The 15 Best Guest Stars On Modern Family

With Modern Family ending, it’s hard not to get nostalgic about everything the beloved, award-winning sitcom has accomplished in its over 250 episodes. We’ve watched the eccentric Pritchett-Dunphy-Delgado-Tucker family grow and mature over time, from the new addition of Fulgencio Joe Delgado-Pritchett to multiple high school graduations and college acceptances to the reveal that Haley was pregnant via her high school sweetheart Dylan.

Relationships have come and gone, characters have passed away, and guest stars have contributed in large part to what has made the series so great. While the series has stumbled in recent years, with some characters and plots almost unbearable to watch anymore, the caliber of guest talent that Modern Family continues to pull in is nothing short of impressive.

Updated on February 7th, 2021 by Kristen Palamara: Although Modern Family ended in 2020 and is no longer on the air, there are still fans who love the series and continue to watch and rewatch the 11 seasons while there are also people discovering the show and watching it for the first time. The popular series kept getting renewed because fans wanted more and continued to tune in every week to see the multi-generational family and several celebrities guest-starred on the series throughout its run from well-known actors to actors who have become stars in their own right. 

15 Nathan Fillion

Nathan Fillion, best known for his roles in television series like Castle and Firefly, portrayed a weatherman hilarious named Rainer Shine on Modern Family for multiple episodes.

Phil tries to become friends with him when he and Haley meet him at the station, but he accidentally convinces Rainer to ask out Haley to which she accepts. The two start dating, much to Phil’s chagrin, and Rainer even proposes to her, although the engagement only lasts a few minutes until they both realize that it would be a terrible mistake.

14 Lin-Manuel Miranda

Lin-Manuel Miranda is best known for his work in musical theater and on Broadway with musicals like In the Heights and Hamilton, but before Hamilton, he guest-starred on an episode of Modern Family. 

He portrays Guillermo who Gloria meets at the grocery store, where he works and brings home to pitch his innovative dog training ideas to Jay to try to get Jay to invest in the work. It’s a small guest-starring role, but a pretty hilarious one now that Miranda is an even more well-known figure.

13 James Marsden

James Marsden, best known for his movie roles like in The Notebook and the X-Men franchise, guest-starred in Modern Family where he was able to fully display his comedic acting.

Cam and Mitchell find Barry (Marsden) in their hot tub one night and decide, because he’s attractive, that they’ll allow him to stay and learn that he’s an expert with Reiki massages. Cam and Mitchell argue about whether they should continue seeing him only to find that he’s been living in their daughter’s fairytale castle in their backyard.

12 Edward Norton

Edward Norton is a well-known actor known for starring in iconic movies like Fight Club, American History X, and frequently collaborating with Wes Anderson.

He guest-starred on one episode of Modern Family as a quirky musician, Izzy LaFontaine. Claire hires him to play at their house for her and Phil’s anniversary because she thinks that he was once part of Phil’s favorite band, but he hilariously wasn’t, and Phil didn’t recognize any of his music.

11 Matthew Broderick

Matthew Broderick is best known for his various movie roles like the iconic Ferris Bueller’s Day Off but he took the time to guest star in an episode of Modern Family. Dave (Broderick) is one of Cam and Mitchell’s friends and Cam tries to convince Dave to get back into the dating world after his recent break-up.

Dave and Phil meet and realize they went to the same college, which prompts Phil to invite him over to watch the game. Dave thinks he’s on a date and continues to call Cam, who doesn’t know he’s with Phil, throughout the night for dating advice.

10 Winston Duke

Before he was stealing scenes as M’Baku in Black Panther, or leading a family against doppelgangers in Us, Winston Duke appeared in a few episodes of Modern Family‘s eighth season as Dwight. The star football player on the team that Cameron coached, Dwight stayed with Mitchell and Cameron for a while after his home life became unstable and would have required him to move before the end of the football season.

In addition, Dwight also briefly dated younger Dunphy daughter, Alex. He was an adorable addition to the series, gelling well with both storylines he took part in. But after only a few episodes, Dwight disappeared without another word – and Winston Duke would go on to become the rising star in Hollywood that he is now.

9 Chris Geere

Chris Geere is perhaps best known for his role of Jimmy in the cult hit cable comedy You’re The Worst. But for seven episodes across seasons nine and ten, Geere recurred on Modern Family as Dr. Arvin Fennerman. An esteemed professor of astrophysics at Caltech, Arvin is adorably geeky and awkward, and amazingly humble despite his impressive achievements.

Alex Dunphy also has a clear crush on her instructor, and Dr. Fennerman does wind up becoming romantically involved with her older sister Haley on and off throughout the tenth season, and seems really invested in their relationship, despite the intelligence deficit between the two of them. Eventually, Haley chooses to once again date her former high school love, Dylan, and after she and Arvin break up, he’s never seen again.

8 Stephanie Beatriz

Before she was winning hearts with her badass performance as Detective Rosa Diaz on Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Stephanie Beatriz briefly appeared on Modern Family as Gloria Delgado Pritchett’s younger sister, Sonia. Visiting from Colombia, Sonia was initially quiet, mousy, and withdrawn, totally the opposite of her vibrant older sister. But all of that changed when it was revealed that Sonia was the woman Jay Pritchett was initially interested in.

Learning that her sister got the life that should have been hers, Sonia turns vindictive and vengeful, attempting to kill her sister and seduce her brother in law. Every performance that Beatriz turns in is over the top and hilarious, showing off her impressive comic range along the way.

