Modern Family


Modern Family is an American television sitcom created by Steven Levitan and Christopher Lloyd for ABC. It aired for 11 seasons from September 23, 2009, to April 8, 2020. The series follows the lives of three diverse but interrelated family set-ups living in suburban Los Angeles.
Lloyd and Levitan conceived the series while sharing stories of their own "modern families." Modern Family employs an ensemble cast and is presented in a mockumentary style, with the characters frequently speaking directly to the camera in confessional interview segments.
Modern Family was highly acclaimed by critics throughout its first few seasons. Its critical reception became more mixed as it progressed. The final season received positive reviews, and the finale episode had 7.37 million first-run viewers. The retrospective documentary that aired before the final episode had 6.72 million first-run viewers. The series won a total of 22 Emmy Awards, including five Emmy Awards for Outstanding Comedy Series, four Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series, and two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. It also won the Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy in 2011.
The broadcast syndication rights to the series were sold to NBCUniversal's USA Network, the stations of Fox Television Stations, and various other local stations in other markets for a fall 2013 premiere. The success of the series led to it being the 10th-highest revenue-generating show for 2012, earning $2.13 million an episode.

Premise

Modern Family revolves around three different types of families living in suburban Los Angeles, who are interrelated through their patriarch, Jay Pritchett, and his two adult children, Claire and Mitchell.
Jay remarried a much younger woman, Gloria Delgado, a passionate Colombian immigrant with whom he has a young son, Fulgencio "Joe" Joseph, and a stepson from Gloria's previous marriage, Manuel "Manny" Delgado. Jay and Gloria's respective former spouses, DeDe and Javier, both also make occasional appearances in the show. They also adopt a dog, Stella, in the second season. Manny briefly has a turtle named Shell Turtlestein.
Claire was a homemaker, though returned to the business world in the fifth season, eventually becoming the chief executive officer of her father's business, Pritchett's Closets and Blinds. Claire is married to Phil Dunphy, a realtor and a self-professed "cool dad" originally from Key West, Florida. Claire and Phil have three children: Haley, a stereotypically ditzy wild teenaged girl; Alex, the middle child who is highly intelligent, gifted, and introverted; and Luke, the offbeat only son, known for his playful, immature, and sometimes dim-witted nature. Haley's on-and-off boyfriend, Dylan, is a permanent fixture on the show, with the two eventually marrying and having twins, Poppy and George, in the tenth season.
Mitchell is a lawyer who is in a same-sex relationship with Cameron Tucker. Cam, from a farm in Missouri, is a former music teacher and later works as a football coach and Vice Principal. The couple have adopted a baby daughter, Lily, of Vietnamese origin. Cam is a stay-at-home dad in the first couple seasons when Lily is young. Mitchell and Cameron are legally married in the fifth season, following the Californian legalization of gay marriage. At the end of the series, they adopt another child, a son, Rexford, and move to Missouri.
As the title suggests, it depicts a modern-day tight-knit extended family; many episodes are comically based on situations that many families encounter in real life.

Cast and characters

Main

  • Ed O'Neill as Jason Francis "Jay" Pritchett: the wealthy patriarch of the family; Gloria's husband; Claire, Mitchell and Joe's father; Manny's stepfather. He is the CEO of Pritchett's Closets and runs Dog Beds By Stella after retiring from the closet industry.
  • Sofía Vergara as Gloria Maria Ramirez Delgado-Pritchett: Colombian; Jay's wife; Manny and Joe's mother. She enjoys shopping, fashion and is empathetic and opinionated. She later starts a hot sauce business by using a family recipe.
  • Julie Bowen as Claire Melinda Dunphy: Dede and Jay's daughter; Mitchell's sister; Phil's wife; Haley, Alex, and Luke's mother. She is uptight and disciplined. She becomes the CEO of Pritchett's Closets after Jay retires. She later quits.
  • Ty Burrell as Philip Humphrey "Phil" Dunphy: Claire's husband; Haley, Alex, and Luke's father. He is a professional realtor and later a real estate professor. He is also an amateur magician and buys a magic shop.
  • Jesse Tyler Ferguson as Mitchell Vincent "Mitch" Pritchett: Dede and Jay's son; Claire's brother; Cam's husband; Lily and Rexford's father. He is an environmental lawyer who later becomes a district attorney.
  • Eric Stonestreet as Cameron Scott "Cam" Tucker: Mitchell's husband; Lily and Rexford's father. He worked at a flower shop. He is a music-turned PE teacher and American football coach. Cam later becomes the vice-principal.
  • Sarah Hyland as Haley Gwendolyn Marshall : Claire and Phil's daughter; Alex and Luke's sister; Dylan's wife; Poppy and George's mother. She is street smart, rebellious, sassy party girl. She starts at college but is later expelled after a drunken mishap with police. She is a pro at fashion and works for a stylist Gavin Sinclair, though she is later fired. In 9th and 10th season she works at NERP, a lifestyle company.
  • Ariel Winter as Alexandra Anastasia "Alex" Dunphy: Claire and Phil's daughter; Haley and Luke's sister. She is academic, nerdy, knowledgeable, often dubbed genius. She studies at CalTech University and toward the end of the series she lands a job in Antarctica.
  • Nolan Gould as Lucas Philip "Luke" Dunphy: Claire and Phil's son; Haley and Alex's brother. He is curious, clumsy, street smart and worked at Jay's country club for a while.
  • Rico Rodriguez as Manuel Alberto Javier Alejandro "Manny" Ramirez Delgado: Gloria and Javier's son; Jay's stepson; Joe's half-brother. He is dramatic, socially awkward and enjoys efforts in his appearance. He attends Cal-Arts to study play-writing.
  • Aubrey Anderson-Emmons as Lily Elizabeth Tucker-Pritchett: Mitchell and Cameron's adopted daughter who was born in Vietnam. She is frank, honest, stern and sassy.
  • * Portrayed by twins Jaden Hiller and Ella Hiller in seasons 1 and 2.
  • Jeremy Maguire as Fulgencio Joseph "Joe" Pritchett: Gloria and Jay's son. He is naughty, nonchalant and notorious. His birth name is Fulgencio-Joseph Ramirez Pritchett.
  • * Portrayed by Rebecca and Sierra Mark in season 4 and Pierce Wallace in seasons 5 and 6.
  • Reid Ewing as Dylan Stardust Marshall: Haley's on-and-off boyfriend turned husband; Poppy and George's father. He is not too smart and has a number of weird jobs before he officially becomes a nurse.

