Judy Greer has revealed why she turned down an audition for the role of Claire Dunphy on Modern Family.
The actor, 49, appeared on Modern Family star Jesse Tyler Ferguson’s podcast Dinner’s on Me, where she shared that she was asked to audition for the matriarch of the Dunphy clan. The role ultimately went to Julie Bowen, who received two Emmy Awards throughout the ABC sitcom’s 11 seasons.
“I was asked to audition for Claire,” Greer said on the podcast, noting that she was at a point in her career when she was beginning to play characters with children.
“In a movie, people kind of see it and then they forget,” she explained. “In a TV show, it’s just like, you’re a mom. That’s it.”
The 13 Going on 30 star admitted that she “didn’t even want kids” in real life, saying it “was not even on the table for me.”
She continued: “I was like, ‘I think I’m not going to audition for it.’ I was really torn about it, but I ended up obviously not. Who knows if I would have even gotten it anyway? I was just like, ‘I don’t know if I want to be America’s mom yet.’”
Greer, who was in her 30s at the time she was asked to audition, claimed that the role “felt so limiting compared to what I was doing already.”
“In addition to just the perception of who you are as an actor, it’s lifestyle too,” she told Ferguson, who portrayed Mitchell Pritchett on the show. “I was like, ‘Well, I like traveling a lot, and I like doing all these movies, and I like going to all these places, and I like meeting all these people.’”
Despite turning down the role of Claire, Greer later appeared in the first season of Modern Family as Denise, the ex-girlfriend of Phil Dunphy, played by Ty Burrell. She also worked with show creator Steve Levitan on the short-lived Hulu series Reboot, released in 2022.
The beloved comedy series aired on ABC from 2009 to 2020, winning a total of 22 Emmy Awards. Modern Family also won the Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series for a Musical or Comedy in 2011.
Last week, co-stars Ferguson and Bowen both revealed they spent Thanksgiving in the emergency room. The Modern Family alums, who starred as siblings on the show, didn’t run into each other but shared the same unfortunate end to their respective holiday celebrations.
On Thursday, Bowen posted a picture of one of her sons standing outside the emergency room with the caption: “It’s not a holiday without a trip to the ER. (He’s fine, btw) HAPPY THANKSGIVING.”
Not long after Bowen posted on Instagram, Ferguson shared a picture of himself laying in a hospital bed with his two-year-old son, Sullivan Louis, resting on his chest.
“I have received a lot of parenting wisdom from @itsjuliebowen so seeing I wasn’t the only one with a kid in the ER on Thanksgiving was comforting. (He’s also fine.) Thank you to the kind folks at Lennox Health. NYC really DOES have the best healthcare,” his caption read.
Ferguson shares sons Sullivan and Beckett Mercer with his husband, Justin Mikita. Meanwhile, Bowen shares three sons — Oliver, 17, John, 15, and Gustav, 15 — with ex-husband Scott Phillips.
