Judy Greer Reveals Why She Turned Down Role of Modern Family’s Claire Dunphy
Why Judy Greer Was DUMBFOUNDED on “The Thing About Pam” Set
Judy Greer wanted to be thirty and flirty and thriving—and not a mom.
Which is why the 13 Going on 30 star turned down an audition for Claire Dunphy on Modern Family while she was still in her 30s.
“I was like, ‘I think I’m not going to audition for it.’ I was really torn about it, but I ended up obviously not. Who knows if I would have even gotten it anyway,” the 49-year-old said on the Nov. 19 episode of Jesse Tyler Ferguson’s Dinner’s On Me podcast. “I was just like, ‘I don’t know if I want to be America’s mom yet.’”
Plus, she didn’t like the idea of committing to a long-term role and becoming typecast.
“In a movie, people kind of see it and then they forget,” she added. “In a TV show, it’s just like, you’re a mom. That’s it.”
She continued, “And in addition to just the perception of who you are as an actor, it’s lifestyle too. I was like, ‘Well, I like traveling a lot, and I like doing all these movies, and I like going to all these places, and I like meeting all these people.’”
Michael Desmond/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images
Her decision not to have children with husband, producer Dean E. Johnson, also played a part.
“I didn’t even want kids,” she said. “So that wasn’t even on the table for me.”
The role of Claire Dunphy ultimately went to Julie Bowen, who starred alongside Ferguson, Ty Burrell, Sofia Vergara, Ed O’Neill and Eric Stonestreet.
Bowen won two Emmy awards for her role, and Modern Family—which aired for 11 seasons from 2009 to 2020—won a total of 22 Emmys.
But that doesn’t mean Greer was totally benched from the show. After all, she played Phil Dunphy’s ex first during season one. And, eventually, she did go on to play a mom on TV in 2022’s Reboot.
Keep reading to see more stars who almost took on other roles…
Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic / SGranitz/WireImage
Chris Pine as Ryan Atwood on The O.C.
The Star Trek actor lost out on the role, which ultimately went to Ben McKenzie, due to his bad acne.
“I had awful skin as a teenager,” he said on Josh Horowitz’s podcast Happy Sad Confused in May 2024, “and then I when I came after college, my skin started breaking out again.”
Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images/Ron P. Jaffe/CBS
Jason Biggs as Ted Mosby on How I Met Your Mother
“I was offered the role and it’s probably my biggest regret, you know, on passing,” the American Pie alum revealed in a 2021 SiriusXM interview. “I think I was in a phase of, at the time—it sounds so obnoxious to say right now—but at the time it was like, ‘Okay, do I want to do TV?’ I don’t know that I was quite ready to go that route.”
Ken Ishii/Getty Images/James Devaney/WireImage
Alden Ehrenreich as Dan on Gossip Girl
Casting director David Rapaport told EW, “Before Penn was involved, I desperately wanted Alden Ehrenreich to play Dan,” but producers thought the 5-foot-9 actor was too short to play the role of Blake Lively’s love interest. So the role went to Penn Badgley, who is just about the same height as Ehrenreich, according to the internet.
Randy Holmes/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images; Todd Williamson/Getty Images
Rob Lowe as Derek Shepherd on Grey’s Anatomy
Lowe revealed that he turned down the role of McDreamy in his 2014 memoir, and it came back up in an episode of Marc Maron’s podcast. “That’s probably cost me $70 million,” he joked. “Eh, it’s just money.” Lowe says he watched the pilot when it came out, “and when they started calling the handsome doctor ‘McDreamy,’ I was like, ‘yeah, that’s not for me.'”
Roy Rochlin/Getty Images, Moviestore/Shutterstock
Benedict Cumberbatch as Bill Compton on True Blood
Sherlock and Doctor Strange star Benedict Cumberbatch auditioned for the role of vampire Bill Compton back in the day. Stephen Moyer went on to land the part.
Gary Gershoff/WireImage, Moviestore/Shutterstock
Jessica Chastain as Sookie Stackhouse on True Blood
Before she was an Oscar nominee, Jessica Chastain read for the role of Sookie Stackhouse. The part eventually went to Anna Paquin.