    Recurring

  • Fred Willard as Franklin Bernard "Frank" Dunphy: Phil's father. He is fun, cheerful and marries Phil's old babysitter in season 8 and dies in season 11. Willard was nominated for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series at the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards, but lost to Neil Patrick Harris's performance on Glee. Willard also received a posthumous nomination in the same category at the 72nd Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards in 2020
  • Shelley Long as Lillian Diana "DeDe" Pritchett: Jay's ex-wife; Claire and Mitchell's mother. She is spiritual and a vegan Buddhist. Dede is insecure of Gloria and hates her. She dies in season ten
  • Justin Kirk as Charles "Charlie" Bingham Jr..: Mitch's boss who owns a sportswear company and invests in environmental issues
  • Chazz Palminteri as Vincent aka Shorty: Jay's best friend, in honor of whom Mitchell was given his middle name
  • Benjamin Bratt as Javier Alberto Alejandro Delgado: Manny's father and Gloria's ex-husband, he is a thrill seeker and is known for his wild and irresponsible behavior
  • Elizabeth Banks as Sal: Mitch and Cam's fun-loving party animal friend who officiates their wedding and hates Lily. Banks was nominated for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series at the 67th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards in 2015
  • Nathan Lane as Pepper Paul Saltzman: Mitch and Cam's close friend and wedding planner, who plans their wedding. Ronaldo's partner and Lionel's dad.
  • Kevin Daniels as Longinus: Mitch and Cam's friend who owns a local boutique and gets attacked by Phil with cologne in season 2
  • Celia Weston as Barbara Jessica "Barb" Tucker: Cam and Pam's mother, Mitch's mother-in-law, and Lily, Rexford, and Cal's grandmother from Missouri
  • Colin Hanlon as Steven: Cam and Mitch's friend and Stefan's partner
  • Rodrigo Rojas as Stefan: Cam and Mitch's friends, and Steven's partner
  • Spenser McNeild as Reuben: Manny, and Luke's friend from school, who is in love with Alex and has a short relationship with her, much to her embarrassment
  • Stephanie Beatriz as Sonia Pilar Ramirez: Gloria's sister and Manny and Joe's aunt. She and Gloria have an ongoing feud throughout the series
  • Rob Riggle as Gilbert Paul "Gil" Thorpe: Phil's realtor rival, who later comes out as gay
  • Adam DeVine as Andrew "Andy" Bailey Jr.: Jay and Gloria's "manny" from Utah, Phil's assistant and Haley's boyfriend
  • Andy Daly as Principal Brown: the principal at Alex, Luke and Manny's high school, and Cam's boss, who is chronically single
  • Matthew Risch as Jotham: Mitch and Cam's friend
  • Dana Powell as Pameron Jessica Tucker: Cam's sister, Mitchells sister-in-law and Lily's aunt
  • Marsha Kramer as Margaret: Jay's assistant for 40 years at Pritchett's Closets. She works for Alex temporarily until she is fired/retires
  • Christian Barillas as Ronaldo: Pepper's party planning assistant and later partner; parent of Lionel
  • Joe Mande as Ben: a marketing executive at Pritchett's Closets and later Alex's boyfriend
  • Laura Ashley Samuels as Beth: Andy's girlfriend, fiancée and later ex-fiancée who works in the coast guard. She hates Haley with a burning passion.
  • Steve Zahn as Ronnie LaFontaine and Andrea Anders as Amber LaFontaine: Phil and Claire's annoying and obnoxious neighbors
  • Kasey Mahaffy as Dom: a designer at Pritchett's Closest
  • Nathan Fillion as Rainer Shine: a weather forecaster, Phil's friend and later Haley's 25-year-older boyfriend. He and Haley get engaged in a restaurant before suddenly breaking up
  • Mira Sorvino as Nicole Rosemary Page: Haley's boss, founder of NERP; parody of Gwyneth Paltrow and her company Goop
  • Chris Geere as Arvin Fennerman: a British physics lecturer at CalTech who dates Haley and later Alex. He starts a research project in Switzerland that Alex joins at the end of season 11
  • Marcello Reyes as Cal Tucker: Pam's son; Mitch and Cam's nephew who lives with them when Pam is in prison
  • Jimmy Tatro as Bill: Alex's fire-fighter boyfriend who isn't very smart but is known for his muscle and attractiveness
  • Joshua Tyler Kelly as Lionel, Pepper and Ronaldo's son; he takes horse back riding lessons with Lily