Darren Criss earned a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Limited Series for his role as the real-life serial Andrew Cunanan in Ryan Murphy’s The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story. Like Cunanan, Criss is half white and half Filipino, but it should be said that is probably the only thing the two have in common. Backstage, after he won his trophy and the FX series won for Best Television Limited Series, Criss addressed being the first Filipino American to win a Golden Globe.

“I’ve said this before, but being half Filipino is one of my favorite things about me,” he said backstage at the Golden Globes. “I feel like I have been given a superhero cape and I am glad to step up to that plate.”

He continues, “It’s a great privilege — and I am proud to be part of that.”

Criss is also nominated for a SAG Award for the true crime anthology series and won an Emmy for his dramatic turn as Cunanan, who Murphy referred to as a “mythological figure” in culture.

During his acceptance speech on stage, Criss called Assassination “a grim story to make,” but also noted this had been “a marvelous year for representation for actors in Hollywood.” As the son of “a firecracker Filipino woman, I’m enormously proud to be a tiny part of that.”

Criss, who was Blaine on Glee and the titular character in Broadway’s Hedwig And The Angry Inch, made headlines in December when he said that he would no longer play LGBTQ characters. While he said the gay roles that he has played are wonderful, he followed it up by adding, “I want to make sure I won’t be another straight boy taking a gay man’s role.”

Criss beat out Antonio Banderas (Genius: Picasso), Daniel Brühl (The Alienist), Benedict Cumberbatch (Patrick Melrose) and Hugh Grant (A Very English Scandal) for the Golden Globe. He’s next up in Roland Emmerich’s Midway. Here is his acceptance speech: