The show Modern Family burst onto the scene in 2009 and has been making viewers laugh for over a decade. The show was renewed for an 11th season and it was announced that it will also be Modern Family’s final season. The show has won numerous awards including 21 Primetime Emmy Awards, 6 Writers Guild of America Awards, several Emmy Awards for Outstanding Comedy Series, and a Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy.
That’s not even including the awards won by the individual cast. The cast decided to forego choosing lead cast members and instead willingly became supporting cast members to put them all on the same level. Several of the cast members won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.
While it might be assumed that the cast leads glamorous and lucky lives, once you take a closer look, you’ll find that all the Modern Family cast members have had their share of hardship. Every single one of these cast members have worked extremely hard to make it to where they are today and some continue to overcome mountains every single day.
Here are 20 little-known facts about the Modern Family celebs.
20 Julie Bowen Was Very Pregnant In The First Episode
When auditioning for Modern Family, Julie Bowen, who plays Claire Dunphy, was pregnant with twins. She told People, “They kept bringing me in over and over and sort of staring at my humungous belly, and I thought, ‘I’m never getting this job.’”
Although it was possible that she would deliver before shooting anything, that didn’t actually end up happening. Bowen was still 8.5 months pregnant when shooting the pilot. If you go back and watch, you can see how they creatively hid her belly behind cereal boxes, pillows, or laundry baskets.
19 Sarah Hyland Has Had 16 Surgeries
Sarah Hyland, who plays Haley Dunphy, was born with a disease called kidney dysplasia. She had her first kidney transplant from her father in 2012 when she was 12 years old. Unfortunately, that transplant failed in 2016 and she had to undergo another kidney transplant, this time from her brother.
Overall, Hyland has had 16 different surgeries, most of them before she was four years old. She told Good Morning America how supportive her Modern Family cast has been, saying, "They can always tell if I'm not feeling well, even our props guy.”
18 Ty Burrell Has Two Adopted Daughters
Ty Burrell and his wife Holly have two adopted daughters. Burrell plays Phil Dunphy who is known for being a loving, yet clueless and somewhat hapless, father on Modern Family. Burrell told E! News, "I guess if Phil can raise kids, so can I! … I hope I can try as hard as Phil.”
They adopted their first daughter, Frances, in 2010 and their second daughter, Greta, in 2012. The pair have remained extremely private about all details pertaining to the adoptions but if we can judge by the pictures it looks like the Burrell family has a lot of fun!
17 Ariel Winter Was Legally Emancipated
Ariel Winter plays the nerdy and Alex Dunphy on Modern Family. Unfortunately, her real life family couldn’t be further from her on-screen family. Winter has had a tumultuous upbringing and an unhealthy relationship with her mother.
While her sister became her legal guardian when she was 14, she ended up getting legally emancipated when she was 17 years old. Winter told Seventeen, "It has been very sad for me, but at the same time it's been much better for me emotionally and physically to be on my own and have a better, safer household and support system.”
16 Ed O'Neill Was Signed By The Pittsburgh Steelers
Before Ed O’Neill was Jay Pritchett on Modern Family or Al Bundy on Married With Children, he was just a football player at Youngstown State. In 1969, he was signed to the Pittsburgh Steelers as a defensive lineman. Unfortunately, his stint in the NFL was brief as the Steelers cut him during training camp and no other team signed him.
It would be about 10 more years before he started acting. He pursued teaching before then. O’Neill eventually moved to New York in 1977 and began his acting career when he was 30 years old.
15 Nolan Gould Is A Genius
Nolan Gould plays Luke Dunphy on Modern Family, who is know for being clueless and playful, which is ironic since Gould is somewhat of a genius. At just 13 years old, right before he attended the Emmys for the third time, Gould graduated from high school.
With an IQ of 150, he is also a member of Mensa, which is the largest high IQ society in the world. Gould told Ellen how grateful he was, saying, “It’s like, what am I supposed to do with the rest of my life? It’s kind of all downhill from now.”
14 Sofia Vergara Was Sued For Her Embryos
Sofia Vergara plays the beautiful and confident Gloria Pritchett on Modern Family. Vergara was in a relationship with Nick Loeb for two years before getting engaged. After four years together, the couple called off their engagement. During their time together, they created two embryos and stored them in cryopreservation for use later on in life.
However, Loeb wanted to use them even after they broke up, and filed a lawsuit. After a complicated and long battle, Loeb ended up dropping the lawsuit before the judge was ready to dismiss the case.
13 Eric Stonestreet Was Studying Criminal Justice Before Becoming An Actor
Sometimes celebrities can seem like they’re so much different than the average person, but they’re just like you. They have dreams and aspirations growing up, and a lot of times those dreams aren’t to be an actor!
Eric Stonestreet plays Cameron on Modern Family, but he didn’t always want to be an actor. Stonestreet told Hollywood Reporter, “My career path was that I wanted to be a warden at a level-five penitentiary…I didn't know I wanted to be an actor until I was in college and did a play and people said I was good.”
12 Twins Who Originally Played Baby Lily Disliked The Show
We always see the glitz and glam life of being an actor, but there’s always a downside to every career. Baby Lily was originally played by twins, Ella and Jaden Hiller. However, halfway through Season Two, their parents realized they weren’t enjoying their work.
They told Woman’s Day, “So we told the producers the girls wouldn’t be coming back. They tried to get us to change our mind and they offered us better and better terms.” They even offered to up their pay from $200 to $34,000 per episode, but it wouldn’t change their minds.
