Ty Burrell
Tyler Gerald Burrell (born August 22, 1967) is an American actor and comedian. He originally rose to prominence in several roles on Broadway including Macbeth, and the off-Broadway plays Corners, The Blue Demon, Burn This, and Show People. Burrell is best known for his role as Phil Dunphy in the ABC sitcom Modern Family, for which he won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in 2011 and 2014 (from 8 consecutive nominations) and five Screen Actors Guild Awards: one for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series in 2013 and four consecutive awards for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series shared with the cast from 2011 to 2014.
Ty Burrell | |
|---|---|
 Burrell in February 2014 | |
| Born | Tyler Gerald Burrell August 22, 1967[1] Grants Pass, Oregon, U.S. |
| Education | Hidden Valley High School |
| Alma mater | |
| Occupation | Actor, comedian |
| Years active | 2000–present |
| Spouse(s) | Holly Burrell (m. 2000) |
| Children | 2 |
His first feature film role was in 2001's Evolution. He also appeared in Black Hawk Down, Dawn of the Dead, Muppets Most Wanted and Marvel's The Incredible Hulk as Doc Samson. He has since voiced characters in animated films Mr. Peabody & Sherman, Finding Dory and Storks. Burrell had starring roles on the television series Out of Practice and Back to You.
Early life
Burrell was born in Grants Pass, Oregon,[1][2] the son of Sheri Rose (née Hauck), a teacher, and Gary Gerald Burrell (1940–1989), a family therapist.[3][4][5][6] He is mostly of English and German descent. According to the television series Finding Your Roots, Burrell is also of African descent through his great-great-grandmother Susanna Weeks (the daughter of white slave-owner Colonel Dudley Byron Mask and 13-year-old slave girl Penelope "Nellie" Ellender Mask), who was a former slave from Tennessee and became a homesteader in Oregon. Her son George Washington Weeks would eventually pass for white.[7][8] Burrell grew up in the small southern Oregon town of Applegate, near the California border.[9][10]
He attended Hidden Valley High School[1] in Grants Pass, where he played football and was a lineman for the Hidden Valley Mustangs. After graduating, he enrolled at Southern Oregon University in Ashland,[10] and graduated with a bachelor's degree in theatre arts in 1993;[9] he was the school's commencement speaker in 2008.[11] While in college, he worked as a bartender at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.[9]
During this time, Burrell attended the University of Oregon and became a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity.[12] He continued his education at Penn State University, where he earned an MFA and was a member of the Theatre 100 Company along with Keegan-Michael Key.[9][13][14] In 1999, Burrell worked as a festival actor at the Utah Shakespeare Festival.
Burrell has also stated that for a period of time in graduate school, he lived out of his van to save money.[15]
Film and television career
Burrell's first credited film roles were 2001's Evolution and Black Hawk Down. He subsequently appeared in the 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead, and in several stage roles (like 2000's Broadway production of Macbeth, and the off-Broadway plays Corners, The Blue Demon, Burn This, and Show People).
He was a co writer and actor in the original production of the offbeat comedy The Red Herring O' Happiness directed by Russell Dyball. Burrell's stage work also includes writing and working in the off Broadway play Babble with his brother, Duncan. He has also made an appearance as a New Jersey prosecutor in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
After that, Burrell was cast as Oliver Barnes, a shallow but well meaning plastic surgeon, on the CBS sitcom Out of Practice (2005–06), also created by screenwriter Christopher Lloyd. The show was canceled in May 2006, with eight episodes remaining unaired in the United States. After the show's cancellation, he played Allan Arbus in the film Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus.
In 2007, he had a small role in the film National Treasure: Book of Secrets as the curator of the White House followed by a starring role in the sitcom Back to You on Fox later that same year. On the show, created by Steven Levitan and Christopher Lloyd, Burrell played a field reporter (alongside Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton). The show was canceled in 2008.
In the 2008 Marvel film adaptation of the comic The Incredible Hulk, Burrell played Leonard Samson (without superpowers), who had a short relationship with Betty Ross.
