Darren Criss explains why he's done playing gay characters

Darren Criss was praised for his role in 'Hedwig and The Angry Inch.'

DARREN CRISS has played gay serial killer Andrew Cunanan in The Assassination of Gianni Versace, the gay teen, Blaine  Anderson, in the TV series Glee and the sexually ambiguous lead character in the Broadway musical Hedwig and The Angry Inch. Are you noticing a trend?

In a recent interview, Criss said he will no longer play characters who are gay.

"As a straight, white, cisgender male I get to explore all these things that are completely not me," Criss told Bustle. "And what's cool is it glorifies both the power in that and the struggle in that."

He  continues, "I want to make sure I won't be another straight boy taking a gay man's gay man's role." 

Those aren't the only role roles Criss has portrayed, but they are the roles that he's received the most acclaim.
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Criss' sensitivity to LGBTQ representation can be based on recent surveys showing  that in the 2018-2019 TV season, out of 857 series regular characters on primetime scripted programming on the five broadcast network only 75 were LGBTQ, according to a report, "Where We Are on TV," by the gay advocacy group GLAAD.

Casting straight actors for queer roles -- or, "queerwashing," akin to "yellowface" a term for white actors playing Asian characters -- is nothing new in Hollywood. In 2017, Timothée Chalamet and Armie Hammer, two actors who are not openly gay, playing queer roles. Chalamet won a Oscar for his portrayal.

This awards season alone, Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz, Emma Stone, Mahershala Ali, Rami Malek, Melissa McCarthy and Richard E. Grant are all straight actors who were nominated for Golden Globes for their LGBTQ+ roles.

Criss won an Emmy for his portrayal of serial killer Andrew Cunanan in 'The Assassination of Gianni Versace.'

The issue of representation was brought home to Criss as he was playing Cunanan, a Filipino American mestizo, the same heritage as Criss.

In an interview earlier this year in Vulture, Criss got into trouble when he said, “I always say one of my favorite things about myself is that I’m half-Filipino but I don’t look like it.”

The actor continued: “I just look like a Caucasian guy, which is nice. I’ve got the multi-ethnic thing going on. People think I’m like Italian or Mediterranean.”

On the subject of Asian American representation in media, he seemed to further stress how grateful he was for looking Caucasian:

“Somebody was talking about Asian American representation, and he’s like, ‘I don’t see a lot of stuff for Filipinos specifically,’ and I went, ‘I guess not, but I guess I don’t think about it.’ I have the luxury of being half-white and looking more Caucasian, so it doesn’t weigh on my conscience as much, like, ‘Ugh, why aren’t there more roles?’ I think as an actor, you just study and you wanna bring your ‘A’ game all the time and hopefully it doesn’t even matter.”

Filipinos and Filipino Americans took that to mean he preferred passing as white. The backlash prompted him to tweet after the Vulture interview was published.

“Just to clarify- 1 of my favorite things about myself is that I’m half Filipino. PERIOD. I happen to not look like it, but THAT fact is not what I like. I like the fact that most people don’t know it’s an ace up my sleeve, an ace I’m very proud of, regardless of what I look like.”

His role as Cunanan earned him an Emmy, making him the first Filipino to win that award. If he wins a Golden Globe next month, he'll be the first Filipino recipient of that award also. It raises his profile and his ethnic background becomes even more meaningful in this era of increased representation in the media.

Having been burned as a result of the Vulture interview, he seems to understand that however he may see himself, with his new-found fame, he carries a certain responsibility to represent and be a role model for other Filipinos and Asians. 

"I didn’t choose to be half-Filipino. I mean I love it, it’s very cool, and if this has been the outcome sure, I’m very pleased and proud that I can represent people that may see my presence in the media as a beacon for themselves," he says now. "That’s a real privilege."

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Why isn't Darren Criss getting the love from the AAPI community?

Can you pick out Darren Criss in these photos of Andrew Cunanan?

TODAY is perhaps the biggest day in Darren Criss' life. Today, he can move up the Hollywood hierarchy to become a genuine star; or he can come crashing down as just another nameless actor amongst a vast sea of wannabes.

Early reviews of American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace indicate Criss' star is more likely will follow the former path catapulting the Filipino/American actor into a realm rarely inhabited by an Asian/American. Yet, with the exception of Filipino/American media, AAPI media - newspapers, bloggers, vloggers - has been curiously subdued for what could be described as a breakthrough.

Filipinos very rarely make national news -- not because they didn't deserve it, but mainly because mainstream media ignores them even though they are the largest Asian ethnic group in California. 

So in 1997 when Andrew Cunanan became linked to the notorious homicide of the famous designer preceded with a string of murders across the country, my sense of hiya (shame) --  kicked in. I was worried and a little bit embarrassed because for many people, Cunanan would be their only exposure to a newsworthy Filipino.

Maybe that's also the reason the AAPI community has maintained an arms-length distance over Criss' opportunity. Of all the Asian Americans to garner prime-time, nine-episode, exposure - this story presents an Asian/American as a sociopath serial killer.

Unlike all the publicity and hoopla given to Kelly Marie Tran for her historic breakthrough role in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, from the AAPI commentators online and in print, Criss hasn't benefited from a whole lot of support from the Asian American community (except for the Filipino/American community.) There has been no excitement wishing him the best, hardly any buzz and little talk about the opening up of acting opportunities for AAPI performers or the breaking of stereotypes.

