List of Modern Family characters

The opening screen depicts the three families that make up the larger Pritchett clan (from left to right): Gloria, Manny, and Jay; Luke, Alex, Claire, Haley, and Phil; and Lily, Mitchell, and Cam. This title screen was used from seasons 1–2.

Modern Family revolves around three families that are interrelated through Jay Pritchett, his son Mitchell Pritchett and his daughter Claire Dunphy. The families meet for family functions, around the neighborhood, and cross-family bonding.

Family tree

The characters in green have regular roles on the show. Dotted lines indicate a parental relationship through adoption or marriage, and dashed lines indicate a divorce between characters.

Javier Delgado

Gloria Pritchett

Jay Pritchett

DeDe Pritchett

Sarah Dunphy

Frank Dunphy

Manny Delgado

Cameron Tucker

Mitchell Pritchett

Claire Dunphy

Phil Dunphy

Lily Tucker-Pritchett (b.2009)

Haley Dunphy

Alex Dunphy

Luke Dunphy

The Dunphy Family

Claire Dunphy

Main article: Claire Dunphy

Claire Dunphy
First appearance	"Pilot" 1x01, September 23, 2009
Portrayed by	Julie Bowen
Information
Gender	Female
Occupation	Housewife
Spouse(s)	Phil Dunphy
Children	Haley Dunphy Alex Dunphy Luke Dunphy

Claire Dunphy (Julie Bowen), née Pritchett, is the daughter of Jay, Mitchell's older sister, and the overprotective mother of the Dunphy family and its three very different kids.^[1] She was once a wild-child who made a lot of mistakes over the years, and fearful that her children could make the same mistakes, especially her oldest daughter, Haley. She is often exhausted from stress created by her family but is still a loving mother.^[1] When it comes to her kids she has difficulty controlling Haley's independence and irresponsibility, Alex's manipulative nature, and Luke's lack of common sense.^[1] She also gets annoyed with her husband, Phil, constantly. She is seen as an experienced parent by Cameron and Mitchell, so she is called upon for her parenting advice. She enjoys running and reading. Claire is also the most active family member when organizing family get-togethers. When a former co-worker (Minnie Driver) visits, it is revealed that Claire had a successful job in hospitality management but left her job and married Phil a few months after she became pregnant with Haley. She shows resentment towards the abandonment of her working career due to seeing the success of one of her former peers, but later realizes her family is more important.^[2]

Critical reception

Julie Bowen's performance was praised by Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly who said, "Bowen’s Claire could have been a blank blonde cipher. Far from it: Bowen’s wide array of silent gazes at the camera, her slow-burns at her clan’s bad behavior, and her ability to freak out without seeming nutso crazy makes her an essential, stand-out part of TV’s best freshman ensemble cast."^[3] For the role of Claire, Bowen won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress - Comedy Series, for the episode "Strangers on a Treadmill". Bowen was also nominated for Satellite Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy, but ultimately lost to an actress from another freshman show, Glee 's Lea Michele. She is also currently nominated for Quick Change Artist: Impressive Acting Range at the TV.com Now Awards for changing from Ed, an NBC drama, to Modern Family, an ABC sitcom.^[4]

Phil Dunphy

Main article: Phil Dunphy

Phil Dunphy
First appearance	"Pilot" 1x01, September 23, 2009
Portrayed by	Ty Burrell
Information
Gender	Male
Occupation	Real Estate Agent
Spouse(s)	Claire Dunphy
Children	Haley Dunphy Alex Dunphy Luke Dunphy

Philip "Phil" Dunphy (Ty Burrell) is Claire's husband of 16 years who sees himself as the "cool dad."^[5] He dotes on his wife Claire and constantly tries to find ways to bond with his three kids.^[5] He is seen as very competitive, one example being his nature of always beating his son at basketball. He has a very juvenile attitude, and is referred to by Claire as the "kid [she's] married to." He uses a parenting method that he calls "peerenting", which is a combination of talking like a peer but acting like a parent.^[5] He is a real estate agent who is very confident in his work, once saying "I could sell a fur coat to an Eskimo."^[5] Phil has a severe case of Coulrophobia, which is first revealed when despite his objection, Cameron comes to Luke's party dressed as a clown. This may stem from the fact that Phil found a dead clown in the woods when he was a kid. Phil appears to love home repair yet never seems to get around to any of the jobs requested by Claire. Throughout Season 1, his ongoing project is fixing the step. He at times shows a sort of crush-like affection for Gloria. He says, however, he "would never stray from Claire," although Gloria did kiss him during a kisscam at a basketball game. In the final episode of season 1, Family Portrait. ^[5] In college he was a cheerleader at the University of Oregon^[6] and his birthday is April 3.^[7] He seems oblivious as to what he says by miscalculating (if at all) the consequences of his expressions, such as "Phil Dunphy is no straight man"^[8] or "If you are not white, you ain't right"^[9]

A running gag in the show is when Phil is running up the stairs (often with an objective), he trips on a loose step, which causes him to say quickly and hastily, "gotta fix that step!"