He had a large role as realtor Phil Dunphy in the acclaimed ABC situation comedy Modern Family which is also created by Christopher Lloyd and Steve Levitan. For his performance, he received eight consecutive Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series (2010–2017), winning the award twice in 2011 and 2014.[16]
He also received nominations for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series for his role, sharing the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series with his co stars. He was the recipient of the individual SAG award in 2014, defeating Alec Baldwin, who had previously won the award seven years in a row.[17]
Burrell also appears as Phil in commercials for National Association of Realtors.[18]
In November 2014, Burrell inked an overall deal with 20th Century Fox Television to develop his own comedy projects.[19] His web series Boondoggle, loosely based on Burrell's own life, debuted in June 2016 on ABC.com and ABCd.[20] He was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Actor in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series in July 2017.[21]
More recently, his overall deal with Fox continued with the establishment of his own production company Desert Whale Productions, to set up an ABC comedy project.[22]
Personal life
Burrell and his wife, Holly, married on August 18, 2000. They resided in New York City until moving to Salt Lake City[23] in 2008.[9] They still own a two-bedroom apartment in the Astoria, Queens neighborhood that they rent out.[24] The couple have since relocated to Southern California for Burrell's work on Modern Family. In March 2010, Burrell said he and his wife had adopted a baby girl.[25] Two years later, they adopted another girl.[26]
Burrell is a self-described lifelong fan of the Oregon Ducks, Portland Trail Blazers, New York Mets and St. Louis Rams (now known as the Los Angeles Rams after their relocation to California).[27]
Burrell owns The Eating Establishment, a restaurant in Park City, Utah, as well as two bars in Salt Lake City – Bar X and Beer Bar, located next to each other with interconnecting doors.[28]
Philanthropy
When the COVID-19 pandemic shut down Salt Lake City's bars and restaurants in March 2020, Burrell and his wife used $100,000 of their own money to create "Tip Your Server," a crowd-sourced online fund to help out-of-work wait staff in Utah, which the Burrells continue to regard as their home.[29]
Filmography
Film
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Evolution | Colonel Flemming | |
| 2001 | Black Hawk Down | Timothy A. Wilkinson | |
| 2004 | Dawn of the Dead | Steve Marcus | |
| 2004 | In Good Company | Enrique Colon | |
| 2005 | Down in the Valley | Sheriff / Cowboy | |
| 2006 | Friends with Money | Other Aaron | |
| 2006 | The Darwin Awards | Emile | |
| 2006 | Fur | Allan Arbus | |
| 2007 | National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets | Connor | |
| 2008 | The Incredible Hulk | Dr. Leonard Samson | |
| 2009 | Leaves of Grass | Professor Sorenson | |
| 2010 | Fair Game | Fred | |
| 2010 | Morning Glory | Paul McVee | |
| 2011 | Butter | Bob Pickler | |
| 2012 | Goats | Frank Whitman | |
| 2014 | The Skeleton Twins | Rich Levitt | |
| 2014 | Mr. Peabody & Sherman | Mr. Hector Peabody | Voice |
| 2014 | Muppets Most Wanted | Jean Pierre Napoleon | |
| 2016 | Finding Dory | Bailey | Voice |
| 2016 | Storks | Mr. Henry Gardner | Voice |
| 2017 | Rough Night | Pietro | |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Law & Order | Paul Donatelli | Episode: "Turnstile Justice" |
| 2001 | The West Wing | Tom Starks | Episode: "The Women of Qumar" |
| 2002 | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | Alan Messinger | Episode: "Execution" |
| 2003 | Nip/Tuck | "Big Mike" (Cadaver) | Episode: Joel Gideon (S2E5) |
| 2003 | Law & Order | Herman Capshaw | Episode: "Sheltered" |
| 2005–2006 | Out of Practice | Dr. Oliver Barnes | 21 episodes |
| 2007 | Lipshitz Saves the World | Man in Red | Pilot |
| 2007–08 | Back to You | Gary Crezyzewski | 17 episodes |
| 2008 | Fourplay | Christopher | Pilot |
| 2009 | Damages | Douglas Schiff | Episodes: "I Agree, It Wasn't Funny" |
| 2009–2020 | Modern Family | Phil Dunphy | Lead role |
| 2010–2011 | The Super Hero Squad Show | Captain Marvel (voice) | 3 episodes |
| 2010–2011 | Glenn Martin, DDS | Mart-E (voice) | 2 episodes |
| 2011 | Doc McStuffins | Big Jack (voice) | Episode: "Out of the Box/Run Down Race Car" |
| 2012–2014 | Key & Peele | Colonel Hans Müller | 2 episodes |
| 2015 | Comedy Bang! Bang! | Himself | Episode: "Ty Burrell Wears a Chambray Shirt and Clear Frame Glasses" |
| 2015 | The Penguins of Madagascar | Parker (voice) | Episode: "The Penguin Who Loved Me" |
| 2016 | Boondoggle | Ty | 6 episodes |
| 2017 | Family Guy | Himself | Episode: "Emmy-Winning Episode" |
| 2020-present | Duncanville | Jack Harris | Series regular |
Awards and nominations
References
- Baker, Jeff (April 30, 2014). "17 actors you (maybe) didn't know were from Oregon". The Oregonian. Portland, Oregon. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
- "Ty Burrell". IMDb.
