Ugly

31 August 2025

Michael Urie was a medical marijuana tester before starring in Ugly Betty.

Ugly Betty star Michael Urie

The 45-year-old star – best known for playing Marc St. James in the hit dramedy series – applied for the role 20 years ago with his friend after spotting the position advertised in the Village Voice magazine.

But while his pal did not get chosen due to health problems, Michael was taken on.

He told Chelsea Handler – who “tried” to get a job as a marijuana tester “so many times” – on a recent episode of her Dear Chelsea podcast: “It was in the Village Voice, and it was a joke.

“We would always joke about it like, you know, they have these ads in the Village Voice, ‘Are they real?’

“And I just answered one. And actually, my good friend, my dearest friend, and I, we were roommates, and we both answered it. And he had this kind of like brain thing.

“It’s not that serious, but at the time, he was like having some seizures and stuff. And so he did not get accepted. And he was so p***** because he had this one little tiny anomaly, and I did get accepted.”

Michael said the experience of testing strains at different strengths was “wild”.

He continued: “And I would go in, it was wild. It was a wild thing. I would go into a hospital, and I would sit in a hospital room, and it was a double blind test.”

The Single All the Way star said he even got “high as f***” and “paranoid” when he did the trials.

Michael added: “So the person administering it to me did not know what they were giving me. And it was always a different level of strength.

“So like one time, I got just high as f***, and I was so stoned, and I was like loopy, like rolling around in the hospital and playing with all the different things.

“This young lady stayed with me, and she made sure … I remember when I would get really high, the days I would get really high, I’d be like, I think it’s double blind, but maybe it’s not. Maybe that’s just what they say.

“And I get paranoid, and then I would take these tests. So they would put me in front of a computer, and I would take these cognitive tests that would be like, a shape would pop up, it’s a triangle or whatever, and fill in the blank.

“Sometimes I was really good at it, and sometimes I wasn’t.

“And then there were days when it was like a placebo.”

And the Shrinking star said marijuana helps him to learn his lines.

He said: “It’s true when you’re stoned that you don’t remember things.

“But I have started, well, I’ve been doing it for a while now, but when I have to learn lines, like a big chunk of text or something, or a scene, I will do it high.

“I will learn it high.

“And then immediately when I’m high, and I try to, if I say, ‘Will you run this with me?’ I won’t be able to do it.

“But then when I go back to it later, sober, it’s there.”