Early life and education

Urie was born in Dallas, Texas, and raised in Plano. He is of Scottish and Italian descent. He graduated from Plano Senior High School in 1998.

Urie then studied at Collin County Community College before being accepted at the Juilliard School in New York City. There he was a member of the Drama Division's Group 32 (1999-2003), which also included Jessica Chastain. Urie graduated from Juilliard in 2003.

Career

Urie, 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 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 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.

Starting in 2006, Urie began appearing in ABC "dramedy" Ugly Betty, appearing as Marc St. James, the assistant of Wilhelmina 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 a Ewwy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in 2009. He remained with Ugly Betty until the show's cancellation in 2010.

Patti LuPone appeared with Urie to play Marc's mother in one episode.

During the 2007-08 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.

Urie has returned 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's 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 October 29, 2008, he appeared as a guest presenter on the British National Television Awards, awarding for the Best Performance in a Serial Drama.

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. Urie received a Lucille 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.

Urie has also started his own website for videoblogging and live chats. In 2012, Urie also starred as the mysterious limo driver James in the film adaptation of Wendy Mass's children's book Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life, written and directed by Tamar Halpern.

Urie is one of the leads in CBS's half-hour pilot Partners. The multi-camera comedy, from Will & Grace creators Max Mutchnick and David Kohan, centers on lifelong friends and business partners - one straight and one gay. The pilot also features Sophia Bush as another lead. The series premiered on September 24, 2012.

His performance in 2013's one-man show Buyer & Cellar won him a Clarence Derwent Award.

In April 2015, Urie became the host of Cocktails & Classics on Logo TV, in which he and panels of celebrity friends watch and comment on classic movies while imbibing cocktails named or made for the films. Films profiled on the series have included All About Eve, Steel Magnolias, Valley of the Dolls, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and Mommie Dearest.

Personal life

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". He said it never felt wrong when he was with women previously.

Filmography

Film and television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2016	Younger	Redmond	Episodes: "The Jade Crusade", "Jersey, Sure"
2016	Almost Royal	Himself	Episode: "Romance"
2015	Ru Paul's Drag Race	himself	Guest Judge
2014	Modern Family	Gavin Sinclair	Episodes: "Queer Eyes, Full Hearts", "Integrity"
2014-present	The Good Wife	Stephen Dinovera
2014	Such Good People	Richard Nearly	film
2013	He's Way More Famous Than You	himself	film
2012	Partners	Louis	television series
2012	Petunia	George McDougal
2011	The Decoy Bride	Steve Korbitz
2011	Brain Trust	Prof. Franklin Gordon	television film
2011	Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life	James
2010	Celebrity Ghost Stories	himself
2010	Under the Pink Carpet	himself	"Michael Musto, Gay Marriage and Rugby" (Season 5, Episode 4)
2008-2009	Mode After Hours	Marc St. James
2008	Beverly Hills Chihuahua	Sebastian
2008	Tangled Web	Husband
2006-2010	Ugly Betty	Marc St. James	Series regular Nominated-Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series Nominated-Teen Choice Award for Choice TV Actor - Comedy
2005	WTC View	Eric
2004	Kat Plus One	Roger	television film
2003	Uptown Girls	Pig Walker	uncredited
2002	Undressed	Justin	"Tangled Beards" (Season 6, Episode 20)

Director and executive producer

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2012	He's Way More Famous Than You	director
2012	Thank You for Judging	co-director; executive producer	documentary
2009	House of Kai Milla	executive producer	television film

Theater

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2015	A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum	lead	musical
2015	Show for Days	Douglas Carter Beane
2013	Buyer & Cellar	Alex More
2012	How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying	Bud Frump	musical
2009	The Temperamentals	Rudi Gernreich

Charities

Michael Urie supports the following charitable cause: Gay Rights.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]