Michael Urie (Ugly Betty) Interview

Michael Urie, star of Ugly Betty, is holding court in a fashionable suite in a central London hotel, with assembled publicists, journalists and hangers-on devouring his every pronouncement. But rewind a couple of years and the closest he ever came to a suite was if he needed to get some extra money working a hotel night shift. If the transformation from struggling actor to bona fide star has been rapid, it hasn’t spoiled Urie in the least. He exudes charm and bonhomie, and seems as gleefully astonished by his rise to prominence as anyone else.

Here, ahead of a new series of Ugly Betty, he reveals how he was only ever meant to have a tiny role in the show, why getting the part of Marc involved a close shave, and what it’s like to star alongside Naomi Campbell and Victoria Beckham.


What can we expect from the forthcoming run of Ugly Betty?

So far you’ve had Bradford Meade, aka Alan Dale, aka Jim from Neighbours, collapse at the altar, right? Well, there’ll be more drama now because Wilhelmina no longer has an easy way back to the top, so she and I will spend a lot of time figuring out ways to get back. I know Amanda will continue to search for her father, which is very odd and exciting. Betty will continue to try and figure out who is better for her, Gio the sandwich guy or Henry the accountant. That’s going to be a big thing. The thing is, I can’t remember what you know already and what you don’t know. I don’t know what I can say.

Okay, let’s confuse you by going even further back. You’ve got a very classical acting background, a lot of Shakespeare and so on. How did you end up doing something which isn’t exactly Shakespeare?

When I got the part, I was doing an off-Broadway production of The Revenger’s Tragedy, an old Jacobean blood-fest. I was playing this very over-the-top king, very crazy, who ends up getting stabbed in the wing-wang at the end. It was gross, bloody and hilarious. And the casting director for Ugly Betty saw me in that, and liked me. So when the casting breakdowns came out, I saw there was this role, which just said ‘bitchy, gay assistant,’ and I thought ‘Well, I could probably do that’. And I knew the casting director liked me. So it was actually a classical piece that got me the job.

You had a beard at the time, didn‘t you?

Yeah, I did. By that stage I was doing another play, and I was playing a geologist, and all geologists have beards, obviously. So I was getting blown up by Mount St Helens every day. So when I went in to do a read, I had a full beard, a month’s worth of beard. And they said they’d like to see me again, but without the beard. And I thought: ‘But I’m in the middle of a play here. My artistic integrity’s being challenged here. If I shave off the beard, it’ll ruin the show. Okay, I’ll do it.’ So I shaved the beard, and then drew it in for the rest of the run.

It was initially meant to be a very small role, wasn’t it?

Yeah. They were shooting the pilot in New York, but they’d done all the casting for the main roles back in LA. They were just casting the co-stars, the waiters and doormen and stuff, in New York. So mine was a very small role, with no guarantee that it would be a recurring role after the pilot. In fact, the original idea was the Wilhelmina would fire her assistant every week, and get a new one. So I got really lucky. There were only a few small scenes in the pilot, but I just decided to give them everything. And Vanessa Williams [who plays Wilhelmina] was a major supporter from the beginning. She’d include me, and say ‘Wouldn’t it be funny if we did this?’ and developed this really funny way of barking my name ‘Marc!’ so that they just couldn’t cut me out in the end. At the end of shooting the pilot, they asked me to be in the cast photo.

It must have been quite intimidating to be told you’ll be working alongside someone like Vanessa Williams.

It was! Originally the role was going to be played by someone else, but it didn’t work out. Then the night before shooting, the second assistant director called me up and said ‘So tomorrow you’ll be shooting these scenes with Wilhelmina played by… VANESSA WILLIAMS!’ He was like a talk-show host. And I couldn’t believe it. The Vanessa Williams.

Did you spend any time researching the role by working on a magazine?

No, I didn’t do anything like that. But I read magazines. And I went to the Glamour magazine party as part of my research. And I brought my card, in case I ever get fired from Mode.

Do you get any feedback from fashion magazines as to what they think of the show?

Actually yes. In our series finale, we have the creative director and Editor-in-Chief of Elle in the show, playing themselves, which is really cool. They love the show. Joe, who’s the creative director, calls his assistant Betty. We met her, too - she’s great, but she’s not at all ugly. She’s really sweet and eager and optimistic, just like Betty. We asked them if it was at all like Mode over at Elle, and they said ‘We wish the offices were as nice’.

You’ve also got some pretty exciting guest stars in the series, don’t you?

Yeah, we’ve got Lindsay Lohan and Naomi Campbell appearing.

Were you scared of Naomi?