7 Jon Polito

For most of the series, Jay Pritchett and daughter Claire Dunphy have owned a closet sales business, Pritchett Closets. Apparently, the closet industry is a pretty cutthroat one, as Pritchett Closets has always been at war with fellow sales company Closets, Closets, Closets, Closets. And for Jay, this rivalry was truly personal, as Closets, Closets, Closets, Closets was run by his traitorous former partner, Earl Chambers, played by the character actor legend Jon Polito.

Prior to Polito’s tragic passing in 2016, Earl was a force to be reckoned with in the series, though his appearances were few and far between. He and Jay often went head to head and toe to toe, with even Jay’s children getting sucked into the middle of their fights on more than one occasion. After Polito’s death, Earl Chambers was briefly recast with another actor, but it just wasn’t the same.

6 Kevin Hart

Long before Kevin Hart was one of the world’s most famous comedians, and even longer before the Oscars controversy involving him, he had a brief guest-starring role in the third season of Modern Family as Andre, the Dunphy family’s neighbor and Phil’s new friend. Phil and Andre bonded over their likewise quirky senses of humor, with one particular scene finding them trying to make a song out of the phrase “brother from another mother” in order to describe the sudden closeness of their friendship.

Andre wasn’t around very much, only appearing in the episodes “Treehouse” and “Planes, Trains, and Cars,” but his friendship with Phil led to some truly hilarious adventures, such as when he managed to convince the impulsive Phil to buy a much fancier car than he needed.

5 Kevin Daniels

In the early seasons of the series, Cam and Mitch’s circle of close gay friends provided some of the show’s most hilarious and instantly iconic moments. One of the best of these beloved characters was Kevin Daniels’ Longinus, a larger than life character who would have been promoted to sitcom icon status based on his name alone. Longinus worked as a cologne salesman in the early season, resulting in various hilarious mall mishaps, including when he and Phil got into a spraying war, spraying each other with cologne directly in the face.

Longinus hasn’t been used much in the later seasons of the series, which is a real shame, considering his contributions of dry witty remarks and larger than life physical humor made the early seasons really special. He has appeared occasionally at events that Cam and Mitch have thrown, including their wedding, but nothing has compared to the early years.

4 Shelley Long

With a sitcom icon like Married with Children‘s Ed O’Neill assuming the role of family patriarch Jay Pritchett, Modern Family really needed to deliver someone of the same caliber when they chose the actress to play the Pritchett matriarch and they delivered. Over the course of the series’ first ten seasons, sitcom legend Shelley Long, best known as Cheers‘ Diane, recurred as the bohemian, loudly opinionated DeDe Pritchett.

Although she only appeared in eight episodes of Modern Family, Long’s DeDe was always guaranteed to inject some drama and hilarity into each and every episode she took part in. Whether physically fighting with Gloria, engaging in a screaming match with ex-husband Jay, or sarcastically commenting on the lives of her children, DeDe was unarguably one of the series’ secret weapons.

3 Fred Willard

The Pritchett children aren’t the only ones who have comedy icons for parents, however. Phil Dunphy’s lovably loony and optimistic father, Frank Dunphy, is played by comedy legend Fred Willard, known for his appearances in works such as This Is Spinal Tap and Everybody Loves Raymond. Phil is often thought of as a total nerd, with pie in the sky dreams – and as soon as you see his father, it’s not hard to see how the apple didn’t fall very far from the tree at all.

Most of Frank’s appearances in the series consist of him showing up unexpectedly, which forces the Dunphy clan to figure out how to deal with him and his frankness – both literal and metaphorical. Later in the series, he remarries, and it just so happens to be to a woman that was once Phil’s babysitter – and Phil’s first crush. Occasionally, Frank also Skypes in for family events, via a rolling tablet.

2 Reid Ewing

From the moment that Dylan Stardust Marshall appeared in the Modern Family pilot, it was clear that the series had found something truly special in his adorable portrayer, Reid Ewing. Over the years, Dylan has remained just as adorably dimwitted as ever, proving time and again that he’s the only man to have ever really understood Haley. While they were once ditzy high school sweethearts, who got into trouble more than they ever got out of it, Dylan and Haley have both grown up over time.

In the series’ eleventh season, Dylan and Haley are married, with twin babies on the way. And all the while, Ewing’s performance has been one of the few constantly hilarious parts of the series. He never misses a comedic beat, whether in line delivery or in the sheer amount of physical humor the series requires his lanky self to endure. Dylan is one of Modern Family‘s best, and most unique, creations and none of it would have been possible without Reid Ewing.

1 Nathan Lane (Pepper Saltzman)

Once Nathan Lane is guest-starring in a comedy series, it’s clear that no other guest actor could ever top his performance. It certainly doesn’t hurt that Sherman “Pepper” Saltzman is one of the most hilarious character in the entire series. Larger than life, despite his diminutive stature, Pepper is one of Cameron and Mitchell’s oldest and gayest friends, a wedding planner with a flair for all aspects of life.

Given his line of work, he’s far more dramatic than any of the other characters in the series – even the overly wrought Cameron. But not once are his dramatics tiring, or eye-roll inducing. If anything, his histrionics are infectious, leading viewers to give into fits of hysterical laughter as he moves from one zany moment to the next. His relationships with his husband Ronaldo, as well as Jay and Phil, have especially been highlights of Lane’s tenure on the series.

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