11 Ty Burrell Lived In A Van
Another part of an actor's life that we don’t often get to see is what they endured before making it big. Ty Burrell actually lived in a van during grad school. He told USA Today, "Honestly, some of my best memories are of that period."
While it was a good time in his life, Burrell did admit that it kind of ruined his dating life. "Basically, when my date figured out I was living in my van, I didn't hear from her again…I didn't realize I was the creepy guy in a van," he said.
10 Sofia Vergara Thought Ed O'Neill Spoke Spanish
Sofia Vergara admitted that Ed O’Neill, who plays her on-screen husband, has been part of her life for a long time. Growing up in Colombia, Sofia would watch Married…With Children. However, all the voices were dubbed over with Spanish voices, which caused Sofia to believe that O’Neill spoke Spanish!
Vergara told Jimmy Kimmel, "I always thought Ed spoke Spanish. He had a very [attractive] like Antonio Banderas voice, but then when I met him, he didn’t."
9 Ed O'Neill Has A Black Belt In Jiu-Jitsu
Ed O’Neill has been in the spotlight for over 30 years so there is a lot we know about him. However, I bet you didn’t know that he has a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He’s actually been taking BJJ classes for over 20 years.
O’Neill trains weekly with Rorion Gracie, who is a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Grand Master and also the co-founder of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. While it’s taken O’Neill a while to finally get that BJJ black belt, it looks like he’s enjoying it and plans to do it for much longer.
8 Julie Bowen Has A Pacemaker
Julie Bowen has a pacemaker but she doesn’t let that slow her down. She has been on many well-known TV shows and movies such as Dawson’s Creek, Happy Gilmore, and most recently, Modern Family.
Bowen has a cardiovascular condition called bradycardia which means that her heartbeat can drop to extremely low levels. The pacemaker, which she received in her early twenties, doesn’t cause any issues and really only kicks in when she needs a little extra help. And every seven years they replace the battery like you would in a toy!
7 Jesse Tyler Ferguson Had Surgery On His Face Caused By Skin Cancer
In 2015, Jesse Tyler Ferguson took to IG to share a picture of himself with a bandage on his cheek and a caption saying, “Thank you to Dr. Bennett & his entire team for taking the cancer out of my face. Good luck hiding the stitches tomorrow @modernfamily_makeuphair!”
Ferguson had to undergo surgery to remove skin cancer from his face, and while he hasn’t given much more information, it seems as though it all went well. Soon after the experience, he tweeted, "Feeling great and happy to be skin-cancer free."
6 Ariel Winter Has A Purple Belt In Taekwondo
Ariel Winter might play a nerdy girl on Modern Family, but we wouldn’t want to get on her bad side IRL. Winter exercises almost every single day, doing workouts like toning, cardio, weightlifting, strength training, and even Taekwondo. She has a purple belt in the Korean martial art. This would put her at an intermediate level within the sport.
Winter doesn’t train alone, though. She has help from her trainer, Coach Gunnar Peterson, who oversees workouts with many celebrities, including the Kardashians.
5 Nolan Gould Plays The Banjo
Nolan Gould is pretty much a genius and has an IQ of 150, but he’s also a genius with instruments. He plays several instruments, including double bass, banjo, piano, sitar, mandolin, and even the theremin.
Gould told The Wall Street Journal, “My house is like a giant music store, we have like 17 or 18 different instruments because everyone in my house plays an instrument.” He has played both the banjo and the sitar for Ellen on her show. He even said that he might release some music albums in the future!
4 Eric Stonestreet Is Actually Fizbo
Eric Stonestreet has said that he wanted to be a clown in the circus when he was a kid. He was even featured in The Kansas City Star and the Kansas City Kansan several times as a clown. Kansas City reports him saying, “If you look at that Fizbo episode from the first season, when they show the article that they flash back to, that’s the actual article that was written about me and that’s really me in those pictures.”
Stonestreet took his clown gig seriously and even had business cards printed with “Fizbo” printed on them!
3 Sofia Vergara Was Diagnosed With Thyroid Cancer
Sofia Vergara was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2000 but opted to keep the information private during that time. She eventually spoke up about her experience.
Sofia wasn’t having any symptoms and was skeptical about having her thyroid gland removed at first. She also had to undergo iodine radiation as the surgery didn’t remove all the cancer. Vergara told Health that having cancer changed her, saying, “When you go through something like this, it's hard, but you learn a lot from it. Your priorities change. You don't sweat the small stuff.”
2 Ed O'Neill Only Reads One Newspaper
When Ed O’Neill was on Married…With Children from 1987-1997, his character often read the newspaper. O’Neill’s character on Modern Family also reads the paper, and a fan noticed that it’s the same exact newspaper that he read 20 years earlier!
While it’s hilarious, the explanation for this is actually pretty simple. Everything on the TV show needs to be legally cleared, including artwork, music, and even newspapers. This newspaper is likely a prop newspaper from a company that has been cleared for television and keeps being reprinted. It sure does make for a great story!
1 Jesse Tyler Ferguson Voices A Character On Ice Age
While you might not see Jesse Tyler Ferguson in a ton of movies and television shows outside of Modern Family, it doesn’t mean that he’s not working. Ferguson joined the star-studded cast that voiced Ice Age: Collision Course. Other voices on the movie include Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Queen Latifah, Seann William Scott, Josh Peck and even Jennifer Lopez.
Ferguson voiced the Shangri Llama character who was a hippie llama. This was his first animated role and film but probably won’t be his last, especially since Ice Age keeps making movies!
Sources: E! News, Seventeen, People, Woman’s Day