Michael Urie life and biography

Michael Urie is an American actor, television producer and director, best known for his portrayal of Marc St. James on the ABC dramedy series Ugly Betty.

In June 2009 Urie referred to himself as "a member of the LGBT community" on his website. While Urie's sexuality has long been speculated, his February 2010 interview in The Advocate revealed that he identifies as "queer", though, unlike other men, it never felt wrong when he was with women. As of February 2011 he has been dating actor Ryan Spahn for over two years.

As in Ugly Betty, Urie is best friends with fellow cast member Becki Newton. Both are the hosts of the official show podcast.

He is of partly Scottish and partly Italian descent.

Michael Urie is a native Texan who was active in Speech and Drama all through high school at Plano Senior High School. He trained in theater studies at Collin County Community College in Plano before going to the Julliard School where he was recipient of the John Houseman prize for excellence in classical theater and the Laura Pels award for a career in the theater.

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. His first time directing The Fantasticks was as a high school student at Plano Senior High.
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.
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.

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