2010 Greggy Award Winner: “Glee” sensation Darren Criss is the hands-down New Star of the Year!

It’s so exciting when someone you have never heard of just bursts onto the scene and dazzles us with their talent and personality.

That is what happened this fall when Darren Criss debuted on Glee as Blaine, a member of a rival high school singing group who is openly gay and befriends Kurt (Chris Colfer).

He struck such a cord with viewers that producers knew they had a breakout star on their hands. They immediately signed Criss as a regular.

Even though he plays gay on-screen, Darren is straight in real life as he charmingly explained to Vanity Fair:

“I was inadvertently raised in the “gay community.” I had straight parents, but I spent massive amounts of time at a very early age with gay, theater-hopeful thirty-somethings. And those were the people I spent time with early on, so my whole perception of “sexuality” just wasn’t there. It just…was. It even got to the point where, later in life… I had all the components in place. I was, well, not super effeminate, but I was into girly things—I liked musical theater, all the stereotypical things. I had to come out and say, well, I’m sorry, but I think I’m straight. And people were like, say it ain’t so! And I would say, “It’s been a secret too long, but I’m actually a straight male.”

Congratulations to 2010 Greggy Award winner Darren Criss!