Therecently engaged Criss, who played serial killer Andrew Cunanan, used his acceptance speech to reflect on playing the man who murdered the legendary fashion designer.
“I find it appropriate that this statuette is kind of choosing between which masks to use,” Criss, 31, said at the Schine Auditorium. “The character that I played, Andrew Cunanan, unfortunately used masks to destroy things. As an actor my goal was to hopefully create something positive, to use masks to create a positive change.”
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For the same part, Criss won the award for best actor in a limited series at the 2019 Golden Globes. He also previously won an Emmy last year for his portrayal of Andrew Cunanan in the FX series.
Criss beat out fellow nomineesAntonio Banderas(Genius: Picasso),Daniel Brühl (The Alienist),Benedict Cumberbatch(Patrick Melrose)andHugh Grant(A Very English Scandal).
After getting cast in the true crime anthology, which was a far cry from his past role as preppy singer Blaine Anderson onGlee,he previously told PEOPLE, “I had a friend tell me when I got the part, ‘You’re playing the gay boogeyman.’ ”
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When it came to playing Cunanan, Criss wanted to make sure he was portraying all of the complex aspects of his character, which included everything from killing in cold blood to singing Laura Branigan’s “Gloria” at the top of his lungs in his car.
“This was the first time I was in a position of any type of leadership on a show,” Criss tells PEOPLE. “For this particular project, it was a relief to be able to set the tone. When you have so much great material and you have a crew that’s working long days and everybody is away from their families and you’re repeating very gruesome things over and over again, it’s nice to know that I’m in the position to crack a few jokes and keep people light-hearted and help them disassociate from all the darkness that we were in.”
source: people.com
