Ed O’Neill’s daughters are doing all right for themselves.
Emmy contenders Christina Applegate (NBC’s Up All Night) and Julie Bowen (ABC’s Modern Family) both have called two of O’Neill’s characters dad. And like dutiful daughters, the women compared notes during The Hollywood Reporter’s comedy actress roundtable.
“I grew up with Ed O’Neill and Katey Sagal as parents, so anything that I’ve done well or poorly you can blame pretty much on them,” said Applegate, who played daughter to O’Neill’s lovably crass Al Bundy on Married … With Children. “Being with those two, I learned how to completely let go and that it’s OK to look foolish, and to come at it with truth. That all really came from Eddie and Katey.”
Bowen, who appears onscreen as O’Neill’s daughter in Modern Family, noted the stark contrast between Bundy and the affluent and sensible Jay Pritchett.
“I don’t even think of [our] Ed O’Neill as Al Bundy,” Bowen said. “I’ll see him on an episode of Married … With Children, and I’m like, ‘Oh my God, that’s him!’”
For more from Applegate, Bowen, as well as Laura Dern (HBO’s Enlightened), Zooey Deschanel (Fox’s New Girl), Julia Louis-Dreyfus (HBO’s Veep), Jane Lynch (Fox’s Glee) and Martha Plimpton (Fox’s Raising Hope) read THR’s full comedy actress roundtable and watch the video below:
