00s TV bad boy ‘handsome as ever’ 14 years after starring in ‘best show’

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. 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 they 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.

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.

In a separate post, 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!

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, leading to talks of a reboot even emerging.

Just this month, a fan remarked on X: ‘Ugly Betty is the best show ever broadcasted’ 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.

‘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 isn’t enough. In the episodes, they tackled subjects that weren’t always seen on TV such as Betty’s father Ignacio Suarez’s (Tony Plana) deportation to Mexico from his Queens home.

Eric married interior designer Ivy Sherman in 2006, who he met at high school and the couple had two sons – Maxfield Elliot and Rylan Jaxon. However, they divorced in 2018.

He has not publicly spoken about the split, however, on New Year’s Eve he did share 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 earlier this month.

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.

Got a story?

If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.