Sofia Vergara of Modern Family
ABCs New Sitcom
Modern Family is a show that does not show a storybook version of a family. Instead of two parents and two kids, a dog and a cat, this family is a mixture of all kinds of people. There is a man (Ed O’Neill) in a mid-life crisis who marries a younger woman (Sofia Vergara), a gay couple, who just adopted a baby from Vietnam, and some kids with completely different personalities. The rest of the cast includes Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Eric Stonestreet, Ty Burrell, Julie Bowen, Sarah Hyland, Rico Rodriguez, Nolan Gould, and Ariel Winter.
Colombian born Sofia Vergara is not a newcomer to series television. She played the very sexy realtor in the short-lived 2005 sitcom Hot Properties. She was also in the 2007 series Knights of Prosperity, as well as had guest appearances on many other shows.
Sofia recently spoke to the Television Critics Association about her life and her new series.
Sofia Veragra adds a Latin Look and Voice to the Family
Fans are struck by her statuesque beauty and her combination of Latin and English accent. “Well, the truth is that I've been in this country for 15 years, and I still sound like this,” Sofia says with a chuckle about her accent. “But you know, what can I do? I learned to live with it, and I've been taking advantage of it. I was watching a tape of me speaking in English [about] 20 years ago. And me and my son, we were [thinking], ‘Is that you, Mom?’ You speak perfect English.’ It was perfect. And I think that I've been realizing that the more that I exaggerate it, it's funnier. So now I totally don't now how I speak. I lost my accent. I [messed] up my accent on my own … but I've been working, so I can't complain,” she says with a big smile.
Modern Family is a conglomeration of different personalities and lifestyles. Sofia was asked whether this kind of family is prevalent in her native country of Columbia.
“Well, I think all families are the same,” she said. “Here it can be easier because you have more money. And over there it's harder to keep up with family because you have to work harder. You know, it's different situations, but I think families are the same everywhere in the world. And I think that's why a show like this, if it was shown in Colombia, it would have the same success here or anywhere in the world because we're all the same, no matter what color, what ethnicity, whatever. So we all have the same problems. So it's going to be fine. It's fun. For me, it's fun because I've lived that reality, being in a country with different people, the same thing that [my character] Gloria is going through.”
Modern Family is far from the old TV model of families like Leave it to Beaver and Father Knows Best. But life today is not like it was in the 1950s and 1960s. The world is changing and this show reflects many of these changes.
Modern Family airs Wednesdays at 9 PM ET/PT on ABC.
Sofia Vergara of Modern Family
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