Modern Family was an immensely popular sitcom that recently ended its 11-season
run on the ABC network, and it provided a great starring role for actress Sofia Vergara.
Despite the consistent employment that Modern Family gave the actress, there
were a few problems that she had with her role on the program.
Join Facts Verse to see why Sofia Vergara had two BIG problems with Modern Family.
Sofia Vergara Hated Some Things About Modern Family
When Sofia Vergara secured her role as the character of Gloria on Modern Family, the actress
had been trying to make a name for herself in the entertainment industry for several years. The
role of Gloria proved her big break, though no one could’ve predicted what a major success the sitcom
was going to become. Modern Family lasted for 11 seasons before coming to an end only recently,
and Sofia stayed on for the show’s entire run as one of its most popular characters.
There’s certainly a great deal that Sofia loved about her time on Modern Family,
but there were also a few things that the actress flat-out hated about it!
According to Sofia, the absolute worst part about her time on Modern Family was when the character
of Gloria got a dog. The character of Gloria was given a little French bulldog by the name of
Stella, and Sofia was forced to act as if she was head over heels in love with it. Given that Sofia
isn’t all that fond of little dogs, this proved a hard job. Sofia claims that when she grew up
in Columbia, she never had any experience with little dogs, only big ones. These big ones never
got up in her lap and licked her face like Stella, and they were also predominantly kept outside.
While Sofia Vergara very much hated all of the time that she was forced to act
alongside the little dog, she says that she had no personal grudge
against the small creature. Despite being uncomfortable, the actress did her best.
Fans of Modern Family may be surprised to learn that Sofia wasn’t actually all that
fond of the little dog who played Stella, as the character of Gloria seems to be very much
in love with her little French bulldog. However, this is the magic of acting!
Sofia’s Columbian Heritage Is a Big Deal to Her
Sofia Vergara talks a lot about her time growing up in Columbia, and it was the actress’s Columbian
origins that helped get her the Modern Family role. Gloria was meant to be somewhat of a
stereotypical Latina, and the producers knew that Sofia was the perfect choice to play the
character as soon as they heard her authentic accent. Sadly, audiences weren’t initially all
that receptive to the character of Gloria, as they felt that she was too much of a stereotype.
The audience’s reaction to the character of Gloria yielded the second thing that
Sofia Vergara grew to hate about her role on Modern Family. However, Sofia was quick
to defend the character of Gloria just as soon as the criticism started coming about.
According to Sofia, she based her portrayal of the character of Gloria on her mother and grandmother,
both of whom acted in similar ways. Sofia went on to add that she had actually advised
the writers of Modern Family early on about how best to handle her Latina character and
that her input made it so that the character was less stereotypical.
Sofia Vergara was able to help the writers of Modern Family craft Gloria into a more
three-dimensional character, but this sill didn’t prevent Sofia’s performance on the
show from being attacked by those who thought it was too stereotypical. Some of the aspects
of Gloria’s character that fans were quick to attack included the character’s hypersexuality,
which is a stereotypical trait sometimes associated with Latinas.
Another thing about the character that was often attacked was how loud she was,
which audiences viewed as another negative Latina stereotype. After all that Sofia had been through
to get her breakout role on Modern Family and all of the positive contributions she gave to
the show’s writers to give her character more depth, this criticism certainly hurt the actress.
Modern Family Was Meant to Depict Alternative Families
The creators of Modern Family intended for the show to depict alternative families that provided
contrast to the typical nuclear families that have dominated the medium of television since
its inception. Some of the ways that Modern Family broke tradition included showcasing a family led
by a homosexual couple, as well as depicting Gloria as being the much younger second wife
on an older man, played by television veteran Ed O’Neill. If you’re enjoying this video so far,
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Modern Family Made Great Use of Sofia’s Accent Sofia Vergara’s character of Gloria on Modern
Family was the second wife of a much older man named Jay, who was played by Married
with Children alum Ed O’Neill. In the series, the character of Jay has two children from his
previous marriage that are around Gloria’s age, making for a decidedly unique family situation!
Given that the character of Gloria was supposed to be a loud-talking Latina,
the role proved the perfect fit for the imminently Columbian Sofia. However, prior to landing the
role of Gloria, Sofia had a hard time making it in Hollywood with her striking accent.