Darren Criss, a Filipino/American, who portrays Cunanan, -- with the exception of the Filipino/American media -- should be the darling of the Twitter universe and entertainment and cultural bloggers and vloggers and hailed as a potential gamechanger because you can count on one hand, the AAPI actors who have been given this type of exposure.

There is one other factor that might explain the lack of excitement in the AAPI community about Criss's opportunity, is that he doesn't fit the popular of what an Asian looks like. He is not East Asian or South Asian. His mother is a native of Cebu, Philippines, while his father, a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is of English, German, and Irish descent. As he said in an interview on a late show, "I look Italian."

Actor Henry Golden, half-Malaysian and half-Brit, faced the same kind of criticism when he was cast in Crazy Rich Asians as the scion of a prominent and ultra-rich Chinese Singaporean family. He didn't look Chinese enough.

There is almost an unsaid "purity" test for who can call themselves Asian. Some people look down their nose at those who are not "full-blooded" Filipino.

Outside the entertainment sphere, in an ordinary social context, I've encountered this haughty attitude from some first-generation immigrant Filipinos. Because I don't speak one of the dialects from the Philippines, I can't really call myself Filipino even though both my parents are from the Philippines, my dark skin clearly marks me as non-white and I have this odd-sounding  last name. 

Although this season's American Crime Story has Versace's name in the title, the series is really about Andrew Cunanan.

Criss shares a remarkable resemblance to the real Cuananan, who like Criss is half-Filipino (or as described in Filipino circles as "mestizo"). Both were born in California; Cunanan in National City and Criss calls the San Francisco Bay Area home. Both enjoy boyish good looks.

Both also have a captivating personality and that's where the resemblance ends. Criss - up to now - has used his personality to further his career and brand; but Cunanan used his personality for evil, to manipulate the people around him.

RELATED: Who has the right to call oneself Asian?

“The idea of not whitewashing the half-Filipino side and casting a white dude was important,” said producer Nina Jacobson. “Darren had (the author's) endorsement and understanding of him as an actor, great look for the part, and then was authentically half Filipino like Andrew was.”

Tonight's first episode will introduce us to Cunanan, the darkest role that Criss has had to portray. Usually associated with musicals for his role in Glee and the Broadway musical Hedwick and the Angry Inch, Criss has had to dig deep to portray the sociopath.

Cunanan, Criss told Vanity Fair, was “someone who had the potential to do so much more. How does that person become synonymous with something so sad, violent, or scary?” He adds, “It’s a story about the have and have-not—the ultimate creator and the ultimate destroyer.”

There's a chilling scene in which Cunanan, portrayed by Criss,  expresses his chameleon-like ability to be whatever he needs to be or whatever the person he's speaking to wants him to be: “I’m a banker. I’m a stock broker, I’m a shareholder. I’m a paperback writer. I’m a cop. I’m a naval officer—sometimes I’m a spy. I build movie sets in Mexico and skyscrapers in Chicago. I sell propane in Minneapolis. I import pineapples from the Philippines. You know, I’m the person least likely to be forgotten.”

"I'm Andrew Cunanan."

“Darren was, to me, the male version of Sarah Paulson,” American Crime Story creator Ryan Murphy said to reporters after a panel, invoking his muse who played Marcia Clark in The People Vs. O.J. Simpson. Murphy saw her as a lead actor and gave her that role to show the world. He sees that career-launching pad for Criss in the role of Andrew Cunanan.

American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace airs tonight (Wed. Jan. 17) on the Fox Network, 10 p.m.

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TGIF Feature: 'It's a joke' exclaims Darren Criss about his Speedo photo

CALM DOWN, FOLKS!

Apparently, a lot of people couldn't get past the picture of Darren Criss in a Speedo and missed the caption underneath.

The Filipino/American triple-threat entertainer broke the internet back when he shared a photo of himself during the filming of the upcoming American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace earlier this year. He was wearing absolutely nothing and just a Speedo held in front of himself to stay modest.

Now, the 30-year-old actor feels he needs to explain the joke behind the photo because, darn it(!), people didn't read the caption, which “no one read.” It was, “So what’s more red? My sunburn, my speedo, or YOUR FACE??? #ACSVersace.”

Darren Criss: I look kind of ridiculous'

Darren opened up during his visit with The Ladygang podcast.
“I was wearing this ridiculous red speedo thing and thank god it was for the show because pictures had come out, the paparazzi had caught us. We’re shooting a scene on the beach and it’s Miami. It’s fair game, we’re out in the open so there are photos of me in a scene with Max Greenfield and I’m in this red Speedo and I look kind of ridiculous. 

"We’re all kind of giggling about this on set, like, ‘Oh my god, this is getting picked up.’ And I kind of wanted to take it back for myself,” Darren said.

“At the end of that day, I was completely sunburned and was essentially the same color as the Speedo and so I’m looking at myself in the mirror thinking this is too funny. So after those photos went out, I was like, ‘I have a better photo.’ So that was that,” Darren added.

In American Crime Story, Criss portrays serial killer Andrew Cunanan, a Filipino who was among the FBI's Most Wanted list before he committed suicide. The role is perhaps the biggest undertaking for the actor, who is usually associated with lighter fare that shows off his musical skills such as his breakout role in the Fox Network's musical drama, Glee.

The American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace miniseries will air Wednesday, January 17, 2018 at 10 PM EST on FX.

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