Do you watch Modern Family? If you're a fan of the ABC sitcom, you know that the show's gay couple, Mitchell and Cameron, are raising their daughter Lily, an adopted baby from Vietnam. For the most part, the travails of raising Lily are handled tastefully, with Mitchell and Cameron's racial insensitivity often played for laughs, at their own expense.
Last week, word got out that Modern Family's producers are looking for a new kid actor ("Asian, 3-to 4-year-old") to play toddler Lily. Basically, the character has outgrown being just a quiet pile of Asian cute, and naturally, they're anticipating her eventually saying actual words: 'Modern Family' on the lookout for new Baby Lily.
Modern Family has taken another step toward re-casting Baby Lily: The ABC comedy is spreading the word around the casting community that it is looking for an "Asian, 3-to 4-year-old" to play the daughter of Mitchell and Cameron. The role is currently played by Jaden and Ella Hiller, the docile and very quiet twins who have traded off portraying Lily for the last two seasons.This is the kind of situation where I might gripe about interchangeable all-look-same Asians, but I get it. We're talking about a baby (in this, twin babies) who was hired to play a baby, and not much else. It makes sense that they'd want to re-assess that casting, two years later. More here: A new Lily for 'Modern Family'?
There is still a chance the Hillers will stay on the show, but the writers want to keep their options open. The show resumes production next month in Los Angeles. "We adore Jaden and Ella, but have started to think that they'd rather be at home playing than working as actors," executive producer Steve Levitan told EW. "If we end up making a change, it's only because we want what's best for them."