Michael Urie: “When I first started Ugly Betty in 2006, things were very different. I was encouraged to stay in the closet”

Michael Urie has returned to Los Angeles for a run of his smash Off-Broadway play Buyer and Cellar at the Mark Taper Forum.

Urie has had no shortage of work since coming out publicly as a gay man during the middle of the four-year run of ABC’s Ugly Betty in which he played conniving Marc St. James, the assistant to diva magazine editor Wilhelmina Slater (Vanessa Williams).

But back in 2006, when he began on Ugly Betty, the actor says he was encouraged to stay in the closet.

‘This was before Neil Patrick Harris had come out,’ he tells Frontiers Magazine. ‘Even though I was playing an openly gay character, we thought we might want to keep the mystery of what I do behind closed doors.’

The fears proved to be unfounded and he came out publicly in 2009 by referring to himself as ‘a member of the LGBT community’ on his website.

‘… For me, coming out only added to my career,’ Urie says. ‘It might not be good for everyone, but I have gotten to play so many wonderful roles. If at any point decide not to play gay characters anymore. I would work a lot less. To me, it’s way better to have jobs and get great parts. I got to do [gay roles] in The Tempermentals and Angels in America and now Buyer and Cellar.’

He also played gay in the CBS sitcom Partners which lasted less than one season and again opposite Queer as Folk alum Randy Harrison in the new film Such Good People.

‘Unfortunately, I think coming out is still something actors known for certain kind of roles to think about. Audiences sometimes have a better suspension of disbelief than people making the casting decisions do , though I can’t blame them for not taking big risks.

‘Will & Grace, Ugly Betty and Modern Family have helped the progress the gay rights movement, and those wouldn’t have been possible without gay people in show business.’