Judy Greer Almost Played a Main Character in ‘Modern Family’

Judy Greer had a very specific reason for turning down an audition for Modern Family. 

The actress, 49, revealed in a recent episode of Jesse Tyler Ferguson’s podcast Dinner’s on Me that she was offered an audition for the Dunphy family matriarch Claire — ultimately played by Julie Bowen — but passed on the opportunity as she did not want to play a mother. 

“I was asked to audition for Claire,” Greer said on the podcast, noting that this was at a point in her career when she was beginning to play characters with children.  

The Archer alum went on to explain her thought process behind playing a mother on television versus in a movie, stating that the episodic medium stays with audiences for longer. 

“In a movie, people kind of see it and then they forget,” she said. “In a TV show, it’s just like, ‘You’re a mom. That’s it.’ ”

Greer noted that she “didn’t even want kids” in real life, saying it “was not even on the table for me.”

She continued, “I was like, ‘I think I’m not going to audition for it.’ I was really torn about it, but I ended up obviously not. Who knows if I would have even gotten it anyway? I was just like, ‘I don’t know if I want to be America’s mom yet.’ ”

Greer was in her 30s at the time and felt that the role was “so limiting compared to what I was doing already.” She also worried it would crimp her nomadic lifestyle.

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“In addition to just the perception of who you are as an actor, it’s lifestyle too,” she said. “I was like, ‘Well, I like traveling a lot, and I like doing all these movies, and I like going to all these places, and I like meeting all these people.’ ”

Greer went on to appear in a guest role in the first season of Modern Family, which aired on ABC from 2009 to 2020. In the episode “Truth Be Told,” she played Phil Dunphy’s (Ty Burrell) ex-girlfriend Denise, who tried to come in between him and his wife Claire.

The actress later worked with show creator Steve Levitan on the short-lived Hulu series Reboot, released in 2022.

“I worship him,” Greer said of Levitan later in the podcast episode.

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In November, the Best Christmas Pageant Ever star took a trip down memory lane with PEOPLE in an exclusive interview and revealed the prop she “stole” from the set of her 2004 movie 13 Going on 30.

She said she swiped a coffee mug with the logo of Poise magazine, where her character Lucy worked alongside Jennifer Garner’s Jenna.

“I fully stole it,” she said. “And I love it so much. I used to actually drink coffee out of it, but now I don’t because I’m afraid I’ll break it.”