Critical reception

Ty Burrell had received many positive reviews for his performance. Hank Stuever from the Washington Post wrote, "A standout performance from Ty Burrell's new twist on the doofus-dad stereotype."^[10] Paige Wiser, a reporter for the Chicago Sun Times, wrote, "Ty Burrell is a genius as a dad who stays hip by keeping up with the numbers from High School Musical."^[11] Robert Canning of IGN in a review of the season loved Ty Burrell's performance of Phil Dunphy and named him one of two characters that stood out to him saying "Actor Ty Burrell owned this part, and his well-intended faux pas throughout the season were stellar.".^[12] Burrell received a Television Critics Association Award nomination for Individual Achievement in Comedy. On September 18, 2011, Burrell won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor - Comedy Series; he submitted the episode "Good Cop Bad Dog".

Haley Dunphy

Haley Dunphy
First appearance	"Pilot" 1x01, September 23, 2009
Portrayed by	Sarah Hyland
Information
Gender	Female
Occupation	Student

Haley Gwendolyn Dunphy (Sarah Hyland) is the daughter of Claire and Phil, who is portrayed as the stereotypical teenager.^[13] Haley is 15 at the beginning of the series, and is a senior in high school as of Season 3. Haley is depicted as being a bit of a bimbo, who focuses more on social status than studies. She is a little naive especially when it comes to arguing with her parents.^[13] She does at times however show surprising cunning, such as when she carves a cell phone out of soap to win a contest. Haley is embarrassed by her dad, especially when he tries to befriend her boyfriend Dylan.^[13] She is concerned about her popularity at school which contributes to her being embarrassed by her parents. She is just starting to drive and is always talking on her cell phone to friends or texting.

Alex Dunphy

Alex Dunphy
First appearance	"Pilot" 1x01, September 23, 2009
Portrayed by	Ariel Winter
Information
Gender	Female
Occupation	Student

Alex Dunphy (Ariel Winter) is the 14 year old daughter of Claire and Phil, and also the most clever and intelligent of the three siblings.^[14] She's the middle child which causes her to enjoy messing with both her older sister and younger brother equally who are not quite as intelligent as she is and are easy to fool.^[14] Often taking advantage of their naïveté by fooling them into believing unrealistic things, she at one time convinced Haley and Luke that they could charge electronics by rubbing the battery on their head (Haley) and putting it in your mouth (Luke).^[13] As much as she enjoys torturing her brother and sister, she always seems to have their backs.^[14] An overachiever, she plays the cello and practices lacrosse; she chose to play the cello because she would have a better chance at being in a university orchestra than if she played the violin, as cellos are more in demand. Judging by the constant remarks from her sister, Alex is shown as being very socially awkward, with difficulty in making friends and in being able to find a boy that likes her. As of season 3, she has a long-distance relationship with a boy she met in Wyoming.

Luke Dunphy

Luke Dunphy
First appearance	"Pilot" 1x01, September 23, 2009
Portrayed by	Nolan Gould
Information
Gender	Male
Occupation	Student

Lucas "'Luke" Dunphy (Nolan Gould) is Claire and Phil's rambunctious, 11-year-old son, who is often doing his own thing.^[15] He was named after his great-grandfather, Lucas (the father of Claire and Mitchell's mother Dee-Dee, who did not like Jay). At times, he can be a troublemaker, once shooting his sister with a toy gun and getting into a fight with Manny at school. Luke is very innocent and does not always understand the repercussions of his actions, like most children; he once announced at a family gathering that his mom thought her dad's new wife was a "gold digger", although he misheard it as "coal digger".^[15] He is also thought to be a bit vacuous because of many questionable actions, such as getting his head stuck in the banister and jumping on the trampoline wearing only underwear and a box on his head.^[15] Both parents agree that they "dropped the ball" with regards to raising Luke; Phil once tells Claire that he considers Luke to be their dumbest child (although he conceded to Claire's assertion that Haley was, in fact, dumber than Luke). A psychologist who evaluated him said his type of behavior was normal for someone with above-average intelligence; afterwards, Phil and Claire accidentally left a wandering Luke behind when they left the psychologist's office, but they ended up being impressed by how calmly he made his way back home (in a limo) and decided he would do just fine in life.

