NEWS'Modern Family' Actor Rico Rodriguez Reveals How He 'Got Played' by Costar Sofía Vergara
Rico Rodriguez and Sofía Vergara turned their onscreen relationship into a real life one.
June 4 2025, Published 11:41 a.m. ET
Modern Family star Rico Rodriguez dished on behind-the-scenes details about his relationship with Sofía Vergara, who played his mother on the hit sitcom.
During a recent episode of their costar Jesse Tyler Ferguson’s “Dinner’s on Me” podcast, Rodriguez told the host how Vergara “suckered” him in and playfully took advantage of his kindness.
Sofía Vergara Went 'Off the Rails' on Set of 'Modern Family'
Rico Rodriguez said Sofía Vergara would 'go off the rails' on set.
“It was so funny because, like, I always would be with Sofía. And, you know, I mean, it’s very well known how Sofía, she sometimes goes off the rails,” he said, referring to Vergara’s knack for veering off into improv while filming.
“And so she would go off the rails, and then she would go, ‘Rico, what’s my line?’” he revealed before explaining the biggest “task” she expected out of him.
“I love Sofía, but I, I got played. I got played by Sofía,” he told Ferguson. “So one time, being the nice person that I am, Sofía was late to the table read, and I was like, ‘I know how she marks her lines on her script.’ So I was like, ‘You know what? Let me be nice and let me mark her script for her.’”
Sofía Vergara would joke with her costar about continuing to mark her script.
He continued, “So she gets there, and she’s like, ‘Oh, thank you. Thank you, Rico.’ And touches my cheeks and whatever.”
Though Rodriguez had no problem helping Vergara, especially since he would learn everyone’s lines before showing up to set, his costar continued to piggyback on his generosity.
“And then the next week, she’s on time. So I sit down,” he elaborated. “I’m marking my sides, and then we start the read, and it comes to Sofía and she goes, ‘Rico, you didn’t mark my script.’ I go, ‘What? I didn’t know I was supposed to. I did it one time because I was nice!’”
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Rico Rodriguez 'Had No Problem' Helping Sofía Vergara
Rico Rodriguez 'had no problem' with his costar needing his help.
Rodriguez joked about how Vergara handed him her script, leading to their onscreen mother-son relationship playing out in real life.
“I was literally Manny in that point, helping out Sofía. But, you know, I love Sofía, so I had no problem doing it,” he shared.
Though Modern Family stopped producing new episodes in 2020 after 11 seasons, the show’s stars keep in contact.
Ty Burrell's Death Hoax
'Modern Family' star Ty Burrell joked about how fans thought he was dead after he didn't show up to the sitcom's 2023 reunion.
Not only has Ferguson been joined by Rodriguez on his podcast, but he has also invited costar Ty Burrell on air in March to discuss Burrell’s death hoax after he didn’t show up for the 2023 cast reunion because he forgot he had scheduled surgery for the same day.
“After that whole thing, everybody in the cast was telling me that, you know, apparently I passed,” Burrell reflected to Ferguson. “But the only photos I had of me missing were me in the hospital from surgery.”