Sofia Vergara was born and raised in Colombia. She dropped out of school after deciding to
become a model, and found some moderate success in the modeling industry of her
home country before the murder of her brother in the late 1990s inspired the future star
to move to the United States and try her hand at starting up a career in Hollywood.
She ended up struggling for years in the entertainment industry before receiving her
breakout role on Modern Family, and she blamed much of this struggle on her Columbian accent.
When Sofia came to the conclusion that she wasn’t going to be able to get any good acting gigs on
account of her accent, she decided that she was going to get rid of her accent by any
means necessary. The aspiring star then went about spending vast sums of money working with
a one-on-one speech therapist trying to get her accent to go away. However, after wasting all
of her money on the futile effort, Sofia’s accent was still just as prominent as ever.
Sofia Tried Desperately to Make Her Accent Disappear
According to Sofia, she worked with her speech therapist three hours a day for three days a week,
and she paid by the hour. The therapy was expensive, and it didn’t end up doing the
aspiring star much good. To add insult to injury, the role that would end up making
Sofia a star would end up taking full advantage of the actress’s prominent Columbian accent.
During her early years in Hollywood, Sofia Vergara tried her absolute best to hide her
strong Columbian accent during auditions. However, this inhibited the actress’s natural flow,
and it made it so that she had a hard time making an impression on the people
that she was auditioning for. Eventually, after wasting a great deal of money on speech therapy,
Sofia decided that she was just going to be herself and try her best to find roles with
the accent that she was given. Miraculously, she ended up finding the role of Gloria.
The role of Gloria on Modern Family called for someone with a strong accent like Sofia’s, and
the actress proved the perfect fit! Finally, the actress was given a starring role that would take
full advantage of who she was instead of forcing her to become someone else. This is another
reason that the actress would go on to become so angry whenever fans criticized the portrayal
of Gloria’s character. For all intents and purposes, Sofia was simply acting like herself!
Sofia Got Along Great with Ed O’Neill Although Sofia had a hard time dealing
with fans during the early years of Modern Family’s popularity, she had an easy time
getting along with her costars! Sofia claims that she was fairly nervous about playing the
much younger wife of a character played by Ed O’Neill, due both to the actor’s status as a
television veteran and the fact that the two have a fairly significant age difference. However, when
it came time for the filming to actually start, Sofia found that her and Ed got along swimmingly!
According to Sofia, there wasn’t a single time over the course of Modern Family’s 11-season run
where her and Ed didn’t get along, and this is certainly something when you realize that there
was barely a day of filming where the two didn’t have to stay in close quarters.
Out of all of Modern Family’s cast members, Ed O’Neill was by far the one that Sofia Vergara
had to work with the most. Despite the pair’s massive age difference,
Sofia claims that the two were actually able to relate to each other quite a bit
during the series’ filming. Sofia says there was rarely a moment where she and
Ed weren’t laughing and joking together amicably when the cameras weren’t rolling.
Watch Out for Sofia Vergara in Netflix’s Upcoming Griselda
Modern Family first came on the air all the way back in 2009, and its last episode aired in 2020.
In the time since Modern Family ended its 11-season run, Sofia Vergara has been keeping
busy in the entertainment industry. She started up a gig as a judge on America’s Got Talent,
though now it appears that Sofia is ready to step back into the acting game with the
upcoming Netflix series Griselda. It seems as if the series is somewhat of a passion
project for Sofia, who has always wanted the chance to play the show’s titular character.
The show is named after and centered on the real-life figure of Griselda Blanco,
who was colloquially known as the “Cocaine Godmother”. Griselda was a notorious Columbia
drug queenpin. Of course, this sounds like a perfect role for the beautiful Sofia Vergara.
While Sofia Vergara enjoyed her tenure on Modern Family, there were a few issues she
had throughout playing her role. Now it's time to hear from you: did you know that
Sofia Vergara spent vast sums of money trying to unlearn her Columbian accent before receiving the
role of Gloria on Modern Family and that she gave the writers input
to make the character of Gloria less of a Latina stereotype? As always, like this video
to show your support and subscribe and hit the notification bell if you'd like to be
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way!