Darren Criss' dad prepared him for his touching Golden Globes speech.
Darren Criss
The 31-year-old actor picked up the gong for Best Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture for TV for his work as real life killer Andrew Cunanan in 'The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story' during the glitzy award ceremony on Sunday (06.01.19), and gave a moving speech in which he honoured his Filipino mother when he praised representation in Hollywood.
And although he wasn't expecting to win the trophy, he says his father has always taught him to be prepared with a speech no matter the odds.
He said: "My dad is a real big stickler for articulacy and specificity and having any opportunity whether it's one out of five, one out of 10, chance of public speaking one should be prepared in case. I knew that if things had gone a certain way I really wanted to dedicate it to my mother."
Darren's decision to plan a speech ahead of time also meant he could keep his composure, as he had been worried that he'd "ugly cry" the whole way through.
Speaking to E! News, he added: "It's a miracle I didn't ugly cry my way through that whole speech. I made it."
During his speech, the former 'Glee' star said he was "enormously proud" of the improvement to representation in Hollywood over the past year, and thanked his mother for being "hugely responsible for most of the good things" in his life.
He said as he accepted the award: "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 to this country and getting to be invited to cool parties like this. So, mom, I know you're watching this, you are hugely responsible for most of the good things in my life. I love you dearly, I dedicate this to you."
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