MICHAEL URIE is an American actor, presenter, director, and producer born on this date. He is known for his portrayal of Marc St. James the ABC dramedy television series Ugly Betty.

While still a student at Juilliard, 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 received the 2002 John Houseman Prize for Excellence in Classical Theatre from the Juilliard School. His classical credits include Shakespeare, Jacobean drama and , and commedia dell’arte.

Urie played the central character in the stage play WTC View as well as in the film adaptation. He is finishing a short documentary 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. 

Starting in 2006, Urie began appearing in ABC dramedy Ugly Betty appearing as Marc St. James, the assistant of Wilhemina Slater (Vanessa L. Williams). The show began with the concept that Wilhelmina would have a different assistant in each episode, thus Urie was originally billed as a guest star in the credits, However, Williams loved their chemistry, and Urie was signed on as a full-time regular midway through the first season. 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. The role earned Urie an Emmy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in 2009. He remained with Ugly Betty until the show’s cancellation in 2010.

Urie originated the role of Rudi Gernreich in the 2009 off-Broadway play The Temperamentals, about the foundation of the early LGBT  rights organization the Mattachine Society for which Urie received a Lucile Lortel Award for Outstanding Lead Actor.

In January 2012, Urie made his Broadway debut, joining the cast of How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying’s second revival in the role of Bud Frump. 

In 2009, Urie referred to himself as “a member of the LGBT community” on his website. In a 2010 interview with The Advocate, he said that he was in a relationship with a man and identifies as “queer”