When Darren Criss won the Golden Globe for his performance in "The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story," he made sure to thank his mother.
"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," he said onstage on Sunday night. "Mom, I know you are watching this. You are hugely responsible for most of the good things in my life. I love you dearly. I dedicate this to you."
Backstage, the actor expanded on his sentiment (especially as he's gotten heat in the past for how he's spoken about his racial background).
"I always tell people, being half Filipino is one of my favorite things about myself because I had no control over that," he explained. "I feel like I've been given a superhero cape."
"If there's any young [people,] either half-Filipino or full, or anyone in the Filipino community that looks to my work as a source of inspiration or direction, sign me up," he added, "I'm on board for that. It's a great privilege and it means the world to me. I'm very proud."
Criss also spoke to reporters of his parents individually. "They're kind of my biggest bragging rights," he said. "My dad taught me how to make other people more comfortable, and my mother was the other half, and taught me how to be comfortable with yourself. They were both very supportive of an early age."
