoun
A Very Potter Musical (2009) as Harry Potter; also songwriter
Me and My Dick (2009) as Italian restaurant owner (voice); also songwriter and guitarist
A Very Potter Sequel (2010) as Harry Potter; also songwriter
Starship (2011) - Songwriter