To television fans, Darren Criss is arguably best known as half of one of TV’s most well-known queer romances—as Blaine Anderson opposite Chris Colfer’s Kurt Hummel on Glee from 2010 to 2015—but who is making him want to sing silly love songs at home? Funnily enough, it was only a few months before he first appeared as Blaine on the Fox series that he would meet his real-life love, his wife Mia Swier.
During his 2018 Emmy Awards acceptance speech for his role as spree killer Andrew Cunanan The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story, the multi-hyphenate star publicly thanked his then-fiancee,tearfully telling her: “You roll the windows down and turn the music up in my life.”
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The couple have been together long before Criss found Hollywood fame as an actor (along with that Emmy, he’s won a Golden Globe, a Critics' Choice Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award over the years). Criss is also a singer-songwriter (he’s released three EPs as well as a Christmas album, outside of his extensive work with the Glee cast) and a Broadway star, most recently popping up onstage as Bobby in American Buffalo, Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors and as Oliver in Maybe Happy Ending. For the latter title, the 38-year-old performer received his first Tony nomination for Leading Actor in a Musical, and we already know who he’ll be taking as his plus one to the special night, airing on CBS this Sunday, June 8.
"We have been the ultimate plus-ones out here for each other for 10 years," Darren told PEOPLE in April 2020. "My dreams and ambition have always been the driving force in my life. It was the gas in my tank. It almost consumed me. Some people were slighted by that, but Mia never was. I am so grateful for her—every day."
Ahead of their appearance on the Tony red carpet this weekend, let’s dig into the longtime romance between Darren Criss and his wife Mia Swier.
Darren Criss has been married to Mia Swier since Feb. 16, 2019. Like her famous hubby, Swier works in the entertainment industry—the 39-year-old Alabama native graduated from the Steinhardt School of Media Studies and Television Production at New York University and got her start as a production assistant for White Cherry Entertainment, working on televised live events like the Super Bowl, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and, fittingly enough, the Tony Awards.
Per her LinkedIn profile, Swier is currently a “Passionate Writer/Producer/Director interested in production positions in film and TV, and creating artistic content with a purpose and strong message.” She started her own production company, Von Glitz Productions, in October 2012. She also co-owns a Los Angeles piano bar called Tramp Stamp Granny’s with her husband as of April 2018. The venue is affectionately named after Swier’s grandmother.
How did Darren Criss and Mia Swier meet?
The future couple was first introduced by mutual friends back in 2006, but it would be several years before a romantic relationship began between the two. They started dating in 2010 and were engaged nearly eight years later, with Criss publicly announcing the happy news in an Instagram post in January 2018. “Mia and I have had seven and a half years of fun, wacky, wonderful, CRAZY adventures together,” the caption read. “And I’m happy to announce that we’re kicking those adventures up a notch. We’re goin for it. To boldly go where neither of us have gone before. Engage.”
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The newlyweds had a big, four-day blowout in New Orleans for their February 2019 nuptials, which were detailed in a profile for Vogue. With a star-studded guest list that included Lea Michele, John Stamos and Harry Shum Jr., the celebrations included a 1980s-themed prom night, a swamp tour excursion, a singing-filled rehearsal dinner and more.
“It just kept going and nobody wanted it to end,” Darren told Vogue. “It was less a celebration of us specifically and more a celebration of the life we’ve built together. The whole thing was a dream. It was exactly what we had hoped it would be. Best weekend of our lives.”
Does Darren Criss have kids?
Yes, Darren Criss shares two children with his wife Mia Swier; they welcomed their first child, a daughter named Bluesy Belle, in April 2022, and a second baby, a son named Brother László, in June 2024.
On how fatherhood has changed his approach to performing, Criss told Entertainment Tonight in 2022: “I think life is always present in the work you do, so, it was present when I was a son, as a friend, as a brother, as a husband. I bring that to all the things that I do. So sure, a new element of fatherhood is there, but I try and bring my best version of myself to everything I do. So hopefully I’ve enhanced. I’ve leveled up.”
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What is Darren Criss’s sexuality?
Given that one of his most famous roles is as a very confident and proud gay glee club member, it’s understandable that Darren Criss’s sexuality has prompted scrutiny over the years. However, while the actor identifies as heterosexual and cisgender, he did reveal during an appearance at the Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo that he feels “culturally queer.”
“I have been so culturally queer my whole life,” Criss said, as reported by Deadline. “Not because I’m trying—you know what, actually, I was gonna say ‘not because I’m trying to be cool,’ but I’m gonna erase that. It’s because I am trying to be cool. Ninety-nine percent of the sh** in my life that I have tried to emulate, learn from, and be inspired by is 100% queer as f***.”
He continued: “It was in queer communities that I’ve found people that I idolize, that I want to learn something from. And I’d say that’s a gross generalization, 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.”
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