{"id":2367636,"date":"2026-04-10T19:24:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T19:24:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2367636"},"modified":"2026-04-10T19:24:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T19:24:16","slug":"michael-urie-on-shrinking-season-3-that-les-mis-moment-and-ugly-betty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/michael-urie-on-shrinking-season-3-that-les-mis-moment-and-ugly-betty\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Urie on Shrinking Season 3, That Les Mis Moment and Ugly Betty"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\tTake a look at the original trailer<\/a> for season one of Apple TV\u2019s Shrinking<\/a><\/em>, and you won\u2019t see many similarities to the comedy it has become after three seasons \u2014 the latest of which concluded this week. There\u2019s a lot of crying. A lot of confrontation. And absolutely zero Michael Urie<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The actor, who\u2019s since won a Critics Choice Award and been nominated for an Actor Award and an Emmy for his work as Brian on the series, was barely a cameo in the pilot. He quickly cemented himself in the architecture of the show that\u2019s become, well, much more of a comedy as it\u2019s evolved.<\/p>\n

\n\tSpeaking during a recent episode of\u00a0The Hollywood Reporter<\/em>\u00a0podcast\u00a0I\u2019m Having an Episode\u00a0<\/em>(Spotify<\/a>,\u00a0Amazon Music<\/a>,\u00a0Apple<\/a>), Urie talked about how the unexpected course Shrinking<\/em> has taken since it premiered \u2014\u00a0and why he\u2019s happy to stay in the dark about where it goes next.<\/p>\n

\n\tYou\u2019re very much a New York actor. You live there. You\u2019ve done three Broadway shows in the past 15 months alone. How does your TV work always end up being in L.A.?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tWhat can I say? I like the miles. My joke is I can\u2019t get arrested on Law & Order<\/em> \u2014 literally. Sometimes I watch The Gilded Age<\/em>, and it\u2019s so many people I know that I imagine any second I might walk in. I\u2019ll watch, and I\u2019m like, \u201cAm I in this? Did I do this?\u201d But no luck there.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I imagine that the FOMO for The Gilded Age<\/em> is very real for someone in your position.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tI would love to be wearing those clothes and saying those words and hanging out on set with all those people. It just looks like the coolest, most fun job. Alas. They know I\u2019m around. They\u2019re not picking me for a reason. I like to imagine that I could do anything. The truth is there\u2019s a little thing called typecasting in this world. I don\u2019t know, I\u2019ve never made the cut for those kinds of shows.<\/p>\n

\n\tDo you feel that typecasting has been an issue in your career?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tWhen I was first out of school, we did a big showcase and met with casting directors and managers and agents. I remember meeting with one casting director and they asked me, \u201cWell, what do you see yourself doing?\u201d I was like, \u201cI just don\u2019t want to be typecast.\u201d This casting director very wisely said, \u201cYou can\u2019t get cast until you\u2019re typecast.\u201d That was a huge awakening. If you\u2019re lucky, you\u2019re in it long enough and you have the opportunity to show all your different sides, you can kind of break out of that. You can be a Sean Penn, who really does do very different things. But I\u2019ve played a lot of mean gay guys. And now I\u2019m playing a nice one on Shrinking<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Shrinking<\/em> has changed so much, season to season. If you go back to the pilot or the way that show was initially marketed, a viewer would never expect that we\u2019d be watching the version of the show that it is today. It\u2019s much lighter. How much of that was communicated with you all at the start?<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tApple TV<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tWhen I got my audition, they sent me the script to the first episode. But my character really didn\u2019t show up in the first episode. You see me across the street, pumping gas. In episode two, I show up. So all my audition material was from episode two \u2026 but I did not get the whole script. So I read episode one and I was like, \u201cThis is so devastating and heartbreaking. It\u2019s moving and funny but also very heavy.\u201d And then, [in episode two,] my scenes were hilarious. I thought, \u201cOK, so there\u2019s definitely going to be an evolution here.\u201d It was very clear from the beginning. And Jason Segel\u2019s not just going to be sad in a Bill Lawrence show.<\/p>\n

