Darren Criss is 'grateful' to have portrayed openly gay character in 'Glee'

Los Angeles: Actor Darren Criss, who received a lot of praise for essaying the role of Blaine Anderson in "Glee", said it was a privilege for him to play a gay character in the popular musical comedy series.

Criss' Blaine was an openly gay character on the Fox show, which ran on the network for six seasons.

The actor, who identifies as a straight male, said he had no qualms about taking on the role. In "Glee", Blaine was in a relationship with Kurt Hummel, played by Chris Colfer.

"It was f---ing awesome. Nowadays, we just call it a relationship on TV. But to contextualise it, a gay relationship on mainstream ‘Fox’, that's a pretty cool thing to be a part of. It was a f-ing privilege and I love talking about it and I'm so grateful I got to do it," Criss said at the ‘Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo’ as quoted by ‘Entertainment Weekly’.

Calling himself "culturally queer", the actor said growing up in San Francisco in the 1990s helped him navigate his role in "Glee" better.

"I have been so culturally queer my whole life. Not because I'm trying - you know, actually, I was going to say not because I'm trying to be cool but I'm going to erase that, because I am trying to be cool. The things in my life that I have tried to emulate, learn from and be inspired by are 100 per cent queer as f---."

"It was in queer communities that I've found people that I idolise, that I want to learn something from," he said. "And I'd say that's a gross generalisation, that's a lot of things and a lot of people. But I grew up in San Francisco in the '90s. I watched men die. There was an awareness of the gay experience that was not a foreign concept to me. So, it was a narrative that I cared deeply about," he added.

Created by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan, "Glee" also starred Lea Michele, Naya Rivera, Cory Monteith and Jonathan Groff.