The Pritchett-Delgado Family

Jay Pritchett

Jay Pritchett
First appearance	"Pilot" 1x01, September 23, 2009
Portrayed by	Ed O'Neill
Information
Gender	Male
Spouse(s)	DeDe Pritchett (div.) Gloria Pritchett
Children	Claire Dunphy Mitchell Pritchett Manny Delgado (stepson)

Jay Francis Pritchett (Ed O'Neill) is the patriarch of the family and father of Claire and Mitchell.^[16] He is married to Gloria and a stepfather to Manny; he is much older than Gloria and has been mistaken for her father more than once. At times there is a cultural clash between him and his wife and stepson because of their strong Colombian heritage.^[16] Most of the time, Jay manages to tolerate Manny's sensitivity and Gloria's attitude.^[16] Although he usually acts tough, he values all of his extended family members, and is generally seen as the one with the most common-sense. However, problems sometimes arise when he wishes to forget certain problems instead of dealing with them. He is a veteran of Vietnam, and runs a successful business, leading him to be the most financially secure member of the family. On occasion, Jay enjoys traditionally manly hobbies such as watching football (Jay used to be a quarterback in college) and constructing model airplanes. He has also practiced Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under the Gracie family, something which O'Neill himself has done. He is not very comfortable with his son being gay, so when coming to Mitchell's and Cameron's place, he always announces himself by knocking loudly on the door, fearing he might find them having sex. A running gag in the series is Jay remembering Mitchell's behavior when he was a kid (such as naming his pets after Liza Minnelli and Zsa Zsa Gabor) and wondering "how could I not know he was gay?" He seems to be evolving regarding homosexuality when he bonds with a friend of his who Mitchell suspects of being gay and forces him to open up.

Reception

Ed O'Neill was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series.^[17]

Gloria Pritchett

Gloria Pritchett
First appearance	"Pilot" 1x01, September 23, 2009
Portrayed by	Sofía Vergara
Information
Gender	Female
Occupation	Housewife
Spouse(s)	Javier Delgado (div.) Jay Pritchett
Children	Manny Delgado Claire Dunphy (stepdaughter) Mitchell Pritchett (stepson)
Religion	Roman Catholic
Nationality	Colombian

Gloria Pritchett (Sofía Vergara), (previously Delgado), is Jay's wife and Manny's mother. She is a Colombian native from a small village, which also happens to be the murder capital of the country.^[18] She is much younger than Jay which does not matter to her; she is a very loving wife and mother despite the age difference between her and her husband.^[18] Her voluptuous figure and overall beauty is often remarked or noticed by other characters on the show. One of her most distinctive traits is her very thick Colombian accent, which sometimes leads her to mispronounce English words, such as "ultimatum" as "old-tomato" and "earrings" as "hair-rings". (Sofia Vergara has mentioned that her character's mispronuciations tend to be ad-libbed.)^[19] She often supports Manny when Jay tries to tell him to be less sensitive or hide his cultural background. She is a horrible driver, though she is oblivious to this. She is also very comfortable with death (on one occasion killing a rat with a shovel right before she left for church), on account of a couple of her relatives being butchers.^[18] She claims that, because she is from Colombia, the "murder capital of the world", she can instantly spot a fake crime scene, and tends to view murders as common occurrences, even claiming that the judge who presided over her marriage to her ex-husband Javier was assassinated during the ceremony. She has a very high tolerance for spicy food, and has perhaps the strongest religious views of any member of the family. She loves her family and spends a lot of time with Lilly because of her fixation in having a daughter. Mitchell and Cameron asked her and Jay to become guardians of Lilly if anything were to happen to them. Gloria has something of a shady past. She mentions that some of her closest relatives were butchers, and that during her fifteenth birthday, while dancing with her father, "there was not a dry eye in the cartel." Doubts have also been raised as to her income: her only mentioned employment was as a hairdresser, and Claire originally labeled her originally as a "gold-digger" for marrying her wealthy father. It seems likely that Jay is her major source of income.

Reception

Sofía Vergara was nominated twice for Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.

