Judy Greer turned down audition for 'Modern Family' because matriarch role felt 'limiting'

Judy Greer could've been a member of the Dunphy-Pritchett clan, but she wasn't quite ready to settle down.

Earlier this month, the actress reflected on her decision to turn down an audition for the family sitcom "Modern Family" during an appearance on Jesse Tyler Ferguson's podcast "Dinner's on Me." Ferguson played Mitchell Pritchett on the ABC comedy about an eccentric extended family living in suburban Los Angeles.

Greer told Ferguson she was asked to audition for the role of Claire Dunphy, wife of Phil (Ty Burrell) and mother of Alex (Ariel Winter), Haley (Sarah Hyland) and Luke (Nolan Gould). The role went to Julie Bowen, who later won a pair of Primetime Emmy Awards for her portrayal.

"I was really torn about it, but I ended up obviously not. So, who knows if I would have even gotten it anyway?", Greer said on the Nov. 19 episode. "But I was just like, 'I don't know if I want to be America's mom yet.'"

At the time of the audition offer, Greer had played a mother in a few different roles, which she said contributed to her hesitation about being typecasted in maternal roles. "In a movie, people kind of see it and then they forget. In a TV show, it's just like, you're a mom. That's it," she explained.

The actress, who'd starred in films such as "13 Going on 30," "Elizabethtown" and "27 Dresses," said the prospect of a TV role "felt so limiting compared to what I was doing already."

"In addition to just the perception of who you are as an actor, it's lifestyle too," Greer said. "I was like, 'Well, I like traveling a lot, and I like doing all these movies, and I like going to all these places, and I like meeting all these people.'"

Despite passing on the audition, Greer went on to guest star in a 2010 episode of "Modern Family." She also starred in the 2022 Hulu comedy series "Reboot," created by "Modern Family" co-creator Steven Levitan.

More recently, Greer appeared in the holiday dramedy "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever," co-starring Pete Holmes, Kynlee Heiman and Sebastian Billingsley-Rodriguez.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Judy Greer explains why she turned down audition for 'Modern Family'