30 Amazing Things You Probably Didn't Know About Eric Stonestreet

23 March 2019, 10:22 am EDT By Ruby Karnick

Eric Stonestreet, famously known for portraying Cameron Tucker in the most popular sitcom "Modern Family," first rose to prominence with his recurring role on "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation." Here are some really interesting facts to know about the American actor and comedian:

He almost did not get to play his most popular role as Cameron Tucker in "Modern Family," but it was Jeff Greenberg, the casting director, who lobbied hard for Eric Stonestreet to be cast, in spite of the ABC network's reservations.
The show "Modern Family," has turned out to be one of the most successful shows of all time, and the creators of the show have heaped all praise on Eric and his co-star Jesse Tyler Ferguson, for their ability to always make the audience fall in love with them.
Just like his character Cam in the show "Modern Family," he is also from the Midwest, but actually from Kansas. It is reported that he personally chose to have his character Cam hail from Missouri, in an effort to avoid making jokes about his hometown Kansas.
Unlike his character in "Modern Family," who is a gay, he is heterosexual in real life, and has described himself as "openly straight," with his co-star Jesse jokingly calling him "gay-for-pay."
However, he is famous for being a great supporter of the LGBT community, as it was once reported that he declined to be photographed with Rick Santorum, an American politician, who is also an opponent of same-sex marriage.
It is said that he is actually a quite different character than Cam, his role in "Modern Family," and he once stated that sometimes fans get disappointed with him that he isn't as dramatic and bubbly as Cam.
According to him and his co-star Jesse, the most rewarding part of playing the roles of Cam and Mitch in "Modern Family," is that hearing people tell them that their characters in the show, made it easier for them to come out openly as gay.
He is huge fan of NASCAR driver Kevin Harvick, and is known to be sitting in his pit box at the races. He has also reportedly driven the pace car at several NASCAR events.
The clown character named Fizbo that he periodically plays on “Modern Family,” was actually his own creation, which he developed when he was less than 10 years.
His role as Cam in the "Modern Family," earned him three Golden Globe Award nominations and three consecutive Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series, winning 2 Emmys in the year 2010 and 2012.

Eric Allen Stonestreet was born on September 9, 1971 to Vincent Anthony "Vince" Stonestreet and Jamey Anne in Kansas City, Kansas.
He went to Piper High School, and later attended the Kansas State University, graduating with a degree in sociology in 1996.
During his time at the Kansas State University, he was also a brother of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, commonly known by the name Pike.
It was while studying at the Kansas State University, that he started performing in plays, which developed into an interest in acting career.
In his college days, he has performed in various plays including the "Twelfth Night" and "All My Sons." His very first performance was a smallest role in "Prelude to a Kiss," for which he had actually auditioned on a dare.
Following this, he went on to study Improvisational Theater at ImprovOlympic and The Second City Training Center in Chicago, before moving to Los Angeles to start his professional acting career.
As a kid, he had always aspired to be a clown, and even created a clown character named Fizbo. By the age of 11, he had started performing as Fizbo in 6- and 7-year-olds’ birthday parties, and has his own business cards printed with that name.
As a young teenager, he was interested in working with the penal system, and was in fact studying criminal justice to be a prison administrator, having grown up near the United States Penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas.
His performance as Ronnie Litre, a Q.D. technician, in season 1 to 5 of "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," was well received and earned him an enormous fan following, which further developed with the Cam character from "Modern Family."
He has also guest starred in a number of television shows, including certain popular TV shows like the "Malcolm in the Middle," "The West Wing," "NCIS," "American Horror Story," "ER," "Providence" and the "Bones."

He was featured in Northwestern University's 1996 football TV commercial campaign as the "purple pride guy," during the early days in his career.
He made his film debut with the small role as desk clerk Sheldon in the 2000 movie "Almost Famous," comedy-drama film directed by Cameron Crowe.
He went on to play different roles in movies of various genres, including the role of Dr. Benson in "Girls Will Be Girls" and Courtney's Neighbor in "Ninja Cheerleaders."
Stonestreet made an appearance in the short film "Vinny's Vault," which was produced during the reality show and online competition for filmmaking "On the Lot," in the year 2007.
In the year 2013, he was featured in a series of commercials for the Australian retail store Big W, following which he played the role of "Fan Coach" in the AT&T "Be A Fan" commercial series.
He was featured in "Weird Al" Yankovic's music video for "Tacky," a parody of Pharrell's "Happy," in the year 2014.
He starred as Marty Landry in the remake of the Belgian thriller "The Loft," an erotic thriller film directed by Erik Van Looy, in the year 2014.
He is member of ImprovOlympic in Los Angeles and Chicago, and is said to regularly appear onstage at the IO West Improv Theatre in Los Angeles.
He was featured in the Super Bowl ad for Pepsi along with his fellow Kansan star Bob Dale, in the year 2001.
He is known to frequently visit the football games at his alma mater, Kansas State University, as he enjoys attending multiple sporting events. He also stays active with several organizations with the University.