Manny Delgado

Manny Delgado
First appearance	"Pilot" 1x01, September 23, 2009
Portrayed by	Rico Rodriguez
Information
Gender	Male
Occupation	Student
Nationality	Colombian

Manuel Alberto "Manny" Delgado (Rico Rodriguez), Gloria's 11 year old son from her first marriage, is very outgoing and not the least bit self-conscious.^[20] He is very mature and intuitive for his age and is often shown doing adult-like things, such as having conversations with Claire about her marriage and kids, and drinking coffee.^[20] He has inherited his mother's passion for life (although he is terrified of butterflies), though Gloria has also said, "Manny is passionate, just like his father."^[18] This causes Manny to be very romantic.^[20] Manny is not afraid to take chances, leading him to ask out older girls, and develop a crush on Haley.^[20] He idolizes his absentee father, often speaking about him in a positive light, even after being repeatedly disappointed by his father's broken promises. He plays for a soccer team, fences, and is a skilled chess player. He is often seen wearing or intending to wear his "burgundy dinner jacket."

Stella

Stella
First appearance	"Good Cop Bad Dog" 2x22, May 11, 2011
Information
Gender	Female
Occupation	Pritchett family's pet

Stella is the dog of the Pritchett-Delgado family, introduced in the second season^[21]. She was the dog of a man named Guillermo (Lin-Manuel Miranda), who used to present an invention for dogs, but Jay convinced him to leave the idea, and Guillermo gave Stella to the family. She is very problematic, and often destroys things, mostly Gloria's.

The Tucker-Pritchett Family

Mitchell Pritchett

Mitchell Pritchett
First appearance	"Pilot" 1x01, September 23, 2009
Portrayed by	Jesse Tyler Ferguson
Information
Gender	Male
Occupation	Lawyer
Significant other(s)	Cameron Tucker
Children	Lily Tucker-Pritchett (adoptive daughter)

Mitchell Pritchett (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) is Jay's son, Claire's younger brother, Luke, Alex and Haley's uncle, one of Lily's fathers, and partner of five years to Cameron. He is a low-key, mild-mannered person.^[22] At most times he is the exact opposite of Cameron which usually causes disagreements.^[22] Cameron acts as a counterbalance to Mitchell's uptight, worrying ways.^[22] He has an extreme love for costco. He is not ashamed of his homosexuality and usually responds to homophobia (whether real or perceived) by giving "speeches." Because of his mild-mannered, uptight nature, he is sometimes embarrassed by Cameron's flamboyance. Mitchell and his older sister Claire are a little competitive and his father Jay isn't completely comfortable with the fact that he's gay, which most likely contributed to him becoming a momma's boy.^[22] He was initially scared to let his family meet Lily, although she was welcomed with open arms.^[22] He is an overprotective and cautious father. He is an attorney and a graduate of both Cornell University and Columbia University Law School. He also enjoys musical theater and loved ice skating as a kid , though he admitted in the one epsiode this was mentioned in that he preferred the fact that he and his sister were working as a team to the ice skating itself.^[22] As seen in the season one finale "Family Portrait" and the season two premiere "The Old Wagon," Mitchell has an intense fear of birds.

Reception

TV.com has named Mitchell and Cameron one of the 5 best TV dads, saying, "Cam and Mitchell adopted baby Lily from Vietnam way back in Modern Family's pilot episode, and have been inadvertently Americanizing her ever since."^[23]

Cameron Tucker

Cameron Tucker
First appearance	"Pilot" 1x01, September 23, 2009
Portrayed by	Eric Stonestreet
Information
Gender	Male
Occupation	Stay-at-home dad (former music teacher)
Significant other(s)	Mitchell Pritchett
Children	Lily Tucker-Pritchett    (adoptive daughter)
Nationality	American

Cameron Scott Tucker (Eric Stonestreet),^[24] also referred to as Cam, is Mitchell's partner of five years, and one of Lily's fathers, who has a very big dramatic personality. His bubbly outgoing personality contrasts to Mitchell's uptight manner, which causes them to be very opposite.^[25] Cameron grew up on a farm in Missouri. He was a starting center for the University of Illinois football team (which he and Jay bond over, much to Mitchell's envy) and is a very big sports fan.^[25] Cameron also fosters many unusual hobbies such as collecting antique fountain pens, being adept in Japanese flower arrangement, filming home movies, and is a classically trained Auguste clown named Fizbo.^[25] Currently, he acts as a stay-at-home dad to Lily, though it is mentioned that he had taught music prior to this. Cameron is also an experienced rock drummer and as a result was brought in at the last minute to play in Dylan's band when they needed a replacement percussionist. It is also mentioned that Cameron was considerably thinner and in better shape when he first started dating Mitchell. For the first few episodes, his relationship with Mitchell was somewhat strained (being that they disagreed on almost everything and showed very different parenting techniques). But in more recent episodes the relationship is much happier.^[25] It is possible that Cameron is not fully gay, as he shared a fake and long kiss with a girl named Katie (played by Leslie Mann), and she asked him if he was certain about his sexuality, and he slowly responded 'no,' but immediately corrected himself.

