Now that Modern Family is over, it’s time to get to know Ariel Winter on a different level.
She’s not that same 11-year-old girl anymore. She’s now 22 and has been making great strides for herself.
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There’s also a lot you probably didn’t know, like how she’s been acting since she was five or that she’s a natural blonde.
1. Her first acting job was in a Cool Whip commercial:
This happened when she was just five.
She took on several small roles from there before landing it big with the part of Alex Dunphy on Modern Family in 2009, when she was just 11.
2, She was named after *The Little Mermaid*:
This fun fact is something she only discovered in 2017, so don’t feel bad for not knowing it.
While she was on The Conan O’Brien Show , she said that she called her dad before the interview and confirmed this.
3. She was emancipated from her mother in May 2015:
This stemmed from allegations that her mother, Chrisoula Workman, emotionally and physically abused her.
This led her 37-year-old sister, Shanelle Gray, to become her guardian when she was 14. That’s a lot to go through.
But nothing was as freeing as when she was legally emancipated.
“Nobody controls you anymore,” Winter said on The Ellen Show .
“You handle your own business affairs, your own living arrangements, your own money. Everything is sort of in your own hands.”
4. She once creeped out Conan O’Brien with her baby voice:
She may have used her regular voice on Smurfs: The Lost Village , but she can whip out her baby voice at any moment.
This is something that made the talk show host very, very uncomfortable .
“I make this baby voice that really freaks out my friends and my boyfriend [Levi Meaden] all the time. It’s kind of fun for me to make them super uncomfortable,” Winter said.
On the show, she said, “I’m just a little baby. I’m just your little baby girl,” to which O’Brien laughed hysterically.
5. She played Sofia the First on the Disney Channel:
Her baby voice certainly came in handy when she voiced the young Princess character for seven years.
When the children’s series ended in 2018, she gave an emotional tribute that surprised some people!
“For the past 7 or so years, I’ve been so lucky to play Princess Sofia, as well as work with the amazing team that made this project as special as it is,” she wrote on Instagram.
“Sofia is an incredibly strong, intelligent, kind and spunky young girl who is never afraid to take on any and all challenges that are thrown at her. She is a character that I am so proud of, considering I have young nieces, nephews, and god children who are influenced by the characters they idolize on TV.”
6. She is a really good singer!
It’s a hidden talent that she and her Modern Family co-star, Sarah Hyland, have in common!
Here she is performing ‘I Knew You Were Trouble’ by Taylor Swift. Girl’s got some wicked pipes!
7. She has been going to therapy for years:
Ariel has always been a huge advocate for mental health.
“I go to therapy every week and I’ve been doing it for eight years. It is fantastic,” she told Teen Vogue .
“For me, therapy is so important.” she said.
“I never want to quit therapy. I feel like people are never ‘cured’ [with] therapy. It’s not a ‘cured’ thing, because you’re not going in sick. You’re just going in.”
8. Her natural hair color is blonde:
“People never guess, but my natural hair color is dirty blonde,” she shared with People in 2019.
She dyed it dark to fit in with the family on Modern Family .
“I’ve always had dark eyebrows so I was that person.”
She continued on, saying that she has dirty blonde hair and really dark eyebrows and dark eyes.
“I’ve dyed it so many times in the past so really the most important thing for me with my hair now is trying to keep my hair healthy.”
9. She’s obsessed with dogs:
She has four of them: Casper, Chloe, Cash, and Cleo.
The actress even has plans to one day open a shelter for senior dogs and dogs that have been sheltered for more than a year.
10. Getting ready to play Alex Dunphy on *Modern Family* was easy:
Ariel may get glammed up for award shows, but the same couldn’t be said for her time playing Alex.
“My getting-ready time on set is almost as short as the boys’,” Winter explained to The Cut .
“I basically just wash it and let it air dry.” she said.
“By the time I get there, my hair’s already dry, and it’s already as straight as can be. I probably have the shortest getting-ready time of everyone,” she shared.
11. She once sliced off the tip of her thumb:
This terrifying ordeal took place while she was trying to make Greek food (she’s from Greek origin).
She went to the hospital and the nurse gave her the tip of her thumb in a plastic bag, but she accidentally threw it away.
12. Body-shaming gets to her:
From people criticizing her for wearing a low-cut top or body-shaming her for weight gain, she’s experienced it all.
“People on the internet really suck. It bothered me for so many years — I mean, it still does,” she told Teen Vogue .
“It never goes away. When someone calls you a ‘fat [expletive],’ you’re not feeling happy about it,” she continued:
“It doesn’t matter what you look like now, it doesn’t matter what you looked like then,” Ariel said. “You’re still going to read that and be like, ‘Oh, that sucks.’”