A lot of Bill\u2019s shows do find their way to that \u201cclose-knit friend group, drinking wine\u201d hang vibe. <\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tI knew Scrubs<\/em> and Ted Lasso<\/em>. These shows contain multitudes. Even Scrubs<\/em>, which is sort of a heightened reality, goes to beautiful emotional places. I knew that was what was coming down the pike for Shrinking<\/em>, but I don\u2019t remember if it was like, \u201cEventually this is going to be a hangout comedy with pathos.\u201d Somebody called it a grief comedy. There have been a few different isms, but I couldn\u2019t have predicted that it would evolve this much. I love that it\u2019s really grown.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tDo you ever seek out information on what\u2019s planned? Looking back, I doubt anyone would have guessed your character would be adopting a baby. <\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tI probably could get more intel than I do get. They\u2019re not forthcoming. Sometimes, Bill will be like, \u201cJust so you know, we\u2019re writing you a really long monologue. It\u2019s coming. We\u2019re going to try to get you as soon as possible so you can start learning it.\u201d Or, \u201cHey, do you know this song from Les Mis<\/em>?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tOK, we do need to discuss this scene. There\u2019s a driving sequence in season three, during which you and Jason sing both parts of \u201cThe Confrontation\u201d from Les Mis<\/em> while Harrison Ford is in the backseat just looking bewildered. Is it true Harrison wasn\u2019t actually prepped for that?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tIn the dialogue, it only said \u201cJimmy and Brian sing \u2018The Confrontation\u2019 from Les Mis<\/em>.\u201d That\u2019s all. And I\u2019m pretty sure Harrison had no idea what that was. He must have known what Les Mis <\/em>was, but he certainly didn\u2019t know that we were going to sing the entire thing. He\u2019s so comfortable in front of the camera. He\u2019s just so used to being on camera that I think he loved the spontaneity of that. The first time I watched it \u2014 they sent me the dailies, which they don\u2019t do, but that was a special occasion \u2014\u00a0I couldn\u2019t take my eyes off Harrison. Jason and I are in the front seat going for it, giving it our all, singing to the back of the house and having the best time. We were giddy for weeks about that. We knew it was coming and we would practice when Harrison wasn\u2019t around. When I watched it, all I could look at is Harrison because he\u2019s in the back going through every human emotion. He\u2019s confused. He\u2019s scared for his safety. He\u2019s delighted by us. He loves us. He goes through everything.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tYou\u2019ve worked a lot of generational talents, but Harrison is a true movie star. What have you learned watching him on set?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tThat kind of acting, you really get a whole range with just his face \u2014 and he\u2019s not overdoing it. He\u2019s just being real. He\u2019s not mugging, like I do. He\u2019s just behaving, and that\u2019s why he\u2019s a movie star. That\u2019s why you\u2019ll watch his face for two hours on a giant screen, because it\u2019s so subtle and it\u2019s so human. I\u2019ve learned so much from him. I remember, early on Ugly Betty<\/a><\/em>, learning from Vanessa Williams about where the cameras were and how to walk a red carpet. I learned from Judith Light about how to talk to a fan, how to give an interview. I learned from Tony Plana, who played Betty\u2019s Dad, how to appreciate the moment you\u2019re in because it\u2019s not always this good.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tI saw Tony in something very recently and remember thinking, \u201cWow, that man has not aged in all the decades I\u2019ve seen him pop up in everything.\u201d
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Tony has been in every TV show ever from the \u201980s and \u201990s and up until now. He\u2019s one of our great character actors. And he\u2019s looked the same for 40 years. He\u2019d been on a million shows and [on Ugly Betty<\/em>], he was like, \u201cThis is the real deal.\u201d A lot of us that were having our big breaks on that show. We were so lucky to have Vanessa, Judith and Tony around to say, \u201cOh no, this is special. Don\u2019t close your eyes for a second, because it\u2019s not always like this.\u201d And I\u2019ve been lucky. I\u2019ve been on very nice, happy sets and I\u2019ve been in shows that have good material, shows about something. So, I\u2019m so great.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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America Ferrera and Michael Urie in Ugly Betty<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMichael Desmond\/ ABC\/ Photofest<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tGiven it was the big break for so many in the cast, I imagine there was a big learning curve on Ugly Betty<\/em>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tBecause I come from the theater, and I\u2019m used to cheating to the audience, every time they move the camera, I would cheat to wherever the camera was. [Editor\u2019s note: \u201cCheating\u201d is when an actor angles their bodies and faces toward the audience.<\/em>] And that\u2019s the dumbest thing in the world! When I saw it on TV. I was like, \u201cOh my God, what am I doing?\u201d I can\u2019t believe that an editor didn\u2019t come and slap me across the face and say, \u201cStop turning to the camera.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWas there a point in the last two decades when you realized that Ugly Betty<\/em> really had legs, that it would still come up in most of the interviews you do? <\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tWe were at a table read, maybe the show hadn\u2019t even aired yet and one of the producers said, \u201cWe\u2019ve got really good news. America [Ferrera] and Salma [Hayek Pinault] are going to be on Oprah to talk about the show.\u201d And I remember Jim Parriott, one of the executive producers, saying, \u201cThis is huge.\u201d And then the show won the Golden Globe, America won the Emmy and the SAG Award. A lot of good stuff happened that first year, but in terms of when I realized that it would last \u2014\u00a0 that I would be talking about it 20 years after shooting the pilot, which is crazy \u2014\u00a0I\u2019m not sure. When you watch the show back, there\u2019s a few things here and there that you\u2019re like, \u201cOh, well, they wouldn\u2019t do that now.\u201d But, mostly, it was really ahead of its time. It\u2019s so diverse and so queer, and it looked so pretty. It was so vibrant and beautiful. The good guys won and the bad guys lost. And Betty was such an amazing character, such an inspiration. And this still happens all the time: Somebody will come up to me with tears in their eyes at the end of the job and they\u2019ll be like, \u201cI just wanted to say to you how much that show means to me.\u201d It happens all the time to all of us.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.hollywoodreporter.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Take a look at the original trailer for season one of Apple TV\u2019s Shrinking, and you won\u2019t see many similarities to the comedy it has become after three seasons \u2014 the latest of which concluded this week. There\u2019s a lot of crying. A lot of confrontation. And absolutely zero Michael Urie. The actor, who\u2019s since […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2367637,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[25317,460182,347092,347093,460183,346314],"class_list":["post-2367636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-apple-tv","tag-im-having-an-episode","tag-michael-urie","tag-shrinking","tag-thrs-original-podcasts","tag-ugly-betty"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Michael-Urie-on-Shrinking-Season-3-That-Les-Mis-Moment-scaled.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2367636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2367636"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2367636\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2367638,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2367636\/revisions\/2367638"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2367637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2367636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2367636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2367636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}