Eric Stonestreet

Eric Allen Stonestreet (born September 9, 1971) is an American actor. He is best known for portraying Cameron Tucker in the ABC sitcom Modern Family, for which he received two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series out of three nominations. He first rose to prominence in a recurring role on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. He has also appeared in films including Bad Teacher (2011), Identity Thief (2013), The Loft (2013), and Confirmation (2016), and provides the voice of Duke in the animated Secret Life of Pets film franchise (2016–2019). Early life Eric Allen Stonestreet was born in Kansas City, Kansas, on September 9, 1971, the son of teacher's aide Jamey Anne (née Ball) and retail business owner Vincent Stonestreet. He is of German descent. As a child, he wanted to become a clown, and created a clown character named Fizbo; by age 11, he was performing at younger children's birthday parties. He recalled in 2012, "I don't know where the name Fizbo came from. I do know one day that's what my dad was calling me and that's the name that I printed on my business cards." The name "Fizbo" was later used for a clown character he periodically played on Modern Family. Stonestreet attended Piper High School and Kansas State University, where he was in the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, graduating with a degree in sociology in 1996. While there, he made his stage debut when he appeared in Prelude to a Kiss, for which he auditioned on a dare and won the smallest role. He later appeared in All My Sons and Twelfth Night, before studying improv at ImprovOlympic and The Second City Training Center in Chicago, then moved to Los Angeles to begin his professional acting career. Career Eric played Cameron Tucker in ABC's Modern Family. He is also notable for his role as Ronnie Litre on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. He also guest starred in television shows, such as Dharma & Greg, ER, Malcolm in the Middle, The Mentalist, NCIS, Nip/Tuck, Party of Five, Spin City, The West Wing, Pushing Daisies, Greg the Bunny, Providence, Close to Home, Crossing Jordan, Bones, Monk, and American Horror Story. Early in his career Stonestreet was featured in Kansas State University's 1996 football TV commercial campaign as the "purple pride guy."