Reception

Cameron and Eric Stonestreet have received positive reviews for the character. In a review of the season, Robert Canning of IGN named Cameron Tucker the best character of the season saying, "Cameron's many talents and passions revealed over the course of this first year became an ever-building running gag. But it will be hard to top the sheer joy that was 'Fizbo'." He also called Fizbo, the episode and the clown, the highlight of the season.^[12] Along with Ty Burrell, Stonestreet received a Television Critics Association Award nomination for Individual Achievement in Comedy.^[26] He also won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. The reception of Cameron and Mitchell has led to the idea of a spin-off of the two titled Mitchell and Cam.^[27]

Lily Tucker-Pritchett

Lily Tucker-Pritchett
First appearance	"Pilot" 1x01, September 23, 2009
Portrayed by	Jayden and Ella Hiller (2009-2011) Aubrey Anderson-Emmons (2011-present)
Information
Gender	Female
Occupation	Toddler
Nationality	Vietnamese

Lily Tucker-Pritchett (Aubrey Anderson-Emmons) is the adopted Vietnamese daughter of Cameron and Mitchell. When she was introduced to the family, they accepted her with open arms, although Mitchell originally wanted to wait to tell them about her.^[22] She is at times doing activities with both of her fathers but remains with Cam at home while Mitchell works.^[25] Cameron often dresses her up as famous people, such as Diana Ross, Carmen Miranda, Madonna, and Stevie Wonder for the purpose of taking photographs. Cameron and Mitchell are currently practicing the Ferber method on Lily but Cameron can't always resist catering to her during the night, sometimes even watching movies such as Scarface, which Cam claims she likes possibly because of the bright colors, particularly the club shooting scene. Lily did not speak for the first two seasons and was portrayed by twins Ella Hiller and Jaden Hiller. For season three, the twins "retired", their mother claiming they did not enjoy acting^[28]. The role was recast to Aubrey Anderson-Emmons, who is older and will have lines. She apparently is not wild about getting a baby brother, being unable to share Cam.

Other characters

Dylan

Dylan
First appearance	"Pilot" 1x01, September 23, 2009
Last appearance	"Dude Ranch" 3x01, September 21, 2011
Portrayed by	Reid Ewing
Information
Gender	Male
Occupation	Musician, Cowboy

Dylan (Reid Ewing), also known as "D-Money," is Haley's boyfriend, a senior (12th grader) in high school who plays guitar in a band. He has no plans for college and wants to remain a guitarist in a rock band. He is often put into awkward situations by Phil, who wishes for the two to be friends.^[13] He has diverse interests that are often surprising, such as his love of old western films. He also sometimes reveals a sort-of attraction to Claire, when he gives her a rose on Valentine's Day, saying that "every mom should look as tasty as you when they're old." He loves the confidence Haley gets from being part of such a loving family and does not mind hanging around during family get togethers.^[13] He wrote a song, "In The Moonlight, (Do Me)," for Haley and performed it for her extended family. The song was about sex and most of the family was surprised by the suggestive lyrics, but it became stuck in all of their heads the next day.^[29] He is also a hockey player and finds inspiration for his music from Bob Dylan, Sum 41, Blink 182, and New Kids on the Block. Dylan leaves the cast after proposing to Haley in which Claire says no in the first episode of season three.^[30]

DeDe Pritchett

DeDe Pritchett
First appearance	"The Incident" 1x04, October 14, 2009
Portrayed by	Shelley Long
Information
Gender	Female
Significant other(s)	Chad
Children	Claire Dunphy Mitchell Pritchett

DeDe Pritchett (Shelley Long) is Mitchell and Claire's biological mother and Jay's ex-wife who it has been heavily implied may be mentally ill due to her somewhat manipulative and sometimes aggressive ways. It is implied that she was initially more accepting of Mitchell's sexual orientation than Jay was when he first came out. She often uses her close relationship with Mitchell to get him to do things he does not want to. She is still bitter over Jay's re-marriage to Gloria and even attempted to ruin their wedding, which she convinced Mitchell to invite her to, by getting drunk and making rude and inappropriate toasts, and eventually had to be dragged out of the reception. Gloria is not the only family member that DeDe has a complicated and antagonistic relationship with. DeDe is also passive aggressive toward Cameron about his weight, and is often critical of Claire.

