Sarah Hyland has recalled nearly missing out on her Modern Family role.

While speaking to BuzzFeed for an interview, the Modern Family star revealed she was originally dismissed as too old for the part of Haley Dunphy.

“Originally, they didn’t want to see me for Modern Family because I was 18 and Haley’s character was 15. They were like, ‘She’s too old,'” the actress recounted. “At the time, my agent’s assistant fought for me to get in the room. She was like, ‘She doesn’t look 18 years old, I promise you! She looks very, very young!'”

Sarah claimed that the casting director didn’t even tape her first reading when she auditioned.

“I went in and they pre-read me for the cast – like, they didn’t put my audition on the tape – and then he brought in the casting director,” she told the outlet. “The casting director, Jeff (Greenberg), had me read and then he was like, ‘Okay, now do it again, and now I’ll put it on tape.’ They just were very much like, ‘She’s too old. She’s 18.'”

Sarah ultimately played Haley throughout the sitcom’s entire 11-season run between 2009 and 2020.

– Cover Media