Rico Rodriguez ‘Had No Idea What I Was Saying’ as Manny on Modern Family ArticlePure

Rico Rodriguez admits that sometimes, playing his “old soul” character Manny on Modern Family was a challenge — because he didn’t always understand his own lines.

In a June 2 appearance on the Dinner’s On Me podcast hosted by his former costar Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Rodriguez said that his character’s intensive dialogue sometimes meant he had to ask others to explain what Manny was actually saying.

“It is interesting because in some episodes, Manny would pop in and then say a funny quip and then he would, you know, walk out and then come back later,” Rodriguez, 26, noted. “But then sometimes, since he was such an old soul, he would have these big paragraphs and words that I had no idea what I was saying.”

He continued: “I would look up online or I would ask my studio teacher, Miss Sharon, ‘Hey. What does this mean? Why are they laughing?’ And so she would explain it to me.”

Adding to the challenge of being such a young actor (Rodriguez was 11 when he began the role) was the fact that he had to balance school with work.

“It was crazy because sometimes you would have these big chunky dialogues, and then you would rehearse it, and then you gotta go and you have a math test,” he said. “I’m like, well, I don’t know division. Like, what am I gonna do?”

He added: “And then, you know, I would go answer the first three questions of 20 and then go back to film. It’s crazy. It’s the craziest thing to do.”

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Rodriguez also remembered on-screen dad Ed O’Neill’s kindness on set, and how the revered actor “took me under his wing,” he said.

“There was one time I remember vividly, it was early on, where I was having trouble with this one line,” Rodriguez shared. “It was going on for a little bit … and I’m like overthinking everything. And I’m like, on the verge of crying because I just don’t know what I’m doing wrong. Then Ed goes, ‘All right, stop. Cut the cameras.’ He told the director, ‘Go sit down.’ ”

In that moment, O’Neill worked one-on-one with Rodriguez on the specific part he was having trouble with. “He goes, ‘No, try it like this.’ Until I heard and I repeated it in the way that they were wanting. And he was like, ‘That’s it, perfect, all right, let’s go do it!’ And then I’d do it in two takes and moving on, and he would give me a wink, like, I got you. Don’t worry.”

“From that point on,” Rodriguez continued, “I knew I could trust him. [He was] the nicest, the coolest. I love Ed, I mean, I owe a lot to him.”

Rodriguez’s on-screen mom, Sofia Vergara, has said that the role wasn’t that far off from her real-life experience as a mom to her son Manolo.

While appearing on The Talk in June 2024, Vergara, 52, and Manolo, 33, revealed that the Modern Family character of Manny was in part inspired by their own mother-son dynamic. 

“When I arrived to meet with the creators Chris Lloyd and Steve Levitan they had in mind another, you know, ethnic woman, but they didn’t know who,” Vergara explained at the time. “And when they met me and I started telling them my story how Manolo was a very old soul. He would be, like, even more mature than I was. I mean, he’d do all kind of, like, weird things.”

Manolo interjected, saying, “There are some character traits of Manny that are mine. Like I was the kid drinking espressos or oiling the salad bowl, you know, made of wood.”

“We would be crossing the street and at like 4 years old he’s like, ‘Mom, hold my hand. This is dangerous,’ ” Vergara added of her son.