Eric Stonestreet on ‘Modern Family’ fans: “I hope they understand that I’m an actor playing a character”

Perhaps the only downside of Modern Family’s successful two-year run on ABC has been that the show’s Eric Stonestreet has to break the news that he’s not gay to disappointed fans of his flamboyantly homosexual character, Cam.

Perhaps the only downside of Modern Family’s successful two-year run on ABC has been that the show’s Eric Stonestreet has to break the news that he’s not gay to disappointed fans of his flamboyantly homosexual character, Cam.

“That’s the sort of thing I’ve got to stop caring about,” Stonestreet told Halifax, Nova Scotia’s The Chronicle Herald for a recent story. “People are disappointed sometimes but I hope they understand that I’m an actor playing a character. They love the character and they might like me too if they give me a chance.”

The 39-year-old takes cues from his mother in playing Cam, an openly gay man who lives with his partner and their adopted daughter on the popular comedy, which centers around three related families living in southern California.

“The thing I found that was familiar was my mom and how my mom acts and talks and sounds and reacts,” he explained, saying that he quickly found the mixing of her mannerisms and his large body type “would work in opposition perfectly.”

His Modern Family role certainly wasn’t an easy transition from his pre-sitcom days, when he appeared on dramas like The West Wing, NCIS and CSI. “The year before Modern Family I think I killed three people on TV,” he laughed.

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