Julie Bowen’s transformation from happy Gilmore to modern day family

In 2009, Julie Bowen took on another career-defining role by following in Claire Dunphy’s footsteps on Modern Family. Claire is a loving mother, wife, sister and daughter who will do whatever it takes to keep her family together, regardless of arguments or wild antics. While keeping her husband and three children happy and healthy, she is her brother Mitchell Pritchett’s (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) confidante and her father Jay’s (Ed O’Neill) business partner.

Bowen received the Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 2011 and 2012, but almost turned down the role. She told The Ellen DeGeneres Show that she pulled out of the race because she was pregnant with her twins and instead focused on another role where the character was pregnant. “Then I had to scramble around a bit to get that [‘Modern Family”] work back. But I mean, just thinking about it can keep me up in the middle of the night like, ‘Oh my god, I almost didn’t do it!'” she said.

The show concluded with Season 11 in 2020 and Bowen’s children got to watch their mother close this chapter in her career. She told Jimmy Kimmel Live, “I made them [my kids] Come to the end. They found it annoying because I just cried.”