PREVIEW

Darren Criss describes himself as 'culturally queer’. During a recent appearance at the Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo, the 37-year-old actor discussed, playing the openly gay character Blaine Anderson in Glee despite being straight. ”I have been so culturally queer my whole life. Ninety per cent of the s**t in my life that I have tried to emulate, learn from and be inspired by is 100 per cent queer as f**k. "The queer community, these are people that I idolise, that I want to learn something from, and I'd say that's a gross generalisation, that's a lot of things and a lot of people.” “But I grew up in San Francisco in the '90s. I watched men die... There was an awareness of the gay experience that was not a foreign concept to me. So, it was a narrative that I cared deeply about."He went on to describe his breakout role as a "privilege", explaining that he was "grateful" to be given the chance to tell Blaine's story. Criss added that it meant "a great deal" to him how meaningful Blaine's relationship with Chris Colfer's character Kurt Hummel was to audiences at the time. Criss joined Glee in the second season in 2010 and remained on the show until its conclusion in 2015. In the final season, Blaine and Kurt got married. In addition to Glee, the actor has also played a gay character in American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace and the Broadway musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch. In 2018, he declared that he would no longer accept LGBTQ+ roles, saying he didn't feel comfortable doing so anymore. ”There are certain (queer) roles that I'll see that are just wonderful. But I want to make sure I won't be another straight boy taking a gay man's role." Criss married his partner Mia in 2019 and they have a two-year-old daughter. THIS VIDEO MUST NOT BE EDITED FOR LENGTH TO COMBINE WITH OTHER CONTENT