Dr. Miura

Dr. Miura
First appearance	"Run for Your Wife" 1x06, September 30, 2009
Portrayed by	Suzy Nakamura
Information
Gender	Female
Occupation	Pediatrician

Dr. Miura (Suzy Nakamura) is Lily's sarcastic Asian-American pediatrician. Offended in an early episode by Cameron's repetitive application of racial stereotypes (repeatedly telling him, "I was born in Denver!"),^[31] she was invited over for brunch in a later episode by Cameron and Mitchell in an effort to get on her good side. It goes badly, however, when Lily's doll says "Mommy" and they believe Lily called the doctor "Mommy" due to her resemblance to Lily's caretakers in Vietnam (revealed later to be untrue).

She revealed that her mother always wanted her to be "more Asian," but resents being considered an Asian female stereotype.^[32][33] Upon leaving Cameron and Mitchell's house, however, she confirms one assumption when she knocks over their trash can with her car, claiming "she didn't see it" due to the size of the car.^[33]

Frank Dunphy

Frank Dunphy
First appearance	"Undeck the Halls" 1x10, December 9, 2009
Portrayed by	Fred Willard
Information
Gender	Male
Children	Phil Dunphy

Frank Dunphy (Fred Willard) is Phil's father and Haley, Alex, and Luke's grandfather. On Christmas, the family shared a webcam chat with him.

Frank returns in "Travels with Scout" when he travels cross country without Phil's mother and shows up with a dog that he says she has allergies to. He ends up taking the dog back with him.^[34][35]

Fred Willard was nominated for an Emmy for Best Guest Actor.

Javier Delgado

Javier Delgado
First appearance	"Up All Night" 1x11, January 6, 2010
Portrayed by	Benjamin Bratt
Information
Gender	Male
Spouse(s)	Gloria Delgado-Pritchett (div.)
Children	Manny Delgado

Javier Delgado (Benjamin Bratt) is Manny's biological father and Gloria's ex-husband. He and Gloria were divorced; in the pilot, Gloria says all they did was "fight and make love," at one point leading them to fall out of a window. He is looked up to by Manny, but is always letting him down. He was formerly a Triple-A Baseball player and played alongside some baseball greats such as Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire. He is wealthy and has many connections to matadors and baseball players. He and Jay became close, but in the end Javier lets Jay down much as he has let down Manny.^[36]

Critical reception

Benjamin Bratt received positive reviews for his performance from TV.com writer Tim Surette saying, "Benjamin Bratt played Manny's absentee father and did a fantastic job of being a well-mannered guest (star); he never tried to steal a scene or overplay his Latin-lover stereotype. He's also nicely set up to recur, and his character was given enough backstory in prior episodes to really flesh out the role. We learned that Javier is not just an irresponsible parent, but that he's also a charming man with endless connections and a shady past."

Barb Tucker

Barb Tucker
First appearance	"Mother Tucker" 2x09, November 24, 2010
Portrayed by	Celia Weston
Information
Gender	Female
Children	Cameron Tucker

Barb Tucker (Celia Weston) is Cameron's mother. She first appeared in the episode "Mother Tucker." In that episode, she visits Cameron and Mitchell. While Cameron earnestly declares that his mother is wonderful, Mitchell is less sure because she has a habit of touching Mitchell inappropriately. When Mitchell finally tells Cameron about this, Barb happens to walk in on them and hears his complaints. Later, she apologizes to Mitchell. Unfortunately, she does this while he is in the bathtub.