VALERIE MACON/AFP/Getty Images, Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage
Jennifer Lawrence as Crystal Norris on True Blood
A 17-year-old Jennifer Lawrence read for the part of werepanther Crystal Norris, and almost got the part, but her age played a factor in the part going to another actress. Lindsay Pulsipher landed the gig.
Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic, Warner Bros. Television
Tiffani Thiessen as Rachel on Friends
Saved By the Bell and Beverly Hills, 90210 veteran Tiffani Thiessen said she auditioned for the part of Rachel on Friends, but she was too young for the role.
Monica Schipper/Getty Images, Cbs Television/Entertainment Pictures via ZUMA Press)
Katherine Langford as Betty Cooper on Riverdale
Katherine Langford on Riverdale? It almost happened. The Golden Globe-nominated star of 13 Reasons Why auditioned for the role of Betty Cooper, according to Riverdale star Camila Mendes. “I remember we went out and we got falafel with a guy who was auditioning for Archie,” Mendes told EW.
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Katherine Heigl as Jen Lindley on Dawson’s Creek
It’s hard to imagine anyone else playing Capeside’s resident NYC transplant, but as creator Kevin Williamson revealed to Entertainment Weekly, the role of Jen almost went to future Grey’s Anatomy star Katherine Heigl, thanks to pilot director Steve Miner, who brought the star of his 1994 film My Father the Hero to Williamson’s attention. “She looked slightly older at that time. Even though she was younger, I just think she was more mature,” Williamson recalled. “She gave a great audition, I remember we were all sort of like, ‘Wow, she’s good.'”
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Selma Blair as Joey Potter on Dawson’s Creek
The role of Dawson Leery’s lovesick BFF Joey Potter turned Katie Holmes into a star, but the part almost wasn’t hers. As creator Kevin Williamson admitted to Entertainment Weekly, the role was Selma Blair’s to eventually lose. “I really loved Selma until, of course, I got the infamous videotape from the basement of the Holmes family in Toledo, Ohio,”he said of Holmes’ last-minute audition. “And when that video showed up, it changed my whole life.”
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Lisa Edelstein as Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and the City
The House and Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce actress was so close to taking on the iconic role of Carrie Bradshaw that she even had a completed contract. In the end, however, she was just the back-up to the producers’ first choice, Sarah Jessica Parker. “I was either going to do it or not. It all depended on whether she said yes,” Edelstein said. “My contract was complete. I was waiting.” While we struggle to imagine a world in which SJP is not Carrie Bradshaw, Edelstein actually makes a lot of sense.
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Ashley Olsen as Serena van der Woodsen on Gossip Girl
Initially, The CW wanted Ashley Olsen as our favorite beautiful blonde Upper East Sider, casting director David Rapaport told Buzzfeed, but he only had eyes for Lively. “I was terrified we wouldn’t get her or they wouldn’t like her because, honestly, the show lived and died on her and I had absolutely no other ideas,” he said.
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Rumer Willis as Blair Waldorf on Gossip Girl
The CW wanted future Dancing With the Stars champion Rumer Willis as the Gossip Girl lead, but casting director Rapaport knew she wasn’t right for the role (and would eventually cast her on 90210). “I love Rumer,” he told Buzzfeed. “She’s grown into quite an amazing actress and person, but that, to me, was based on protecting the investment of a television show where creatively, these lesser-known girls really captured the essence of the show and carried it for six years.”
Getty Images; Kharen Hill/The CW
Keke Palmer as Iris West on The Flash
Before Keke Palmer was cast on Fox’s hilarious horror comedy Scream Queens, she was in the running to play Iris West on The Flash, a role that eventually went to Candice Patton. “We had seen Candice initially, but I think we were too early on in the process to cast her so we ended up testing Keke Palmer and this other girl, but they felt a little too young next to Grant [Gustin],” casting director David Rapaport told Buzzfeed. When he brought Candice back, “it was magic.”
Helen Sloan/courtesy of HBO
Iwan Rheon as Jon Snow on Game of Thrones
Iwan Rheon told The Telegraph that when the Game of Thrones pilot was being cast, he made it to the final two for the role of Jon Snow. Of course, Rheon went on to play Ramsay Snow, a.k.a. season 5’s most hated character, while Kit Harington cemented a place in our hearts as Jon. We can’t even bear to imagine it any differently, so we just won’t.
