Career: O'Neill got the acting bug at Youngstown State University. In 1972, he had one line in John Boorman's film Deliverance. He decided to pursue acting as a profession in 1977 when he began studying at New York's Circle in the Square. His first big break came in 1979 when he was understudying the lead in Broadway play Knockout. When he was playing Lennie on the stage in Of Mice and Men, a Fox TV executive was in the audience and asked him to audition for the role of Al Bundy in the sitcom Married… with Children. The role made him a household name all around the world. It aired for 11 seasons between 1987 and 1997. A number of roles followed, including parts in Dragnet, The West Wing, The Unit and John from Cincinnati. He hit the big time again in 2009 when he landed the role of Jay in popular ABC sitcom Modern Family.

Career: Vergara made her TV debut at the age of 17 in a Pepsi commercial that was widely broadcast in Latin America. When she was 20, she moved to Bogota, Colombia, where she worked as a runway model and co-hosted a travel series on the international Univision Spanish-language TV network. After her long-running contract with Univision ended, she appeared on ABC sitcoms Hot Properties and The Knights of Prosperity. She had a five-week stint on Broadway in 2009 playing Mama Morton in Chicago. More recently, she has played alongside Ed O'Neill since 2009 in popular ABC sitcom Modern Family.

Career: After graduating from Brown University, Bowen landed a part on soap opera Loving and made her prime-time debut on Class of '96. In films, she played the love interest of the title character in Happy Gilmore. Other film roles followed in An American Werewolf in Paris and Multiplicity. She played Carol Phyllis Vessey in the NBC comedy-drama ED between 2000 and 2004. More recently, she has played the role of Claire Dunphy since 2009 in popular ABC sitcom Modern Family, and featured in Horrible Bosses alongside Jason Bateman and Jennifer Aniston.

Career: Burrell's early work includes several stage performances, including playing Lennox in Macbeth on Broadway in 2000. A number of smaller roles followed in films and on TV. He appeared in Ridley Scott's Black Hawk Down in 2001 and the 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead. He was a shallow but well-meaning plastic surgeon on CBS sitcom Out of Practice in 2005. He played Doc Samson in the movie adaptation of The Incredible Hulk in 2008. In the same year, he played a field reporter in Fox sitcom Back to You. It was cancelled after one season. Back to You was created by former Frasier writers Christopher Lloyd and Steven Levitan. Burrell joined Lloyd and Levitan's ABC sitcom Modern Family in 2009.

Career: In New York, Ferguson worked mainly in off-Broadway and Broadway shows, including the Tony Award-winning The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. In the summer of 2007, he starred in the Public Theatre's Shakespeare in the Park production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. In 2007, he played the role of Richie Velch on short-lived CBS sitcom The Class. He can currently be seen playing Mitchell Pritchett in popular ABC sitcom Modern Family.

Career: Stonestreet's first major film role came in 2000, when he played a desk clerk in Almost Famous. He has also made guest appearances in a number of TV shows, including Dharma & Greg, Spin City, ER, The West Wing, Crossing Jordan and Bones. He played Ronnie Litre in a number of episodes on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. His other acting credits include roles in several commercials for Volkswagen, IBM and Xerox among others. He can currently be seen in the popular ABC sitcom Modern Family.

Career: Platt's film career took off after a chance meeting with actor Bill Murray, who later recommended him for a role in Married to the Mob. From there, he appeared in popular films like Working Girl and The Three Musketeers. In 1998, he starred with Stanley Tucci in The Imposters, playing characters they devised while at Yale University. Then came The West Wing for which he received an Emmy nomination and Huff which saw him nominated for two Emmys and a Golden Globe. He finally made his Broadway debut in 2006, in a play called Shining City, set in Dublin. Most recently, he appeared back on Broadway, in Guys and Dolls. The re-run lasted for 113 performances. He was on movie screens in the blockbuster 2012, and won rave reviews for his role in TV drama The Big C alongside Laura Linney. He returned to the big screen in 2011 in X-Men: First Class.