Guest characters

• Amelia (Rachael Harris), The owner of Amelia's restaurant, a hip new restaurant that Cameron and Mitchell have a difficult time getting a reservation for. She befriends Cameron and Mitchell, but, while trying to get her to give them a reservation to the restaurant during a play date with her child and Lilly, they spill juice on Amelia's $400 white carpet. ^[37]
• Andrew (Jeremy Scott Johnson), a member of a caroling group called the Greensleevers, to which Cameron used to belong until Andrew convinced the others to kick him out.^[38]
• Mr. Balaban (Andrew Borba), Manny and Luke's school principal who caught them fighting at school. He was perplexed by the complex relationships within the family, particularly because Manny keeps referring himself as Luke's uncle.^[39]
• Barry (James Marsden), a homeless squatter of Cam and Mitchell, who lives in Lily's princess castle instead of upstairs as he initially said.
• Bianca Douglas (Kaitlyn Dever), one of Manny's friends from school whom Manny has a crush on. Manny failed to impress her when he told her jokes, many of which he mistold. But he ended up impressing her when he "saved" her from a deflating Bouncehouse.^[40]
• Charlie Bingham (Justin Kirk), Mitchell's boss at his new law firm.^[41]
• Denise (Judy Greer), Phil's old flame from high school, with whom he reconnects on a social networking website. Mistaking his intentions, she tries to seduce Phil in the episode "Truth Be Told."
• Denise (Mo Collins), a nurse who is the caretaker of Caroline, a little girl Manny defeated in the fencing match, in the episode "En Garde".
• Desiree (Brandy Ledford), the Dunphy's attractive divorced neighbor, whose house Phil helps to unlock. Claire is jealous of her.
• Gus (Danny Trejo), a janitor at Luke and Manny's school.
• Izzy LaFontaine (Edward Norton), the bassist of Spandau Ballet, whom Claire believed to be Phil's favorite band.^[42]
• Jungle Tanya (Margo Harshman), a birthday party entertainer who brings various animals such as iguanas and scorpions. She accidentally lost one scorpion at Luke's birthday party, which caused havoc.^[40]
• Longinus (Kevin Daniels), a friend of Mitchell and Cameron who works as a cologne sprayer in a department store. He is attacked by Phil for spraying him with cologne without asking first. Mentioned in conversations between Mitchell and Cameron in several episodes.
• Pepper Saltzman (Nathan Lane), a friend of Mitchell and Cam's who holds many brunches with bizarre themes. Pepper is single and lonely. Cam used to date Pepper and Mitch uses the excuse that Cam still has feelings for Pepper as an excuse to avoid his parties. He is apparently Jewish as well, since one of his odd brunches celebrated Passover as "Seder-Day Night Fever."
• Robbie Sullivan (Matt Dillon), Claire's old boyfriend from high school, who later hooked up with her mom DeDe and behaved completely obnoxiously.^[43]
• Sal (Elizabeth Banks), a close friend of Mitchell and Cameron's before Lily. Since Mitchell and Cameron adopted the baby they've drifted apart, but later rekindled their friendship when she took them out for a night on the town. That's when they discover she is jealous of the baby and misses all of the attention. She is a party girl who is known to get drunk.^[42]
• Scott (Brian T. Finney), a former mall Santa, who was fired when Cameron and Mitchell complained he wasn't fat enough to be Santa. He was invited to their house on Christmas out of guilt, and to their surprise he knew they got him fired the entire time. He punches Andrew when he is mean to Cam^[38]
• Shorty (Chazz Palminteri), a long time friend of Jay's who might (or might not) be gay.^[44] He is Jay's only friend who does not hit on Gloria, has a large amount of knowledge about types of clothing, and is a big fan of Michael Bublé's music.
• Valerie (Minnie Driver), a former co-worker of Claire's. At a lunch together, Claire comes to believe that career-oriented Valerie is jealous of her own loving, stable home life.
• Whitney (Kristen Schaal), a woman Manny met on the internet who is much older than he is, Manny and Whitney were both unaware of the age difference before they first met. Whitney felt much less insecure about herself after she was given a makeover by Gloria.

