Modern Family actor Rico Rodriguez shares how onscreen mom Sofía Vergara ‘played’ him: ‘I was literally Manny’

Actor Rico Rodriguez, who portrayed Manny Delgado on Modern Family for all 11 seasons, recently shared a funny behind-the-scenes story about his longtime costar Sofía Vergara, who played his onscreen mother, Gloria. Speaking on Jesse Tyler Ferguson’s podcast Dinner’s On Me, Rico revealed how he ended up helping Sofía with her script markings—and how he got cleverly “played” in the process.

Rico Rodriguez played the role of Manny in Modern Family

Rico recalled that he often arrived on set already knowing everyone’s lines, including Sofia’s, which came in handy since Sofía sometimes “goes off the rails” with her improvisation. “She would go off the rails and then she would go, ‘Rico, what’s my line?’” he said, explaining how he would help her get back on track. He also noted she would ask him about their next call time, showing how much she relied on him.

The real twist came when Sofía was late to a table read. “Being the nice person that I am, Sofía was late … I was like, ‘I know how she marks her lines on her script … you know what, let me be nice and let me mark her script for her,’” Rico recounted. Sofia was grateful, even pinching his cheeks in thanks. But the following week, when Sofía was on time, Rico sat down to mark his own script—and was surprised when she said, “Rico, you didn’t mark my script.” He replied, “What? I didn’t know I was supposed to. I did it one time ’cause I was nice!”

At that moment, Sofia handed over her script, and everyone’s eyes were on Rodriguez as he helped her again. “I was literally Manny at that point helping out Sofía,” he laughed. Despite the playful trick, Rico said he loved working with Sofía and didn’t mind helping.

On the same podcast, Rico also spoke about the support he received from Ed O’Neill, who played family patriarch Jay Pritchett. Early in the series, Rico remembered struggling with a line and feeling frustrated. “I was like overthinking everything … I’m like, ‘oh, I’m the reason why we’re not doing good.’ And I’m like on the verge of crying…”

Ed stepped in to help. “He was like, ‘Alright, stop, cut the cameras. Go sit down.’ He brought me to the side and said, ‘Here’s what you’re having trouble with. Repeat after me. Try it like this,’” Rico recalled. They worked on it until Ed gave him a reassuring wink and said, “I got you, don’t worry.”