“They cut my part,” Urie lamented. “But I do still get residuals!”

Michael Urie recalls sweet gesture from Brittany Murphy during his very first movie role: ‘I was very touched by it’

"They cut my part," Urie lamented. "But I do still get residuals!"

By Mekishana Pierre

Mekishana Pierre

Mekishana Pierre is a news writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2025. Her work has previously appeared on *Entertainment Tonight* and Popsugar.

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January 28, 2026 5:46 p.m. ET

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Michael Urie; Brittany Murphy in 'Uptown Girls'. Credit:

Santiago Felipe/Getty; Tubi

Michael Urie's first-ever movie role might not have made it out the editing room, but the memory lives on thanks to his incredible costar.

While playing a game of "Lie vs. Lie" with *Shrinking* costar Jessica Williams for **, Urie recalled his first big screen acting role and how a gesture from the late Brittany Murphy made the experience unforgettable.

"It was one of my very first jobs and it was a movie and I hadn't really done anything and I played a pig walker," Urie shared when prompted to talk about a time he had to work with animals. "[I was] really a dog walker, but in this scene I was picking up a pig. So, the scene was with five dogs and a pig."

When Williams correctly guessed that Urie was telling the truth, the *Ugly Betty* alum elaborated on the experience, explaining that the role had in been in the 2003 dramedy, *Uptown Girls *starring Murphy as the immature nanny to a young Dakota Fanning.

Brittany Murphy in 'Uptown Girls'.

"She was so sweet and amazing as an actor," Urie recalled of Murphy, who died in 2009. "I remember her being so sweet and insisting that we'd met before, but we definitely had not. It was so sweet. I was really touched by I was like, 'No, I promise we haven't met before.' And she's like, 'Are you sure? Because I feel like we have!' and it was like so adorable and weird."

While Urie claimed he only worked on the film for "like half a day," he attended the wrap party where Murphy shared a sweet surprise about his role, which had ultimately been cut.

"I went to the rap party, and I saw her and she was, again, so sweet to me and she said, 'I mentioned you in another scene. I talked about you and I added it in,'" he told Williams, who was suitably moved, responding that she "got a little misty."

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Murphy died at 32, days after collapsing in the bathroom of her home in the Hollywood Hills. Ultimately, the Los Angeles County coroner determined that the actress had succumbed to a combination of pneumonia, anemia, and "multiple drug intoxication" from over-the-counter and prescription medication.

While she was perhaps best known for her role as Tai in the 1995 comedy *Clueless* and as a paramour of Eminem's Jimmy in *8 Mile*, Murphy had an impressive number of roles in both film and television that made her a household name. She also notably portrayed Daisy in the drama *Girl, Interrupted* (1999), Shellie in Robert Rodriguez's *Sin City* (2005), Sarah in the romantic comedy *Just Married*, and, in the 2001 thriller *Don't Say a Word*, psychiatric patient Elisabeth Burrows.**

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"She like really means a lot to millennials too, just because of how funny and iconic she was," Williams mused. "And she's so likable. She's like such a star, and she's a really amazing dramatic actress too. One of my favorite movies is *Girl Interrupted*."

And although Urie's role ended up on the cutting room floor, there was another silver lining. "I'm not in the movie, but I do still get residuals," the actor gleefully shared. "Because I'm in the deleted scenes on the DVD."

Michael Urie and Jessica Williams in 'Shrinking'.

Urie and Williams reprise their roles as Brian and Gaby in season 3 of their Apple TV series *Shrinking*, which premieres Wednesday.

Created by Bill Lawrence, Brett Goldstein, and Jason Segel, the streaming hit has been nominated for seven Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Comedy Series. It stars Segel as Jimmy, a therapist who unravels after the death of his wife and begins to cross boundaries with his patients. Season 2, which wrapped at the end of 2024, ended with Jimmy taking a major step forward in his grieving process.

A weekly release will follow with the finale set for April 28.**

Original Article on Source

Source: “EW Drama”