darren criss

Yesterday at the 76th Golden Globe Awards ceremony, actor Darren Criss won Best Actor in a Miniseries or Television Film for his role as Filipino-American killer Andrew Cunanan in the American Crime Story series The Assassination of Gianni Versace.

Criss, a Filipino-American himself, took to the stage to thank those who helped him earn the Golden Globe. Among the people he thanked were the Hollywood Foreign Press and his teachers and fellow nominees. But the most important person he was grateful for was his Cebuana mother, announcing to the world “I love you dearly. I dedicate this to you. This is totally awesome”.

Darren Criss was born to Charles William Criss, a Pennsylvania-native and patron of the arts, and to Cerina Bru, a Cebuana investment broker. He attributed his “drive” to become a star to his parents who made sure he grew up surrounded by music. Yet it was his mother to whom he showed immense gratitude during his acceptance speech.

This has been a marvelous year for representation in Hollywood, and I am so enormously proud to be a teeny tiny part of that as the son of a firecracker Filipino woman from Cebu that dreamed of coming into this country and getting to be invited to cool parties like this. Mom, I know you're watching this,” he said.

You can watch his acceptance speech along with the trailer for The Assassination of Gianni Versace below.