Eric Stonestreet

Eric Allen Stonestreet (born September 9, 1971) is an American actor, best known for portraying Cameron Tucker in the ABC sitcom Modern Family, for which he received two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series out of three nominations. Early life Stonestreet was born in Kansas City, Kansas, the son of Jamey Anne (née Ball) and Vincent Anthony "Vince" Stonestreet. During his childhood, he wanted to become a clown. As a child, he created a clown character named Fizbo, and by age 11 was performing at 6- and 7-year-olds’ birthday parties; Stonestreet recalled in 2012, "I don’t know where the name Fizbo came from. I do know one day that's what my dad was calling me and that's the name that I printed on my business cards." The name Fizbo was used for a clown character he periodically plays on Modern Family. Stonestreet graduated from Piper High School and Kansas State University, graduating with a degree in sociology in 1996. While at KSU, he performed in plays including his first, Prelude to a Kiss, for which he auditioned on a dare and won the smallest role; All My Sons; and Twelfth Night. He went on to study improv at ImprovOlympic and The Second City Training Center in Chicago, and moved to Los Angeles to begin his professional acting career. Career Stonestreet plays Cameron Tucker in ABC's Modern Family. He is also notable for his role as Ronnie Litre on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. He also guest-starred in television shows, such as Dharma & Greg, ER, Malcolm in the Middle, The Mentalist, NCIS, Nip/Tuck, Party of Five, Spin City, The West Wing, Pushing Daisies, Greg the Bunny, Providence, Close to Home, Crossing Jordan, Bones, Monk, and American Horror Story. Early on in his career, Stonestreet was featured in Northwestern University's 1996 football TV commercial campaign as the "purple pride guy." His made his film debut Almost Famous, as desk clerk Sheldon. He also played Dr. Benson in Girls Will Be Girls, Ed the Trucker in The Island, and Courtney's Neighbor in Ninja Cheerleaders. In 2007, Stonestreet appeared in the short film "Vinny's Vault," which was produced during the reality show On the Lot. He also appeared in the movies Identity Thief as Big Chuck, and Bad Teacher as Kirk. In his role as Cameron on Modern Family, Stonestreet earned three consecutive Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series (2010, 2011 and 2012), winning the award in 2010 and 2012. He also received three Golden Globe Award nominations (2010, 2011 and 2013) for his work on the series. In 2013, he appeared in a series of advertisements for Australian retail store Big W.[citation needed] In the fall of the same year, Stonestreet played the "Fan Coach" in the AT&T "Be A Fan" commercial series that ran during the college football season, in addition to appearing in a MasterCard/Stand Up 2 Cancer commercial as himself.[citation needed] In 2014, he performed in "Weird Al" Yankovic's music video for "Tacky," a parody of Pharrell's "Happy."[citation needed] In the same year, he also starred in the remake of the Belgian thriller The Loft. He regularly appears onstage at IO West improv Theatre in Los Angeles. Personal life Despite his most prominent role being a gay character, Stonestreet is heterosexual and has lightheartedly described himself as "openly straight". His gay co-star, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, who plays Stonestreet's character's partner Mitchell Pritchett, jokingly called Stonestreet "gay-for-pay". Stonestreet is a supporter of the LGBT community; he declined to be photographed with Rick Santorum, an opponent of same-sex marriage. Stonestreet is an avid fan of Kansas State University, cheering for the Wildcats on Jimmy Kimmel Live! after they had beaten the Kansas Jayhawks in men's basketball, as well as appearing on College Gameday Live on October 29, 2011, in a full Kansas State jumpsuit and incorrectly predicting that they would win. He also supports NASCAR driver and friend Kevin Harvick, and has driven the pace car at several NASCAR events. He supports the Los Angeles Kings, the Kansas City Chiefs, and Kansas City Royals. When the Royals defeated the New York Mets in the 2015 World Series, Stonestreet won a bet with Mets fan Jimmy Kimmel, in which the loser would get shot at by paintballs. Royals players, Mike Moustakas, Drew Butera and Jeremy Guthrie appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! to help Stonestreet collect on his bet.