Who is Jesse Tyler Ferguson’s partner Justin Mikita? The Modern Family star’s husband of 11 years is a theatre producer who survived childhood cancer and starred in a Taylor Swift music video

Aug 29 , 2024

Justin Mikita and Modern Family’s Jesse Tyler Ferguson have been married for 11 years. Photo: @justinmikita/Instagram

Jesse Tyler Ferguson – better known as Mitchell Pritchett from the hit sitcom Modern Family – recently celebrated his 11th wedding anniversary with film and theatre producer Justin Mikita

The couple starred in a Taylor Swift music video alongside Ru Paul and Ellen DeGeneres, and are the proud parents of two boys, Beckett and Sullivan, who they welcomed via surrogate

As Mitchell Pritchett on long-running sitcom Modern Family, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, 48, made strides in the way gay men were represented on screen. As IndieWire points out, his coupling with Cam (played by Eric Stonestreet) was “the first time a major network had shown a long-term, committed queer relationship – and with two of its leading characters”.

Justin Mikita and Jesse Tyler Ferguson have been married for 11 years. Photo: @justinmikita/Instagram

And while the show may have ended, Ferguson’s work to support LGBTQ rights continues unabated. This month, he and husband Justin Mikita have been going all out to promote their short documentary, It’s Okay, which “explores how the LGBTQ community, trans people and drag performers are dealing with the recent rise of hatred against them among conservatives”, Out magazine reports. So just who is Tyler Ferguson’s husband of 11 years? Here’s what you need to know about 38-year-old Justin Mikita.

He met Jesse Tyler Ferguson at the gym

Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Justin Mikita met at the gym. Photo: @justinmikita/Instagram

In June 2020, the couple recounted to Variety how they met after Mikita approached Ferguson at the gym to discuss his character on Modern Family. Ferguson then messaged Mikita on Twitter to ask him out, but the younger man was in a relationship at the time. “I was like, ‘Full disclosure: I’m in a relationship, but I’d love to get a drink with you as a friend,’ and [Jesse] said, ‘I have enough friends,’ which I loved.” Almost a year later they bumped into each other again, but this time Mikita was single. They dated for almost two years before getting engaged in 2012, per People magazine, and were married in New York in July 2013.

He’s a film and theatre producer

A still from Justin Mikita and Jesse Tyler Ferguson’s new documentary, It’s Okay. Photo: @jessetyler/Instagram

Mikita is a producer in theatre, TV and film, also according to People. He was involved in reviving 1980s play Torch Song Trilogy in 2018, and 1940s musical Oklahoma! in 2019. His latest theatre project is Shucked, which has ended its Broadway run, and is about to go on tour in North America, London and Australia, per the musical’s Instagram page. He also produced documentaries Welcome to Chechnya (2020), about LGBTQ activists in the Russian republic; and Broadway Rising (2022), about the reopening of New York’s theatre district post pandemic.

He’s been in a Taylor Swift music video

Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Justin Mikita in the music video for “You Need to Calm Down” by Taylor Swift. Photo: @TaylorSwift/YouTube

Taylor Swift’s song “You Need to Calm Down” was a giant musical clap back against online trolls and haters, and its accompanying music video hammered the point by featuring a host of LGBTQ stars – among them, Mikita and Ferguson. The two are seen tying the knot in sky blue suits beneath a flowery arch as Swift and everyone from RuPaul to the cast of Queer Eye celebrate being themselves.