Michael Urie

Michael Lorenzo Urie (born August 8, 1980) is an actor, producer and director. He is best known for his portrayal of Marc St. James on the ABC dramedy series Ugly Betty.

Urie attended Plano Senior High School in Plano, Texas. Urie attended Haggard Middle School in Plano, Texas.

In 1998, he won a Dramatic Interpretation award for Confessions of a Nightingale by Charlotte Chandler at the National Forensic League National Tournament in St. Louis, Missouri. Urie graduated from the Juilliard School, class of 2003.

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.[2] In addition to this, he appeared in student productions of Sylvia (1998) and Locked Away (1999) at Quad C Theatre.

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, for whom he also serves as 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.

When Urie landed the role of "Marc" on Ugly Betty, his character was supposed to be a recurring regular and Urie was billed as guest starring in the credits, which was due to contractual disputes. After they were resolved, Urie was made a full time regular. Patti LuPone played "Marc"'s mother in at least one episode.

On January 4, 2008, Urie will add Reality TV presenter to his credentials when he host TLC's reality-based series "Miss America Reality Check," which follows the contestants participating in the 2008 Miss America Pagent. A series of promos have already started airing on the channel.