- What I Learned from My Mom: The Men of Modern Family. People magazine. Retrieved on September 9, 2015.
- "Ty Burrell interview: 'Modern Family has normalised gay marriage'". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved May 28, 2014.
- Varble, Bill (October 21, 2007). "This Just In". Mail Tribune. Medford, Oregon. Archived from the original on October 22, 2014. Retrieved May 28, 2014.
- "Former Medford principal, coach 'Gabby' Williams dies". Mail Tribune. Medford, Oregon. Archived from the original on March 15, 2014. Retrieved May 28, 2014.
- "'Modern Family' star grateful to black pioneer ancestor". bangordailynews.com.
- Stated on Finding Your Roots, January 5, 2016, PBS
- Turnquist, Kristi (November 28, 2009). "Actor Ty Burrell: From Grants Pass to ABC's hit comedy 'Modern Family'". The Oregonian. Retrieved November 29, 2009.
- Stated on Inside the Actors Studio, 2011
- Cullinan, Mary (September 16, 2008). "Southern Oregon University: President's Page". Southern Oregon University. Archived from the original on May 28, 2010. Retrieved May 29, 2010.
- Sigma Chi making headlines. Web.sigmachi.org (August 4, 2012). Retrieved on September 9, 2015.
- Comedy Central starts second season, The New York Times, October 14, 2014; accessed September 9, 2014.
- Federowicz, Jeffrey Allen (February 4, 2006). "PSU grad fits right in with 'Out of Practice'". Centre Daily Times. Archived from the original on February 24, 2006. Retrieved November 22, 2014.
- "Modern Man". Elle. March 31, 2011. Archived from the original on January 14, 2012. Retrieved May 28, 2014.
- Ty Burrell Emmy Award Winner. Emmys.com. Retrieved on September 9, 2015.
- Ty Burrell Dethrones Alec Baldwin at the SAG Awards. WebProNews (January 19, 2014). Retrieved on September 9, 2015.
- Gianatasio, David (May 5, 2016). "The National Association of Realtors Finds Its Perfect Pitchman in Modern Family Dad". Adweek.
- Birnbaum, Debra (November 6, 2014). "Ty Burrell Signs Overall Deal with Twentieth Century Fox TV". Variety. Retrieved July 20, 2017.
- Huddleston, Tom Jr. (July 13, 2016). "ABC Is Introducing Dozens of New Shows You Can Only Watch Online". Fortune. Retrieved July 20, 2017.
- "Nominees/Winners | Television Academy". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved July 20, 2017.
- Andreeva, Nellie (July 16, 2020). "Ty Burrell Launches Production Company With 20th Century Fox TV Overall Deal, Sets ABC Comedy Project". Deadline. Retrieved August 5, 2020.
- "'Modern Family' Star Calls Utah Home". The Salt Lake Tribune. Salt Lake City. December 3, 2009. Archived from the original on November 4, 2014. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
- "Television's Prime Time Wiener". The Wall Street Journal. June 8, 2010. Retrieved March 19, 2012.
- "Modern Family's Ty Burrell Adopts a Daughter". People. March 18, 2010. Retrieved February 18, 2011.
- "Ty Burrell Welcomes Daughter Greta". People. March 19, 2012. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
- "Why I'm a Rams Fan: Ty Burrell". Archived from the original on May 6, 2016. Retrieved April 24, 2016.
- "Ty Burrell of 'Modern Family' opens restaurant in Utah". Los Angeles Times. April 22, 2014.
- Benson, Lee (April 5, 2020). "As coronavirus shut the doors, Ty and Holly Burrell left a $100,000 tip for servers". Deseret News.
