Ugly Betty was a popular series in the 00s (Picture: Scott Garfield/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)
An actor who played a loveable bad boy in Ugly Betty has been called ‘handsome as ever’ 14 years after the season finale.
Eric Mabius took on the role of Daniel Meade between 2006 and 2010 before the comedy-drama, based on the telenovela Yo soy Betty, la Fea, was axed after four seasons.
The series followed Betty Suarez, played by Barbie actress America Ferrera, who lands a job at the fancy fashion magazine Mode, despite being considered unstylish (Gen Z would now be obsessed with her knitwear) and coming from more humble beginnings than the other employees.
The unlikely friendship between Betty and her boss Daniel was a key narrative throughout the episodes as they became increasingly intrinsic to each other’s lives.
Eric had an important role in Ugly Betty (Picture: REX/Shutterstock)
Daniel starts off as a man who loved partying and romancing multiple women, while not acknowledging his privilege as a white man who got his job through the family name. However, under Betty’s guidance, he becomes an unrecognisable version of himself, and there’s even a possibility he’d give up womanising for the titular character.
Disappointed fans didn’t ever get their answer as to whether the pair were going to give things a go – the whole series ended on a cliffhanger with Daniel bumping into Betty, who had moved from New York to London.
It may have been 14 years since the hit show was taken off air, but Daniel’s youthful appearance makes it seem as if it’s only been 14 days.
Eric in 2006 as Daniel Meade (Picture: Channel 4/2006 American Broadcasting Com)
Eric was called ‘handsome as ever’ on Instagram (Picture: Instagram)
The 53-year-old actor shares an insight into his life on Instagram, and fans are often complimentary about his looks.
‘Eric, handsome as ever,’ wrote SJ Robert Creative on a selfie of Eric suited and booted, with fellow fans echoing the handsome statement in their own comments. The complimentary adjectives didn’t stop with ‘dashing’, ‘gorgeous’, and ‘dapper’ also attributed to Eric.
Many people still refer to him by his character name from the 00s series: ‘Hello Daniel I love you,’ expressed both Angeliinab8 and Angelacordo.
Commenting on a separate post, user Emy De Almeida was still searching for answers: ‘Daniel I need to know you and betty ended up being a couple please?’ We all need to know!
He brought nuance to the character of Daniel Meade (Picture: Instagram)
Luckily, Eric has nothing but fond memories from playing the rehabilitated bad boy, so he is unlikely to mind the questions.
He recently told US Weekly that the project is ‘something to strive for in life’, adding that they were able to ‘put something into the world that made a difference and continues to make a difference to people’s lives and [for] people trying to struggle with their own identity and where they fit in the world and everyone [who is] feeling like a fish out of water and show them how making them a little bit more okay.’
While the series may have been unexpectedly axed, that hasn’t stopped it from continuing to find viewers still in 2024, even leading to talks of a reboot.
Eric speaks fondly about working on Ugly Betty (Picture: Instagram)
One fan remarked on X: ‘Ugly Betty is a perfect show’, while just this month another wrote: ‘god ugly betty was a masterpiece’.
And multiple Reddit threads are still set up to discuss the series’ successes and limitations.
Talking about the second life Ugly Betty has enjoyed, Eric said: ‘[There’s] a whole new generation [of] parents who are my age introducing their kids to [it] and having a whole other type of experience watching the show together. It’s really neat.
Daniel and Betty’s friendship changed both their lives (Picture: Moviestore/REX/Shutterstock)
‘We had an abrupt ending and I think that we all felt that we didn’t have enough time to finish telling the stories that needed to be told,’ he told TV Tonight.
‘I think Ugly Betty was ahead of its time and I think that it would be more timely right now than ever.
‘I continue to be proud of that, to be a part of such talent. It was probably the truest work family I’ve ever had.’
An American show with a Latino lead was pretty groundbreaking for the time – in fact, there still aren’t enough TV shows like Ugly Betty.
In the episodes, the characters tackled subjects that weren’t often seen on TV, such as Betty’s father Ignacio Suarez’s (Tony Plana) deportation to Mexico from his Queens home.
Eric was previously married to Ivy (Picture: Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Eric married interior designer Ivy Sherman in 2006, who he met at high school. The couple have two sons together – Maxfield Elliot and Rylan Jaxon. However, they divorced in 2018.
The actor has not publicly spoken about the split, however, on New Year’s Eve he shared a photo of him kissing a woman’s cheek.
Eric plays the lead character Oliver O’Toole in the Hallmark movie Signed, Sealed, Delivered. There have so far been 13 films in the series, with the most recent one airing in July this year.
The popular movies, which originally started as a TV series, follow four dedicated postal employees, who task themselves with tracking down intended recipients of undeliverable mail.
Ugly Betty is available to watch on Channel 4.
This article was first published on July 29, 2024.
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