Former Glee Star Darren Criss admits he feels 'lucky' he is able to pass for white in an industry notorious for whitewashing where actors of colour often struggle to get substantive roles.
The 31-year-old actor had the rare chance to play his ethnicity in his latest role as half-Filipino serial killer Andrew Cunanan in the critically acclaimed series American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace.
The tele-drama spanning nine episodes explores the lives of two characters - the famous fashion designer, and Andrew Cunanan, the serial killer who shot him to death in 1997.
Criss told Vulture, he was never forced to confront the race barrier in getting parts in television because he was, thankfully, able to pass off as white.
"I always say one of my favourite things about myself is that I’m half-Filipino but I don’t look like it,' he told Vulture.
"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'.”
Criss said his ability to blend into the dominant culture made him reluctant to embrace the label Asian-American because he did not have to confront the obstacles associated with appearing different from the white mainstream.
"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," he said.
Criss, whose Filipino mother married his white father in the US, expressed admiration for his Asian-American co-star Jon Jon Briones, who plays his father in the show.
"Everybody was blown away by Jon Jon, and Ryan [director Ryan Murphy] said to me, “How come I’ve never heard of him? How come he doesn’t get cast in stuff?” he said.
And I’m like, “Ryan, he does. He’s been working for a long time. He’s a tried-and-true Broadway actor, man. Just because he’s not on billboards and glamour magazines doesn’t mean he’s not a working actor.”
"He’s like, “Well, I don’t get why I still haven’t heard of him.”
"I’m like, 'He’s a Filipino man, dude'.”
