At 49 years old, actress Julie Bowen has been in the acting game since 1992 when she starred in an episode of Loving. Fast forward almost 30 years, and she’s won a SAG Award, an Emmy Award, and is only picking up traction thanks to her starring role as Claire Dunphy in Modern Family.

For many of us Modern Family fans, it’s fun to take a look back and see what other movies and shows our favorite cast members have been apart of. For Julie, she’s done everything from TV show appearances, starring roles in movies, to animation! Let’s take a look at 10 projects we forgot Bowen was apart of.

10 HAPPY GILMORE

In 1996, Julie Bowen got the role of Virginia Venit in Adam Sandler’s comedy, Happy Gilmore. As the Public Relations Director for the PGA Tour, she did her best to follow Happy (Sandler) around to make sure he wasn’t tarnishing golf’s clean reputation. After getting to know Happy, Virginia realizes he’s just what the sport needed.

Bowen played Sandler’s love interest and made quite an impression on viewers (and on the other characters in the film). Funny enough, many people who grew up watching Happy Gilmore who also watch Modern Family couldn’t believe that Claire and Virginia were played by the same person!

9 ER

Can you believe ER is on its 15th season?! The medical drama that’s based out of Chicago is kind of like the original Grey’s Anatomy. It touches base on the lives of the doctors and nurses of the hospital, both in and outside of work.

Well, Bowen had her shot on the popular drama as John Carter’s girlfriend, Roxanne Please. For nine episodes Bowen made her presence known until the two went their separate ways.

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8 DAWSON’S CREEK

Before Modern Family, many remembered Julie as Dawson’s Aunt Gwen from Dawson’s Creek. Although Dawson’s Creek was on for six seasons, Bowen was in one episode: “Stolen Kisses.”

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In this episode, Dawson invited the crew to his aunt’s mountain home (Bowen) for Spring Break. Instead of being jolly and relaxing for a few days in Vermont, Joey and Pacey were arguing, and Jen and a woman named Shelley go head-to-head with Henry. But through all this bickering, all we could focus on was Dawson’s pretty Aunt Gwen.

7 ED

Julie Bowen was very much also known as Carol Vessey, Ed’s longtime crush and future wife on the show Ed. The David Letterman-produced show lasted for four years and revolved around Ed moving back to his hometown, where he runs into his old pals and former crush, Carol (Bowen).

The comedy touched based on a lot of issues that kids today face, like bullying, self-esteem, fitting in, etc. Ed was relatively dorky in high school, while Bowen’s character was the “it” girl (we can see why). After years of playing cat and mouse and dating other people, the couple finally marries in the show’s finale.

6 LOST

In 2004, Lost came on to the scene and took over TV. Fans could not get enough of this mysterious island and the people who are now stuck on said island.

One of the show’s hottest characters, Jack Shephard, was once married to a woman named Sarah Shephard, who was played by Bowen. The two met after Jack saved her life after she had been in a horrible car accident. However, due to Jack working so much, Sarah began having an affair and eventually left Jack.

5 HORRIBLE BOSSES

Did anyone else forget that Bowen was in Horrible Bosses with the likes of Jennifer Aniston, Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis, and Charlie Day? In the film, the three main stars are out to get the bosses who make their lives miserable. 

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Harken (Bateman’s boss), is miserable and has a serious anger issue. He’s also married to Bowen’s character, Rhonda. We first meet her after the guys show up to their house where a party is being had. Rhonda is clearly seeking attention from anyone that’ll give it to her (considering Harken is an actual lunatic). Bowen does a great job as playing the sexy, needy wife.

4 TANGLED: BEFORE EVER AFTER

Did you know Bowen isn’t just a star in front of the camera, she’s also a star behind it, too! Bowen is the voice of Queen Arianna in Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure (also known as Tangled: The Series!). Since 2017, Julie has been an important voice for the Disney Channel show. If you’re familiar with Disney’s original movie Tangled, the show is partly based on that and the video game.

Queen Arianna is the mother of Rapunzel, a very important role as a woman who lost her daughter for many years, thanks to Mother Gothel.

3 THE MINDY PROJECT

Fans of Modern Family were pumped to see Bowen in an episode of The Mindy Project. In the 2017 episode “Leo’s Girlfriend,” Bowen played a very popular mom named Daisy. Leo has a crush on Daisy, and Mindy begins to hate her for being able to do it all. Mindy’s a great mom, but Daisy seems to be a pro at parenting.

To make matters worse, Daisy calls Mindy out for not being the best mom to adorable Leo, and Mindy reacts in a very Mindy way: she pushes her. Thankfully, Danny came to the rescue and made Mindy feel better about motherhood, but Bowen perfects the mom role.

2 JUMPING THE BROOM

In 2011, Bowen played Amy the wedding planner in Jumping the Broom. The movie revolves around a couple named Sabrina and Jason, who are planning their dream wedding. With the conjoining of two families, tensions are bound to run high.

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Through the ups and downs of wedding planning, Amy (Bowen) is hired to help things run smoothly. It’s a small role but was a solid one for Bowen, who seemed to make a love connection with the character Malcolm.

1 LIFE OF THE PARTY

Melissa McCarthy fans couldn’t wait for Life of the Party to hit theaters in 2018. The movie was about a woman who decides to go to college at the same time her daughter does (and to the same college).

McCarthy’s character is stunned to find out her husband, Dan, is leaving her for their realtor, Marcie. In the film, Marcie is played by Bowen, who plays the spiteful new woman in Dan’s life. It’s then McCarthy vs. Marcie for the rest of the film, which had the audience in a spurt of giggles.

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Lynn Gibbs
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Lynn is a nomad who travels the globe on the hunt for her next adventure with her husband. A lover of being outside (and finding the best latte in town), Lynn is typically hiking, walking, or jogging when she’s not focusing on her love of writing. When it comes to shows streaming on Netflix or anything Bravo-related, Lynn’s your gal.

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