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Chris Pratt as Chuck on Chuck
After working with the Guardians of the Galaxy star on the final season of The O.C., Josh Schwartz revealed Pratt was his first choice for the role that eventually went to Zachary Levi. “He was the first guy I wanted to play ‘Chuck’. But as fate would have it, he was destined to guard the galaxy, not the Buy More,” Schwartz revealed. “And might I add, couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.”
Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images, Jessica Miglio/Netflix
Katie Holmes as Piper on Orange Is the New Black
The Dawson’s Creek veteran met with Orange Is the New Black creator Jenji Kohan early in the show’s development, Kohan revealed. Holmes, who is an admitted fan of the series, had “other things to do,” Kohan told E! News. “And also in the beginning no one knew what this was.”
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Cobie Smulders as Kate on Lost
Yep, Robin Scherbatsky could have been Kate Austen, and two of our favorite shows were almost very different, according to Cobie Smulders.
Both she and Evangeline Lilly were “testing for Lost,” Smulders revealed to E! News in 2014. “She owes a lot to me because I went in and I bombed the audition. And she was like, ‘Thank you!'”
FOX/CBS/ABC
Helen Hunt, Ashley Judd as Alicia on The Good Wife
Everybody knows The Good Wife is Julianna Margulies’ show, but that almost wasn’t the case. The Emmy winner revealed the studio wanted Ashley Judd and Helen Hunt before she got the gig.
WB; Christopher Polk/Getty Images
Katie Holmes as Buffy on Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Hard to imagine anyone else hunting down vampires in Sunnydale, but the ex-Mrs. Cruise almost had the title role in the WB series. Holmes turned it down to go to high school, and Sarah Michelle Gellar was cast.
HBO, Charles Sykes/Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images
Lorraine Bracco as Carmela Soprano on The Sopranos
The role that eventually went to Edie Falco was originally offered to Lorraine Bracco, but the Oscar nominee said she had already done that part in Goodfellas and wanted to try her hand at something new.
FOX, ABC
Taraji P. Henson as Olivia Pope on Scandal
Before she was breaking records on Fox’s Empire, Taraji P. Henson revealed she auditioned to be Scandal’s ultimate fixer, Olivia Pope. “When I went in to read for Shonda Rhimes, in my mind I was like, ‘This is Kerry Washington. Why am I even in here?'” she said. “It was hers.”
Ian Gavan/Getty Images
Gillian Anderson as Lady Cora on Downton Abbey
Can you imagine Agent Scully residing in Downton Abbey? It almost happened, but the X Files star turned down the role that eventually went to Elizabeth McGovern.
CW; Henry S. Dziekan III/Getty Images
Ashlee Simpson as Elena on The Vampire Diaries
It’s hard to imagine anyone else playing Elena Gilbert on the CW hit series, but the singer-actress was the network’s first choice. It wasn’t until the producers took a second look at Nina Dobrev’s audition tape that they decided to go with the Bulgarian beauty.
NBC; Ron Galella/WireImage
Whitney Houston as Sondra on The Cosby Show
The legendary singer was offered the lead role in Bill Cosby-led series, but passed to pursue her music career.
HBO, ABC
Dana Delany as Carrie on Sex and the City
To Sex and the City fans, Sarah Jessica Parker is Carrie Bradshaw, but once upon a time, Dana Delany was offered the role of the New York columnist. The Emmy-winner passed because she had already done multiple projects involving x-rated material (Nude Girls, Exit to Eden) and didn’t want to be involved with a project that had “sex” in the title.
NBC; Jim Spellman/WireImage
Paul Schaffer as George on Seinfeld
David Letterman’s bandleader was offered the role by Jerry Seinfeld without an audition, but Shaffer never called him back.
Jaimie Trueblood/AMC; Charley Gallay/Getty Images
Thomas Jane as Don on Mad Men
AMC wanted Jane as Don Draper, but Jon Hamm said during a podcast that Jane passed because he didn’t want to be on a television show. Of course, he would go on to star in HBO’s Hung.
WB, Getty Images
Ryan Reynolds as Xander on Buffy the Vampire Slayer
2010’s Sexiest Man Alive could have been part of the Joss Whedon crew, but he passed on the role of Xander. “I love that show and I loved Joss Whedon,” he told The Toronto Star in 2008. “But my biggest concern was that I didn’t want to play a guy in high school.”
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