1 TY BURRELL IS TV’S FUNNY DAD In 2014 Ty Burrell earned more than 175,000 per episode of Modern Family That’s not bad for a guy who once lived in a van Burrell grew up in Oregon His dad was a family therapist His mom stayed at home to raise Ty and his older brother Duncan The boys were always being silly They had competitions to see who could make their dad laugh first During a high school talent show Burrell learned he loved the stage He wasn’t a very good student though He failed out of college When Burrell was 19 his father died of cancer It pushed him to go back to school He studied theater and learned how plays are produced Burrell started taking acting seriously 4 Burrell starred in small college plays He didn’t earn much money from these roles To make ends meet he lived in his van In the meantime he kept working hard for bigger roles 5 Number of Screen Actors Guild Awards Burrell has earned for his role in Modern Family Full Name Tyler Gerald Burrell Birth Date August 22 1967 Birthplace Grants Pass Oregon Breakthrough Moment Role of Phil Dunphy on the hit TV show Modern Family Awards 5 Screen Actors Guild Awards 2 Emmy Awards for Modern Family
In 2001 he earned a small part in the movie Black Hawk Down In 2004 he landed another role in the movie Dawn of the Dead In 2009 Burrell was chosen to play Phil Dunphy on Modern Family Phil Dunphy’s character is a dad who tries hard to be cool Phil Dunphy is awkward and funny Burrell’s Burrell and Julie Bowen who plays Phil’s wife on Modern Family pose with their Emmy Awards in 2011 character makes people laugh each week This role won Burrell an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in 2014 5
2 STEPHEN COLBERT TAKES OVER FOR LETTERMAN Stephen Colbert is the youngest of 11 children He was born in Washington DC but grew up in Charleston South Carolina In high school Colbert acted in plays He went to college at Northwestern University near Chicago Illinois where he studied theater After college Colbert worked with a comedy troupe in Chicago With this group he worked on improvisation the art of acting on the spot without practice or a script Then he started writing jokes for TV shows Colbert is known for his satire Satire is when someone uses comedy and jokes to expose problems Using satire Colbert jokes about and exposes problems in the media and government In 1997 The Daily Show hired Colbert to play a fake news reporter The Daily Show pokes fun at traditional news programs The fake newsman shared Colbert’s name Audiences loved the character In 2005 his character got his own Colbert stands with his awards at the Emmys in 2013 show It was called The Colbert Report In April 2014 Colbert landed his biggest role yet He was selected to take over David Letterman’s spot on CBS’s Late Show in 2015 6
Colbert with guests Jon Stewart right and Trevor Potter on The Colbert Report in 2012 7 Number of Emmy Awards Colbert has earned throughout his career Full Name Stephen Tyrone Colbert Birth Date May 13 1964 Birthplace Washington DC Breakthrough Moment 1997 appearance on The Daily Show a nightly comedy-news show Awards 7 Emmy Awards for his work on The Daily Show and The Colbert Report STEPHEN’S SATIRE It can be hard to take Colbert seriously That’s the thing about satire On The Colbert Report he plays a stubborn TV anchor His character can only see things his way Colbert has interviewed presidents and other celebrities Colbert interviews them in character On the show he makes fun of news anchors who take themselves too seriously 7
