Ty Burrell has been a huge reason behind my obsession with Modern Family. The goofy, suburban dad who always tried his best and was inadvertently funny became the main attraction of the show over the years.

What made his progress in the show even more special, though, was learning just how hard he had to fight to get the role of Phil Dunphy when the casting process was underway. Which is ironic, as the show’s creators have admitted that the role was written specifically with Ty Burrell in mind.

Interestingly, though, for an actor I have loved and admired endlessly on screen for so long, there was one crucial piece of information about Burrell’s dedication to Modern Family that I only found out now. That is, he did his own stunt for the sitcom, which could have gone awry at any moment.

Ty Burrell has more than proved his caliber with his skills in both TV and movies over the years. Modern Family, obviously, became a huge platform for that as it explored multiple facets of his onscreen personality.

Whether it was humor, anger, vulnerability, or grief, Burrell brought Phil Dunphy to life like no one else could have. Hence, I’ve come to expect a high standard of dedication to his role in Modern Family by now especially because that is exactly what he has done for over a decade.

However, I was unaware of just what depths he took his dedication to become Phil Dunphy. Now, I wanna start this by saying it isn’t uncommon for actors to learn new skills for their roles. However, most of them don’t have to do so for a few minutes in a sitcom.

Interestingly, though, Burrell is an exception to that. For context, he took up learning to walk on a tightrope for the sequence where he does exactly that on camera in Season 3, Episode 3 of Modern Family, titled Phil on Wire. Although he had the option to appoint a stuntman to perform that, Burrell was adamant to do it on his own.

According to him, he wanted it to be as authentic as possible, right down to Phil’s signature gait, even while walking on the treacherous rope. The other cast members, too, corroborated this story by saying that Ty Burrell practiced for weeks to ensure that there were no faults in the stunt.

Needless to say, as someone who doesn’t have a lot of experience being an action star, it could have gone awry at any moment. However, his determination to do that not only proves his passion for his craft but also shows that he isn’t scared of taking risks in his pursuit of perfection. Honestly, this has single-handedly raised my respect for him tenfold.

It turns out that I’m not the only one who found out about this crucial detail from the Modern Family set so late. A fan expressed the same surprise as I while narrating Ty Burrell’s antics on the r/Modern_Family Reddit forum a few months ago.

Obviously, this sent the other fans into a spiral as they couldn’t believe just how dedicated the actor is to his craft.

In a hilarious barrage of double entendres, they expressed their admiration for Burrell in the comments. This obviously highlighted the chokehold Phil Dunphy and Modern Family as a whole still have on the fandom, even years after its conclusion.

The scene where Phil walks a tightrope was 100% Ty Burrell doing his own stunt!
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Ty Burrell has more than established himself as a versatile actor during his years in Hollywood. Be it portraying a range of raw emotions to even performing his own stunts, Burrell has shown that he can do it all. As such, it is nothing but a tragedy that Hollywood still hesitates to tap into his potential even now.

This inevitably frustrates the fans like me, as we would like nothing more than to witness his brilliance on screen again. Be it in another sitcom, or maybe even in action, thriller, or horror genre, getting to watch Burrell again would literally make my year. Well, only time will tell how the future unfolds. Up until then, here’s to hoping for the best!

is currently streaming on Hulu (USA).