Former Modern Family actor Rico Rodriguez appeared at the premiere of the horror film It Ends on Wednesday at the age of 28. The former child star, who achieved global stardom playing Manny Delgado on the sitcom, sported a goatee that partly obscured his recognizable boyish features.
Rodriguez, who did not act in It Ends, cut a summery, casual figure at the event in a short-sleeved print shirt with black trousers and tan leather sneakers.
He posed proudly alongside his sister Raini Rodriguez, who starred on the Disney Channel series Austin & Ally and played the title character's daughter in Paul Blart: Mall Cop. Representatives for Rodriguez have been contacted by the Daily Mail for comment.
Early Life and Career Beginnings
Born in Texas' Brazos Valley, Rodriguez began acting in Los Angeles at six years old. He landed an early television role on Cory in the House, a Disney Channel spin-off of That's So Raven.
He subsequently jobbed around on a wide range of television shows, including ER, Nip/Tuck, iCarly, and My Name Is Earl. He also appeared in Epic Movie, the comedy starring Kal Pen and Jennifer Coolidge that spoofed franchise tentpoles such as Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean, and The Chronicles of Narnia.
Modern Family Stardom and Cast
At age nine, Rodriguez was cast as Manny Delgado on Modern Family, joining a principal ensemble that included Julie Bowen, Ty Burrell, Sarah Hyland, Ariel Winter, Nolan Gould, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Eric Stonestreet, and Aubrey Anderson-Emmons. He was 11 years old when he began featuring on the show in 2009.
His character, Manny, was introduced as the son of Gloria Delgado-Pritchett, played by Sofia Vergara, and the stepson of Jay Pritchett, played by Ed O'Neill, Gloria's significantly older husband and patriarch of the family. The sitcom became an international smash and ran for 11 seasons before airing its finale in April 2020, a month into COVID-19 lockdowns.
Dialogue Struggles and Emotional Finale
Last year, Rodriguez revealed on Ferguson's podcast Dinner's On Me that he was occasionally flummoxed by his character's adult dialogue when he was a young boy. He explained that Manny was written as an "old soul" who was given "these big paragraphs and words that I had no idea what I was saying."
"I would look up online or I would ask my studio teacher Sharon, Miss Sharon, I would ask her: 'Hey, what does this mean? Why are they laughing? Are they laughing because a kid's saying this or because the line's funny? What's the context behind this?'" Rodriguez recalled. "And so she would explain to me, I'd go: 'Oh, okay, I understand now.'"
During its 11-season run, Modern Family won four Screen Actors Guild Awards for best ensemble cast in a comedy series, with Rodriguez included among the honorees. In October 2019, ahead of the final season, the then 21-year-old actor opened up to Hollywood Life about predicting how tough the end would be.
"I've been on this show for 11 amazing years and this is my family," Rodriguez said. "They're my second family, so I know that once we've finished in March, I am going to think we're going to come back and start up in July. It's going to be weird when that time of the year comes around again and we know we're not going to get together to start filming again."
Cast Reunions and Recent Work
Shortly before Thanksgiving 2023, Vergara hosted the first full-blown Modern Family reunion, welcoming creator Steven Levitan, showrunner Christopher Lloyd, and the entire principal cast except Ty Burrell. Burrell was unable to attend because of a surgery, leading Ariel Winter to jokily hold a framed photograph of him for a group shot posted to Instagram that set off death rumors the cast had to quash.
Following the conclusion of Modern Family, Rodriguez has appeared on an assortment of Nickelodeon shows. His work includes two reality series: The Substitute, a prank show where celebrities disguised themselves as substitute teachers in real classrooms, and an episode of Unfiltered, a game show hosted by Jay Pharoah where guests tried to identify a hidden celebrity.
Last year, Rodriguez was part of a star-studded voice cast for the animated basketball comedy Sneaks. The film's ensemble included Chloe Bailey, Anthony Mackie, Martin Lawrence, Quavo, Swae Lee, Laurence Fishburne, and Macy Gray.
