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TV Guide has a wonderful interview with Michael Urie. It makes a great supplement to my Not Ugly At All profile of Urie. Here are some highlights:
TV Guide: What do you and your character, Marc St. James, have in common?
Michael Urie: I love my job and he loves his job. But I’m not fashionable or mean. Marc and Amanda are pretty much Michael and Becki [Newton] — we’re goofy like that.TV Guide: In real life, you two are inseparable BFFs, right?
Michael: [Nods] We were meant to be friends, and we were kind of on the same career level when we started this show — we’d done some TV and commercials, but neither of us had ever walked down a red carpet. We hang out at each other’s houses. For a charity event in August we dressed up as Neil Diamond and Barbra Streisand and sang “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers.” We’re funnier together than apart.
TV Guide: Marc will sort of be mentoring Justin, Betty’s theater-loving nephew, this season. Were you anything like him as a kid?
Michael: I have an older sister who was very athletic. It was funny: The girl was really athletic and the boy [Urie] was into drama and music. My parents never pushed me in any direction. Like Justin, they sort of let me do whatever I wanted. So in the way that the Suarez family supports Justin’s taste — you know, it’s not Queens taste — my parents supported my “not Plano, Texas” taste.TV Guide: Marc gets a love interest this season. Do you have time for a significant other?
Michael: I’m single and I have lots of friends, but I’m sort of married to the work. But I’m moving into a bigger apartment, so there might be room for a significant other at some point. Right now I’m in a tiny studio.
TV Guide: Whoa! You’re a big TV star, but you’ve been living in one room?!
Michael: I live in a teeny, tiny studio with a pullout couch. Now I’m moving into a two-bedroom. I’m going to be Becki’s neighbor!
TV Guide: Did you ever dream about being famous?
Michael: I never thought I could be an actor, because I wasn’t good-looking enough or talented enough or interesting enough. I wasn’t going to go off and try to direct on Broadway or break into film. My goals were things that I knew were attainable: Stay in Texas and direct, or be a drama teacher.TV Guide: What changed?
Michael: Teachers encouraged me. I competed in forensics, it’s like speech and debate. Texas is insanely competitive — it’s not just football that’s Friday Night Lights, everything is Friday Night Lights. There’s some way of winning everything in Texas. But I didn’t care about winning. It was about getting to act all the time.
I would absolutely love to interview Urie with an emphasis on his forensics background. (Don’t think I’m not trying!).