Fil-Am actor Darren Criss wins SAG award

Darren Criss accepts the award for outstanding performance by a male actor in a television movie or limited series for “Assassination of Gianni Versace” at the 25th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Shrine Auditorium & Expo Hall on Sunday, Jan. 27, 2019, in Los Angeles. (Invision/AP)

Filipino-American actor Darren Criss won the award for outstanding performance by a male actor in a television movie or limited series at the 25th Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday night.

Criss bagged the award for his portrayal of Andrew Cunanan, the Filipino-American serial killer who murdered Italian fashion designer Gianni Versace in 1997, in “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story.”

“I find it appropriate that this statuette is sort of choosing between which masks to use, and the character that I played, Andrew Cunanan, unfortunately, used masks to destroy things,” Criss, 31, said in hi his acceptance speech.

“So as an actor, my goal is to hopefully create something positive, to use masks to create a positive change. So for all of the friends and families that are still affected by the destruction that he wrought, I hope that they know our goal was not to make a spectacle of their tragedy, but to create a positive dialogue about social issues and bring to justice things that were in the shadows,” he said.

On his way to Screen Actors Guild Awards presented at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, he tweeted: “Being nominated alongside @antoniobanderas, Hugh Grant, Anthony freakin Hopkins, and Bill Pullman is a feather in my cap I could have never imagined. I hope those lads know what it means to me to be in their company. What amazing actors!”

Early this month, Criss was named Best Actor in a Limited Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television for “The Assassination of Gianni Versace” at the 76th Golden Globe Awards.  With reports from Associated Press

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