Jesse Tyler Ferguson is a Montana-born actor who became famous on stage and on television.

Jesse Tyler Ferguson was born on October 22, 1975, in Missoula, Montana, and decided he wanted to be an actor when he was a kid, performing for six years with the Albuquerque Children's Theater and acting in school plays and on the speech and debate team. After high school he moved to New York City to study at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy and then began acting in off-Broadway and Broadway shows, including his first big Broadway role in the musical On the Town and later the hit show The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, where he helped create the shy, funny character Leaf Coneybear. On television, he appeared in early projects like Sally Hemings: An American Scandal, The Class, and Ugly Betty, but he is best known for playing Mitchell Pritchett on the comedy series Modern Family, a role that earned him five Emmy nominations. Ferguson continues to act in plays, movies, and TV, and has won major theater awards, including a Tony Award, for his work on stage.