I wasn’t, because luckily I didn‘t really know about her past. We had a joke in the script that alluded to her antics, and I had to have it explained to me, because I didn’t realise what had happened with the cell phone. But it’s a very funny joke. She was very cool, and really fun to work with. She was completely at ease playing a version of herself, she was really good about it, just like Posh was. They were both very happy to make fun of themselves. Lindsay doesn’t play herself, she plays a role. I didn’t have any scenes with her, so I’ve not met her yet, but I’m told she’s coming back.

Do you think Posh will come back?

Probably. She loves the show, and everyone loves her and wants her to come back.

Which star had the most excitement on set for their arrival?

Well, when Posh was there, David Beckham and the kids were there too. We have about 300 people that work on Ugly Betty, and on any given day you might see 50 or 60 of them. That day, everybody showed up. It was great, they were terrific.

So there was no diva-like behaviour?

No, I’ve never seen anything like that on the set. We’re always having too much fun. Seriously, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone even lose their temper on set. Everyone is so cool, and the material is either silly or loving, so it’s just not the environment for it. All the diva-like behaviour is reserved for in front of the camera.

Marc has some pretty unusual fashion tastes. Have you ever refused to wear anything you’ve been given?

I’ll go with whatever they tell me to wear, because it’s usually funny. I mean, how many times do you get to play a character that’s funny before they even say anything? Oh, hang on, I have refused to wear one thing that I’d worn before. They put me in this orange vest, and the set is mostly white and orange, and I just blended into the wall. I looked like a sort of floating head and arms. But the only other times I’ve asked not to wear things are if they’re too tight. .

You’re very well turned out, today.

You think so? Thank you!

Have you learned much about fashion from the show, and do you take home any of Marc’s wardrobe with you?

Actually, the shirt I’m wearing is Marc’s! It probably had something orange or green over it, and a hat and a vest over it. But yeah, I have stolen from Marc. I have learned from him, and I have learned what not to wear from him. And I’ve learned a lot from the wardrobe people, who are great. And at the start of all this I had no nice clothes, and they’d let me borrow stuff for events and so on. And I didn’t have a clue. I used to wear black shoes and a brown belt. That’s wrong, isn’t it? So everything I know about fashion I’ve learned from Ugly Betty.

The show’s moving location, isn’t it?

Yeah. It’s filmed in LA, even though it’s set in New York, and obviously some exteriors were done in New York. But the new series is going to be filmed in New York, which I think is great for the show. Although it’s a little annoying, I finally moved from New York to LA for the show, and now I’ve got to move back again. But it’s great, and there are so many great actors in New York, because of the theatre.

Your character’s best friend, Amanda, is played by Becki Newton. You guys are really close in real life too, aren’t you?

Yeah. I wish she was here right now. She’s meeting me in Monte Carlo next week. We’re best friends. I’ve not seen her since we wrapped a few weeks ago. I live very close to her. When we move to New York, we’ll have to go house-shopping together. It’d be great to live near to each other there, too.

Your life will be pretty different from when you last lived in New York, won’t it?

Yes! Before I got Ugly Betty, I was playing a geologist in a play, and earning $200-a-week off Broadway. Things are a little different now. I don’t have to live like a pauper any more. It’ll be really nice to be in New York and not have to starve. I don’t really know what that’s like in New York.

Apart from the financial aspects, other things about your life must have changed too. What are the most positive and negative aspects of success?

This is the first time I’ve been able to get away since I went away with my family when I was a kid. When I was at college, or afterwards when I was a struggling actor, I was always too broke or too intent on finding the next job to be able to take a vacation. So even though I’m over here on a working vacation, to be able to do this is really nice. And also knowing that I’ve got this much work ahead of me is great. Before, in the theatre, no job was for longer than two months at a time. About halfway through each job, I’d start worrying about what the next one would be. So now I know I’ll be working for at least a year, which is great.

And the negative aspects?

It’s limiting as an actor, to be playing a role like Marc. He’s so specific in his character. Before, there were a lot of roles, and I guess they used a lot of range. So that can be a little tricky. And lines at the grocery store can be tricky. I was in line in the grocery store recently, and the guy in front of me turned around and showed me a magazine with a picture of myself in it. It was just weird. I’m there getting milk and eggs and toilet paper!

Have you seen the original Colombian version of the show?

I’ve seen a little bit of several of them. But I can’t understand them. All of the other versions look like soaps. I love those versions, they look great. If I knew what anyone was talking about, I’d really watch them a lot. But there’s no version of me in them, sadly.


Ugly Betty returns to Channel 4 at 9pm on Friday 5th September 2008.