Modern Family’s Cam talks stardom, background and co-stars

Eric Stonestreet, who plays Cameron Tucker on the ABC sitcom “Modern Family,” left Pitt students wondering if they’d see him at Peter’s Pub, Hemingway’s or Mi Ranchito on Tuesday night.

After an audience member asked Stonestreet to go out after the show with her and her friends, he asked the audience which bars Pitt students usually frequent, adding that he’d have to try them all. 

Stonestreet hugged it out and took selfies with Pitt students in a full William Pitt Union Assembly Room, answering questions from the audience throughout the Pitt Program Council-sponosored event. Above all, Stonestreet was honest.

“Most of you probably think I’m going to tell you that you’re going to be successful in life,” he said while chuckling. “Most of you probably will not be.”

Though he covered some serious topics, Stonestreet kept the tone of his discussion lighthearted, like a stand-up comedy performance. After poking fun at two students who left a few minutes into his Q-and-A session, Stonestreet answered questions about his favorite members of the “Modern Family” cast, life growing up in Kansas and what it is like to play a homosexual character as a heterosexual man. 

“People always ask, ‘Did your parents think it was weird that you play a gay character?’” he said. “First of all, that is such an offensive question. I never approached Cam from the beginning as a gay character, just as a person. Your sexuality doesn’t get to define you.”

Stonestreet said Jesse Tyler Ferguson, who plays his on-screen partner, Mitchell Pritchett, is his closest friend on the cast of Modern Family and that he hopes they represent the gay community in a good light.

Lindsy Steinberger, incoming Pitt Program Council lecture director and junior psychology major, said that “Modern Family” “is such a progressive show that almost everyone watches,” and said before the event that “[Stonestreet] really wants to immerse [Pitt] students in his story.”

His story started on a farm in Kansas, much like his character, Cameron, a Missouri farm boy. 

“I’ve had my whole arm inside a cow before,” he said. “I’ve castrated hogs. And my parents have the best table at IHOP in Kansas City.” 

After moving from Kansas City to Chicago to participate in the Second City comedy training program — former home to comics such as Mike Myers, Tina Fey and late Chris Farley — Stonestreet started auditioning in commercials and has been featured in more than 100 commercials to date. 

Stonestreet eventually realized he would have to move to Los Angeles to advance his career. 

“Modern Family represents the first time in my 12-year career where I’ve had a job that lasted more than eight days,” he said. “It’s an interesting personality complex it takes to be an actor because you have to have some self-loathing but a lot of confidence.” 

Most actors, according to Stonestreet, watch themselves on television or in movies and only pretend that they don’t watch themselves on the screen. 

But in terms of the professional development process, Stonestreet advised one student that “the best place to get good at your craft is to be in a place where you can fail, like college.”

Hollywood has its own impact on the actor.

The biggest issue he takes with Hollywood is how it treats his friend, Sofia Vergara, who plays Gloria Delgado-Pritchett on “Modern Family.” Vergara’s character, Gloria, is often portrayed as a vain, airheaded and attractive woman, traits that have contributed to the public’s perception of her real-life persona.

“Sofia is an incredible person,” Stonestreet said. “It bums me out that people reduce her to how beautiful she is because she is honestly 10 times as smart as she is beautiful.” 

Mya Hogan, outgoing Pitt Program Council lecture director, originally had the idea to contact Stonestreet to speak at Pitt after she remembered his castmate Ferguson spoke at Pitt three years ago when she was a freshman.

“The main goal of the year was to get a diverse group of lecturers,” Hogan said. 

Stonestreet said that he has plans for his Hollywood career apart from playing Cam on “Modern Family.” 

Alongside comedians Louis C.K. and Kevin Hart, Stonestreet will voice an animated character in a 2016 film that remains untitled.

While Stonestreet’s favorite movies include “Uncle Buck” and “Trains, Planes and Automobiles” with John Candy, and he loves playing funny characters, he said he isn’t really worried about being typecast as Cam. 

“You only want to see me play good guys, huh?” he asked. “I’m going to change your mind tonight.”