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} "Claire (Julie Bowen) Bio - Modern Family - ABC.com". ABC.com. http://abc.go.com/shows/modern-family/bio/claire-/274497. Retrieved 2010-02-08. 
2. ^ "Moon Landing". Modern Family. ABC, Los Angeles, California. 2010-02-03. No. 14, season 1.
3. ^ Ken Tucker (2009-12-24). "Help me pick TV's best supporting actors of 2009: From 'Chuck,' 'The Office,' 'Southland,' and more!". EW.com. http://watching-tv.ew.com/2009/12/24/best-supporting-actors-2009-chuck-southland/. Retrieved 2010-02-08. 
4. ^ http://www.tv.com/tv-now-awards/?tag=specialfeature;2
5. ^ ^{a b c d e} "Phil (Ty Burrell) Bio - Modern Family - ABC.com". Abc.go.com. http://abc.go.com/shows/modern-family/bio/phil/274495. Retrieved 2010-02-11. 
6. ^ "Truth Be Told"
7. ^ "Game Changer"
8. ^ "Strangers on a Treadmill"
9. ^ "Manny Get Your Gun"
10. ^ Stuever, Hank (2009-12-20). "The best and worst of 2009: TV". washingtonpost.com. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/18/AR2009121800193.html. Retrieved 2010-02-11. 
11. ^ . http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/1963955,CST-FTR-besttv30.article. ^{[dead link]}
12. ^ ^{a b} Canning, Robert (may 26, 2010) http://tv.ign.com/articles/109/1092984p1.html IGN Retrieved May 31, 2010
13. ^ ^{a b c d e f} "Haley (Sarah Hyland) Bio - Modern Family - ABC.com". Abc.go.com. http://abc.go.com/shows/modern-family/bio/haley-/274499. Retrieved 2010-02-11. 
14. ^ ^{a b c} "Alex (Ariel Winter) Bio - Modern Family - ABC.com". Abc.go.com. 2009-09-23. http://abc.go.com/shows/modern-family/bio/alex/274503. Retrieved 2010-02-11. 
15. ^ ^{a b c} "Luke (Nolan Gould) Bio - Modern Family - ABC.com". Abc.go.com. 2009-09-23. http://abc.go.com/shows/modern-family/bio/luke-/274501. Retrieved 2010-02-11. 
16. ^ ^{a b c} "Jay (Ed O'Neill) Bio - Modern Family - ABC.com". Abc.go.com. http://abc.go.com/shows/modern-family/bio/jay-/274487. Retrieved 2010-02-11. 
17. ^ http://www.sag.org/nominations-announced-17th-annual-screen-actors-guild-awards%C2%AE
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19. ^ Pinto, Rochelle (2011-11-17). "Up close and personal with Sofia Vergara". hindustantimes.com. http://www.hindustantimes.com/Entertainment/Television/Up-close-and-personal-with-Sofia-Vergara/Article1-770400.aspx. Retrieved 17 November 2011. "Vergara is also one of the few actors who get to improvise with the writers’ permission. “I was worried in the beginning, thinking ‘How will they know how a Latin woman thinks?’ But now they even write my mispronunciations. The script will say (Gloria says something in Spanish) and then I’ll just say whatever I think is funny.”" 
20. ^ ^{a b c d} "Manny (Rico Rodriguez) Bio - Modern Family - ABC.com". Abc.go.com. http://abc.go.com/shows/modern-family/bio/manny/274505. Retrieved 2010-02-11. 
21. ^ "Good Cop Bad Dog"
22. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} "Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) Bio - Modern Family - ABC.com". Abc.go.com. http://abc.go.com/shows/modern-family/bio/mitchell/274491. Retrieved 2010-02-11. 
23. ^ http://www.tv.com/our-top-5-new-tv-dads/story/23224.html?tag=specialfeature;1
24. ^ Modern Family in Times Sq. Interesting way to find out Cameron's last name is "Tucker"
25. ^ ^{a b c d e} "Cameron (Eric Stonestreet) Bio - Modern Family - ABC.com". Abc.go.com. http://abc.go.com/shows/modern-family/bio/cameron-/274493. Retrieved 2010-02-11. 
26. ^ http://tvcritics.org/2010/the-television-critics-association-announces-2010-tca-awards-nominees/
27. ^ Weisman, Jon (October 21, 2010). "'Modern Family' is a 'Cosby' celebre". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118026163.html?categoryid=14&cs=1. Retrieved 2010-10-24. 
28. ^ http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20530028,00.html
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34. ^ [1]
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36. ^ "Modern Family: Up All Night Episode Recap on". Tv.com. 2010-01-20. http://www.tv.com/modern-family/up-all-night/episode/1312435/recap.html?tag=episode_header;recap#. Retrieved 2010-02-11. 
37. ^ cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1627447/
38. ^ ^{a b} http://www.imdb.com/video/hulu/vi530973721/
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42. ^ ^{a b} http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1530595/
43. ^ "Princess Party". Modern Family. February 16, 2011. No. 15, season 2.
44. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1569106/

External links

• Official website
• List of Modern Family characters at the Internet Movie Database
• List of Modern Family characters at TV.com
• "List of Modern Family Episodes". TVGuide. http://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/modern-family/297616. 
• Bringing "The Office" Home With You | Review Fix