A conversation with 'Ugly Betty's' Daniel Meade, aka Amherst Regional High School grad Eric Mabius

By Kathleen Mellen
Staff Writer

Published on May 11, 2007

Eric Mabius, one of the stars of the hit ABC TV show, "Ugly Betty," first earned his acting chops on the stage at Amherst Regional High School. By the time Mabius graduated from the school in 1989, he had appeared in numerous plays, including Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" - a challenging experience, he says, that set him on his path as an actor.

Since then, Mabius, 35, has gone on to build an impressive career that includes the New York stage and appearances on several TV shows, including a stint as Dean Jack Hess on four 2005 episodes of "The O.C." on Fox. He has also appeared in over 25 films, including his first, "Welcome to the Dollhouse," that won the Grand Jury Award in 1996 at the Sundance Film Festival.

That same year, Mabius faced a family crisis; his father, Craig Mabius, went to jail for stealing artwork and historical documents from the Stone House Museum in Belchertown, where he was the curator, and selling them to auction houses in New York and Connecticut.

"It blew our family apart," said Mabius, whose mother now lives in New Hampshire while his father has relocated to Philadelphia. "It builds character. I can use it in my art."

At noon, California time, on a Wednesday in March, Mabius had just woken up with a cold, so he was pleased, he said, to discover that he wouldn't be needed that day on the "Ugly Betty" set. The day's shoot had been postponed, he explained, to allow time for some scene rewrites.

Content to spend the day with his wife, Ivy Sherman, and their 8-month-old son, Maxfield Elliot, in their house perched 1,800 feet above the Malibu coast, Mabius talked by phone to the Gazette about playing Daniel Meade on the show that recently won a Golden Globe award for best TV comedy. He spoke about going to Hollywood parties, being a dad, walking the red carpet and his fond memories of Amherst.

Q: Is it unusual for you to have a day off in the middle of the week?

A: They're always changing the schedule. It's one reason why actors are so insane; we don't know what we're doing from day to day.

Q: Is that hard to handle?

A: No, not at all. I've gotten somewhat used to it. It keeps me from having a 9-to-5 day job. I used to brag about making sure I'd never have a job where I had to wear a suit and tie. Now, I play a part where I wear a suit and tie all the time. But they are among the nicest clothes a guy can wear.

Q: Do you get to wear designer clothes on the show?

A: I get to wear my favorite designer, Ozwald Boateng. A lot of the suits I wear on the show are handmade for me.

Q: Is there such a thing as a typical day on the "Ugly Betty" set?

A: What's typical about my days is that they are unpredictable. I work 60 to 75 hours a week and by Friday night we are shooting all the way through the night. I have never had a 12-hour day in the 81/2 months I've been doing "Ugly Betty." I leave home at 5 a.m. and come home at 7 ... or 8 ... or 9. Yesterday was a 17-hour day. Then I come home and memorize [lines].

Q: Is it hard to keep up that pace?

A: It's relentless. After the Golden Globes I went to Prince's party and was there until 5 a.m. but the next morning, I still had to be back at work.

Q: You were married recently. How does your wife feel about your hectic life?

A: My wife is incredibly understanding about this intense schedule. I feel much worse than she does about it.

Q: Is it true that you and your wife, Ivy, met as students at Amherst Regional High School?

A: Yes. I met her in ninth-grade in a sex education class. That came out when I mentioned it on the red carpet at the Golden Globes. They kept rebroadcasting that interview. I want E! News to send me a copy of it.

Q: Did you date each other back then?

A: No. But we flirted. She left the high school and moved to Brussels. We reconnected when I went to New Orleans to make a film; she was a student at Tulane. Then, in 2001, we traveled through Europe together, with some other friends from Amherst - and we fell in love. I had to go all the way around the world just to cross the street.

Q: And now you have a new baby.

A: Yes, he was born two weeks before I started "Ugly Betty."

Q: Have you adjusted yet to being a dad?

A: I'm doing amazingly well. The only problem is being so tired that I don't have perspective. But I'm blessed beyond imagination, I have an amazing life, an amazing job. My baby is the happiest baby I've ever seen. He's teething and there's barely a peep out of him. I'm very lucky.

Q: What do you remember about your days at Amherst High School?

A: I still brag about the high school. The vibrancy of being in school with the sons and daughters of professors - it was exciting and daunting to be among these highly functioning, ambitious students.

Q: You acted in a lot of plays at Amherst High School and were named Most Dramatic Boy by your graduating class. Did you learn anything there that has helped your career?

A: John Warthen was my theater teacher. I really owe a lot to him. He was also the person who was most vehemently opposed to me going into acting. He was discouraging me because he knew how difficult it is; the odds are greater of winning the lottery than of being a success.

Q: Well, you didn't give up the dream. Why not?

