With Fox’s hit Emmy-award winning show Glee on hiatus the past month and half during the Christmas holiday, cast member Darren Criss used his time off to do something he’s wanted to do for a long time – visit his mother’s homeland.
The half-Filipino, half-Irish Criss was excited to go to the Philippines.
Not only was he going to his mother’s homeland for the third time, he was also going to perform in front of thousands of Filipino fans.
“The Filipino community is notoriously wonderful to those who have any Filipino blood in the entertainment industry,” Criss told GMA when he arrived in the Philippines.
“Charice and Lea Salonga are the big players so I’m really happy to be embraced as much as I have been. It’s a treat. I love the Filipino community.”
Music Management International brought Criss to the Philippines and he loved it just as much as he loved the thousands of fans who poured in the different malls in and around Manila to greet him.
“I know Darren loved it and wants to come back,” said Alex Retodo, a marketing manager for MMI. “It was awesome. The reason why Darren’s managers wanted to connect with the Philippines is because Glee is No. 1 in web searches coming from the Philippines.”
Actually, Glee is No. 7 in Google’s fastest rising trend coming out of the tiny island but it’s increasing everyday because of the number of Filipinos in the show—including Charice, Hazel Faith Dela Cruz, who won a walk-on role, and of course, Criss.
From YouTube to mainstream star
The 23-year-old Criss broke into the entertainment scene just like how many young performers do it nowadays—through YouTube. The internet video website has been instrumental in launching not only his career, but other Filipinos as well like Charice and Happy Slip, to name a few.
Criss is originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, His father is Irish and his mother hails from Cebu.
“I’m not like full Filipino but definitely I have many parts of me that are,” he told Yong Chavez of ABS-CBN. “My family’s Filipino. My family is in the Philippines. It’s our culture and heritage that I’ve always been proud of, simply because it’s such a cool place. And my friends who are Filipinos are the coolest.”
He began playing music as a child including instruments like the violin, guitar, piano, and drums. He and his brothers formed their own band.
After graduating from Saint Ignatius College Preparatory, he attended the University of Michigan.
According to his website bio, during his senior year in college, Darren and his friends created a musical theater parody of Harry Potter for their own enjoyment and to show their other classmates.
What began as a fun project, A Very Potter Musical, went viral on-line and became an instant hit. As of press time, A Very Potter Musical part 1 has received more than four million hits. There are 14-parts to the musical, most of them with over 1 million hits each.
Criss played the boy wizard and wrote several songs for the musical.
Criss and his friends used the notoriety to launch their own company called StarKid Productions.
Within the past year, StarKid have debut music on three separate Billboard charts.
Criss also began audition for shows to try to break into Hollywood. He said he had auditioned for Glee several times before producers cast him as Blaine.
“It just so happens you meet a few people along the way and they keep you in mind for certain castings,” he told the Manila Bulletin. “I went out for Blaine and it’s a character I really wanted to do. I used to have long hair and I cut it for the audition and thank goodness it was worth it.”
He admits it was difficult at first to play a gay character since it’s not something he relates to in his personal life. But of his character Blaine, he said: “As a straight man it’s great to have an out and proud gay character on a show that’s so well-received where young people who are struggling can have something to relate to in Blaine.
Aside from his newfound acting career, Criss continues to work on his own personal album and writes musicals for StarKid. He released an EP called Human last summer that is doing very well.
With the new episode of Glee set for Super Bowl, many viewers are hoping to see more of Criss aka Blaine in action.
And for the people in the Philippines, Retodo of Music Management International said he hopes to bring Criss back to the Philippines to perform more shows.
(www.asianjournal.com)
(LA Midweek Jan 26-28, 2011 MDWK pg.2)
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
