Modern Family star Ed O’Neill doesn’t mind playing a grumpy character on TV.
The veteran actor, who first rose to fame thanks to his role as an ill-tempered shoe salesman in the Fox sitcom Married with Children from 1987-1997, jokes that being a grouch comes easily.
“I just sort of fell into that niche,” O’Neill tells Guideposts.org. “I can play happy too, but the grumpy thing apparently has been good to me.”
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After eleven seasons on a series that became an American classic, O’Neill made the switch to ensemble comedy, playing patriarch Jay Pritchett on ABC’s hit sitcom Modern Family. It’s a part the actor loves, mainly because it allows him the chance to riff off of his talented cast mates.
“On Married with Children, I was what they call the driver. I drove all the scenes,” O’Neill explains. “The big comedy was usually me. In Modern Family, the big comedy stuff is usually with Ty [Burrell], Eric [Stonestreet], sometimes Sofia [Vergara] and sometimes Julie [Bowen]. Oftentimes I’m just observing and commenting. I love that. It’s my favorite kind of acting. When you’re driving a comedic scene, you have to go big. I like the more subtle kind of acting, and also … I’m lazy. It suits me,” he jokes.
Now O’Neill’s taking his talent to the big screen in Disney’s latest film, Finding Dory.
This sequel to Pixar’s 2003 hit Finding Nemo follows the forgetful blue tang fish Dory (voiced by Ellen DeGeneres) who’s looking for the family she lost. Along the way she meets Hank (O’Neill), a mimic octopus who helps her on her journey while providing us with more than a few laughs.
O’Neill didn’t even have a script when he signed on to the film. The actor thought he might just be making a voice cameo but, after eight four-hour sessions in the studio and learning the years-worth of animation work that went into creating Hank, he realized his “small” role might be something more.
“I didn’t know it was a lead role until probably a year in. Then I started to slowly figure it out. All my stuff’s with Ellen,” the actor laughingly recalls.
Hank emerges as one of the film’s most watchable characters – there’s even been talk he’ll get his own ocean tale down the line. He’s a crank and a bit paranoid, and his relationship with Dory is based more on mutual need than actual friendship, but O’Neill loved the character as soon as he read him on the page.
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“Even though Hank is very paranoid and phobic, he still has a capacity for loyalty and for doing the right thing, even if it’s something he doesn’t want to do,” the actor explains. “Oftentimes I think that’s the way people are too. You may not want to do something, but you do it [because it’s the right thing]. That sort of thing I think people can identify with.”
While Finding Dory is expected to have the second biggest opening of summer 2016, many of O’Neill’s fans are still clamoring for the rumored Married with Children spin-off. O’Neill says, as of now, those plans have stalled.
“They’ve been talking about that for a long time,” O’Neill admits. “The most recent thing was my dear friend, David Faustino, pitched an idea to Sony about a spin-off. He would play Bud Bundy now grown up and living in the old house. Al and Peg are now retired and living in Las Vegas, after winning the lottery. Bud’s divorced; his ex-wife is living in one of the rooms of the house with his best friend. His life is kind of a bust out. And Sony loved the idea. Katey [Segal] and I would make a couple of appearances per season but somebody who had to sign off on it wouldn’t. Right now, it just doesn’t seem like it’s going to happen.”
Even so, the actor’s proud of the work he did on the show and even more grateful to have made a career out of the craft he loves.
“I’m proud that I actually worked. Period,” O’Neill says. “It’s a very difficult business to have a long-sustained career. If you’re able to do it, you have to consider yourself fortunate.”
As for advice to others wanting to make it in Hollywood, O’Neill says to follow Dory’s mantra:
“Just keep swimming.”
