Red Carpet Interview with Modern Family’s Eric Stonestreet

Modern Family fans might find it hard to belief that prior to being cast as the gentle and loving Cameron Tucker on the ABC sitcom, some of Kansas born actor Eric Stonestreet’s prime time roles were killers. He played one on NCIS in 2008. And in 2009, he appeared on Nip/Tuck as a man sentenced to death for the murder of a teenage girl.

That’s not the Stonestreet that viewers have fallen in love with over the course of the first season of Modern Family. In just 17 episodes, he’s secured his place as one of the most beloved TV characters of all time – sure to go down in pop culture history books alongside Rob Petrie and Richie Cunningham.

What’s not to love about Cameron? Putting it in his own words, “I’m sort of like Costco. I'm big, I'm not fancy, and I dare you to not like me.”

Plus he’s a hopeless romantic, describing his relationship, “I'm like a big runaway charity truck and Mitchell is my off-ramp full of safety gravel.”

But don’t get Fizbo riled up because if you hurt someone he loves, he’s quick to point out, “I'm the ass kicking clown that will twist you like a balloon animal.”

Yes, we love Eric Stonestreet, and it was our distinct honor to interview him recently at the Television Academy. Emmy magazine's Editor-in-Chief Juan Morales asked Eric why he thought Modern Family has become a hit and how his new found success feels in this video that was shot and edited by the Pop Culture Passionistas for the Archive of American Television.