Michael Lorenzo Urie (born
August 8,
1980) is an
American actor,
television producer and
director, best known for his portrayal of
Marc St. James on the ABC
dramedy series
Ugly Betty.
Career
While still a student at Juilliard, Urie performed in the world premiere of
Love and Happiness (2001) at the Consolati Performing Arts Center, starring as a sixteen-year-old trying to get rid of his mother's boyfriend.
In addition to this, he appeared in student productions of
Sylvia (1998) and
Locked Away (1999) at Quad C Theatre.
He also was the recipient of the 2002 John Houseman Prize for Excellence in Classical Theatre from the Juilliard School and his classical credits include Shakespeare, Jacobean drama, and commedia dell'arte.
Urie played the central character in the stage play
WTC View as well as in the film adaptation. He is currently finishing a
short documentary film,
Two Down that centers on high school speech and debate tournaments, for Frontal Lobe Productions.
He is on the board of Plum Productions and serves as its casting director. With the same company he has produced and appeared in
Prachtoberfest and
lowbrow (and a little bit tacky). As a freelance producer, he has worked on
Like The Mountains and
The Fantasticks (Four Players Theatre). He also directed the latter production.
The character of "Marc St. James" on
Ugly Betty was not initially intended as recurring; thus Urie was billed in the credits as a guest star. As originally conceived,
Wilhelmina Slater was to have a different assistant in each episode. However,
Vanessa Williams loved their chemistry, and Michael was signed on as a full time regular. He and the cast were nominated for Screen Actors Guild awards for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series in 2007 and 2008.
[Michael Urie - Awards] The role earned Urie a
Ewwy nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in 2009.
Patti LuPone has appeared with Urie to play Marc's mother in at least one episode.
During the
2007-2008 Writers Guild of America strike Urie hosted
TLC's
reality-based series "
Miss America Reality Check." The program followed the contestants participating in the 2008
Miss America Pageant.
[Regina Schaffer. "Miss America gets real (or just about as real as a beauty pageant can get)," The Press of Atlantic City (NJ), January 4, 2008, page B1.]
Urie returns often to his theater roots, including his recent direction of a one-night celebrity performed staging of
Howard Ashman's unproduced musical "Dreamstuff". The musical was re-imagined by Howard's partners Marsha Malamet and
Dennis Green and performed one night only at Los Angeles' Hayworth Theatre as part of the
Bruno Kirby celebrity reading series.
Eden Espinosa starred in the show along with
Fred Willard,
Vicki Lewis,
David Blue and
Luke Macfarlane. He has also been on "Live With Regis and Kelly" and has also starred in the 2008 Disney blockbuster production Beverly Hills Chihuahua as the voice of Sebastian
On 29 October 2008, he appeared as a guest presenter on the British
National Television Awards, awarding for the Best Performance in a Serial Drama.
Urie has also started his own website for videoblogging, live chats, and overall merriment.
[www.michaelurie.net MichaelUrie.net]
Filmography & Television
| Year | Title | Role
|
| 2006-present | Ugly Betty | Marc St. James
|
| 2008-present | Mode After Hours | Marc St. James
|
| 2005 | WTC View | Eric
|
Theatre
Personal life
In June 2009 Urie posted a statement on his website referring to himself as "a member of the
LGBT community." In an interview later in the month he said he prefers not to discuss his private life while doing publicity.
Just like on
Ugly Betty, Urie is best friends with fellow cast member
Becki Newton. Both of them are the hosts of the official podcast of the show.
He is of
Scottish descent.
