Darren Criss

Darren Criss is an American actor, singer, and songwriter from San Francisco who first built a following through StarKid Productions, a Chicago-based musical theatre troupe he co-founded at the University of Michigan, most notably writing and starring in the viral fan musical A Very Potter Musical. He went on to reach a much wider audience as Blaine Anderson on the television series Glee, which showcased his voice on a wide range of pop and show-tune covers and made him one of the most recognizable young musical-theatre-trained performers of his generation.

Alongside acting, Criss has pursued a genuine music career spanning musical theatre, pop, and singer-songwriter work. He made his Broadway debut in a revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and later starred as Hedwig in Hedwig and the Angry Inch, roles that underline his theatrical range. His recorded output includes the solo album Human and the Homework EP, plus a project called Computer Games made together with his brother Chuck Criss, blending indie-pop songwriting with the polish of his theatrical background.

Criss has also given back to the musical theatre community he came from by founding Elsie Fest, an outdoor festival celebrating music from stage and screen in New York. Across acting and music, his work is defined by warm, theatrical vocal delivery and an ease moving between pop, rock, and show-tune idioms.