Michael Urie Tells Cool Story of How He Turned Marc Into a Series Regular Role on 'Ugly Betty'

Michael Urie‘s role on Ugly Betty was initially going to be much smaller than it turned out to be.

The 41-year-old actor had his big break while playing Marc St. James on the beloved ABC series and he’s sharing the cool story about how he turned his role into a series regular gig.

Click inside to find out what he said…

While appearing on The Drew Barrymore Show this week, Michael revealed that he decided to mimic everything his co-star Vanessa Williams did while on-screen.

“I had this idea that everything she did physically, I would mimic behind her physically,” Michael said. “He was a sycophant, they described him, I mean literally the only description of this guy was, ‘bitchy, gay assistant.’ That’s it and I was like, that’s me. I can do that.”

“I said this is a guy who works in a fashion magazine he’s an assistant to the creative director of a giant fashion magazine… He’s a professional. He’s gotten where he is by being great at what he does and part of that is probably making sure his boss is happy and his way of making sure his boss is happy is to be like her all the time and do what she does,” he continued. “So I had this thing, as she sat, I would sit the same way or as she would gasp, I would gasp. And she didn’t know I was doing it because I was behind her and someone tattled on me.”

When Vanessa found out what Michael was doing, she had the best reaction.

“Someone took her aside and said, ‘You know what that Queen is doing behind you, he is mimicking everything you do.’ And she said, ‘Really?’ And she walked right over to me and said, ‘I hear you are doing me behind me, what else can I do that you can do? Give me ideas and then I’ll do that and you can do it.’ And suddenly we are collaborating… And because we had this great chemistry and she included me and suddenly we were collaborating, by the end of the week they put me in the cast photo and I was in every episode. I was a series regular,” he said.

Michael is now starring in one of Netflix’s hottest new movies!