Jesse Tyler Ferguson recalled having to choose between working on his craft or taking unemployment so he could eat during the beginning of his career.
“I started out in theater. I got my equity card pretty easily [when] I did Shakespeare in the Park,” Ferguson, 49, told Kathy Bates during the Tuesday, January 14, episode of his “Dinner’s on Me” podcast, which was taped before the Los Angeles wildfires broke out last week.
He noted that when the show moved to Broadway it “only lasted a few months” and his career stalled. To make ends meet he worked a few odd jobs.
“I worked at a gift shop. I worked at coffee shops,” Ferguson remembered.
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While he still dabbled in theater during that time frame the money was minimal. “I would do off Broadway things. But there [were] times when the paychecks that you would make doing these off-Broadway shows were not as good as the unemployment,” he explained, adding, “I would really have to think, like, ‘Do I want to eat, or do I want to grow my artistic self and take these great parts?’ And there [were] times when I was really nervous about it.”
He pointed out that “taking work would actually mean a pay cut because my unemployment was more.”
Ferguson made his Broadway debut in 1998’s On the Town. He later starred in the original cast of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, which started in 2006. His Shakespeare in the Park gigs include 2007’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, 2010’s A Winter’s Tale and The Merchant of Venice and 2015’s The Tempest.
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His small screen career took off in 2006 when he began playing Richie Velch on The Class before landing his biggest TV role to date playing Mitchell Pritchett on Modern Family in 2009. The sitcom lasted 11 seasons, ending in 2020. (He was nominated for five Emmys during the show’s run.)
In 2022, Ferguson made a splash on Broadway once again with Take Me Out. He won a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his portrayal of Mason Marzac. He returned to the big screen in 2023 for Cocaine Bear and followed it up with All That We Love in 2024. Ferguson also had a guest starring role on Elsbeth last year.
Outside of acting, Ferguson hosts his podcast and raises his two children with husband Justin Mikita. (The couple welcomed sons Beckett and Sullivan via surrogates in 2020 and 2022, respectively.)
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“We’re a little overbearing at times, and we want to hug them and snuggle them,” Ferguson exclusively told Us Weekly in December 2024 of his parenting style.
“Collectively, they’re both like, ‘OK, enough, back up and together we’re deciding that you guys are a little overwhelming,’” he teased. “I love that they’re kind of already, like, drawing a line in the sand together about us.”
Ferguson noted that he’s OK with his kids uniting against their parents, telling Us, “That’s really sweet. I love that they’re gonna have each other for their whole lives.”