A: At Amherst High School, we did original productions every year. John brought in young playwrights from NYU. The exposure to the bigger world made me aim even higher.

Q: What is it like to be part of a hit TV show?

A: It's just incredible. People from every walk of life watch the show. It has entered into the collective consciousness. It's slowly sinking in that we're being mentioned in the same sentence with "M*A*S*H" and "All in the Family." It's flattering beyond belief but there is pressure to turn in something that's unique.

Q: Did you expect the show to be such a huge success?

A: No.

Q: Why not?

A: With every project, you secretly hope in your gut that it will be the one that really hits. But it's a one-in-a-million chance. Ten thousand things can go wrong. With "Ugly Betty," the magical formula happened - everything lined up in a way we could not have anticipated. Our show [opened throughout Europe and Asia in March.] It's number one in lots of European countries. It's the little engine that could.

Q: With all this success, has it been hard to keep your feet on the ground?

A: It is hard to stay grounded in the midst of all this. I was down at Mardi Gras in New Orleans and it was the first time I've been with middle Americans that watch the show. Even with a baseball cap and glasses on, I can't hide. But it means people are watching the show so that's a good thing. Everyone has an "Ugly Betty" ritual. People don't make plans on Thursday nights. They stay home. [Academy Award-winning actor] Forest Whitaker says his three daughters won't let him make plans on Thursday night; they all watch "Ugly Betty" together.

Q: Who is your target audience?

A: I think [the show] resonates with everybody because of the characters and what they are representing. They are dealing with complex subject matters; we all feel like we don't belong sometimes. There are African-Americans, older guys, older women. I'm the pasty white, Waspy guy. The show has touched upon something basic in all of us, there's no denying that.

Q: What's your favorite thing about working on "Ugly Betty"?

A: I think the attitude on the set is my favorite thing. There's a crew around us that is so positively bubbly. They are excited to be there. It makes our job so much easier. It's inspiring for us. They have to watch us do the same scene over and over. If they're excited it's a great barometer that we're making work that's authentic. There is a desire on the set for people to do extraordinary work.

Q: On "Ugly Betty," your character, Daniel Meade, seems to have gone through a transformation from bad boy to not such a bad guy after all. Did you expect that change in your character?

A: Watch the pilot again; Daniel's really not that bad. There is a parallel - Daniel and Betty are really the same person, with the same struggles. They are both the same fish out of water but from different worlds. I'm trying to prove myself in my job - trying to make good on these challenges and rise to the occasion but I don't have the tools. I'm trying to be a man though I don't have a mentor. I think that's why they cast me. I'm not the obvious rogue and jerk and cad. [Betty] is much stronger than Daniel because of the love she received from her family.

Q: How much input do you have in the development of the character?

A: There would be complete chaos if we all had significant input so there is a template laid out by the writing staff. There's a larger bible at play here about the overall direction of the show. The episodes are sketched out. A dozen writers are holed up day after day trying to do something creative. I read the scripts the day before we start shooting. I love being surprised. When you think you know where they're going, they flip it around.

Q: There was a photo of you in a magazine recently at a Victoria's Secret party. Does your job require that you attend these splashy events?

A: We have to be photographed at events like that. It's an important part of this job. It's important to be seen at these events because casting directors look through those photographs. You know, after a certain amount of time they even pay you to show up at these things - like Paris Hilton.

Q: You were also named one of the sexiest men alive by People magazine. How'd that go over in your household?

A: Well, my wife agrees.

Q: And you?

A: I'll answer that the same way I answered it on "Ellen." I'm flattered. And if it brings viewers to the show it's OK with me. Do I feel like one of the sexiest men alive? Let's put it this way - they had to invent a category for me: "TV's sexiest editor-in-chief." I told Ellen [DeGeneres], "Next year they'll have a new category: sexiest talk show host with blond hair named Ellen." It's all ways to garner attention for the show.

Q: Do you get back to Amherst much?

A: Since I've started the show it's been the longest I've gone without coming back to Amherst. The last time was a year ago after shooting the pilot. Ivy's dad lives in Leverett so we go back every chance we get. When we wrap in May we will come back for several weeks. Of all the places I lived - I moved 12 times growing up - it is definitely the place I called home.

Q: How has "Ugly Betty" affected your career?

A: This show is a once-in-a-lifetime chance. I know it won't always be here and I understand that. I know I will have a long career but you have to believe you are somebody whether you have a job or not. You have to maintain a sense of self-worth to keep your head screwed on straight.

Q: Any final thoughts?

A: We are trying to make television we would want to watch. I don't know of many other shows I would spend this much time on. And, hopefully this will start a trend away from reality shows.

"Ugly Betty" airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. locally on WGGB, channel 40.

Kathleen Mellen can be reached at kmellen@gazettenet.com.