Jesse Tyler Ferguson

Jesse Tyler Ferguson is a American actor and same-sex marriage rights activist. He is probably most well known for his role of the openly gay lawyer, Mitchell Pritchett, on the sitcom Modern Family. A role for which he received five consecutive Emmy nominations! He is also a long time theater performer on and off Broadway, including originating the role of Leaf Coneybear in the Tony award winning production of the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Most recently he has taken the role of Minister with the Universal Life Church Monastery.

Other than his eleven year run starring in the hit prime time series Modern Family, he is also a philanthropist and same-sex rights activist. In 2012, Jesse and his husband started their own non-profit Tie the Knot, using bow ties to raise money for organizations who support and campaign for same sex marriage equality. He even was personally recruited by the governor of Illinois to lobby for the equality bill SB10 which allowed same sex-marriages, ultimately resulting in the bill being signed into law. In October 2013, Ferguson was named by the ACLU as the LGBT community celebrity ambassador.

After all of his work directly to insure the rights of all couples to marry, it is no wonder he was chosen to officiate a wedding himself! Ferguson was asked to step in to officiate the wedding of his Modern Family co-star Sarah Hyland and her fiance Wells Adams. Jesse says it was a lot of unexpected pressure to be under as this was no low profile affair. The paparazzi were circling above in the air and the ceremony was being photographed to be featured in Vogue Magazine, but he stepped up and it turned out wonderfully! The ceremony was a lighthearted mix of funny and sentimental, provoking tears of joy and laughter, which was just what the couple was looking for. Great job Jesse Tyler Ferguson and we are so happy to have you as a minister of the Universal Life Church.

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