Modern Family Star Rico Rodriguez Talks About Filming the Show (Exclusive) – ryan

Rico Rodriguez will always have a special place in his heart for the time that he spent on Modern Family.

The actor, 26, who makes an appearance in the new animated film Sneakstells PEOPLE that his career-defining time on Modern Family left a lasting impact on him.

“That was such a special time,” Rodriguez shares. “I feel so blessed and honored to be a part of that show and having kind of a lasting impact of television history. I mean, we were a part of that in a big way. And not once did we ever think that, ‘Oh, we’re this big-time show.’ We were just a family who wanted to make good TV, that’s all. Every day, that’s all we want to do is come in, do our thing, have fun, and then go home. And the response and the accolades and everything that came after was just like, ‘Whoa, I can’t believe people even like our show.’ You know what I mean?”

On Modern FamilyRodriguez famously took on the role of Manny, the Colombian-American son of Gloria (Sofía Vergara) from her previous marriage to Javier (Benjamin Bratt). He remained in the role from the show’s inception when he was just 11 years old until its finale in 2020.

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Rodriguez recalls that the respect for Modern Family and its accomplishments in the television sitcom and comedy space extended even to other stars who visited the set.

“Guest stars would come and they would hold our show in such high regard,” he remembers. “And we always were like, ‘Wow, we appreciate that.’ Because anytime we had a guest on our show, we would be like, ‘Oh my God, someone else can come join the fun and we can create that environment to have a good time.’ ”

Reflecting on being just five years removed from the finale of Modern FamilyRodriguez shares that “five years is crazy. It doesn’t feel like it, but it is. And those five years, we’ve all grown so much. I mean, I didn’t have this much hair when I was on the show, so it’s something different. And I appreciate so much of my time on that show. And it is definitely going to help me in the long run of any other projects or things that I create on my own that moving forward, it’s definitely going to be a part of me.”

In SneaksRodriguez stars as Ice, a cool pair of kicks who takes to the court in a basketball battle royale as fellow sneaker Ty (Anthony Mackie) attempts to reunite with his sister (and other half of his pair) Maxine (Chloe Bailey), while being aided by streetwise sneaker J.B. (Martin Lawrence).

“It was really fun because afterwards I felt like I had just played a game against James Harden,” Rodriguez jokes about his time in the sound booth recording the vocals for the animated film.

The actor notes that his involvement in the project “just happened that fast,” but adds that “it was really cool just to do the basketball sequence … it was really, really fun. I’m really glad they wanted me to join this.”

The new film from Ashland Hill and GFM Animation also stars Swae Lee, Macy Gray, Ella Mai, Mustard, Roddy Ricch, Quavo, Laurence Fishburne and more.

Sneaks is in theaters now.