Sofia Vergara: A Modern Family's 'I Love Lucy'

Sofia Vergara's always dressed to kill on the red carpet with her statuesque physique, magnificent curves and vivacious personality. These days the latin-beauty is part of an extraordinary ensemble cast of a hit TV sitcom dealing with a suburban modern family in the Los Angeles area. What makes her completely unique in this show is her ethnicity. Amongst a sea of mostly non-Hispanic actors she is one of only two on the show. Child actor Rico Rodriquez plays her son from a first marriage.

Going back into time nearly 60 years ago a Hollywood actor and musician from Cuba and his non-Hispanic wife came up with an idea for a new genre on television called sitcoms or situation comedies. They devised a show based on their real life and portrayed the loving married couple who is just starting out living in New York City. Desi Arnaz was the only Hispanic actor ever to be in a leading role on primetime television during the 1950s. Both Vergara and Arnaz share many similarities, especially with their respective TV sitcoms. Each has broken barriers into mainstream American television by staying true to themselves and their culture.

Sofia Vergara: From a U.S. Hispanic Network (Univision) to Mainstream America

Sofia Margarita Vergara Vergara was born in Barranquilla, Colombia on July 10, 1972. She was raised in an upscale family where her father was a rancher. At age 18 she got married to her childhood sweetheart and later they had a son, Manolo Gonzalez-Ripoll Vergara. By the age of 20, and after her divorce, she moved to Bogata, Colombia working as a model.

Eventually Sofia landed a role as co-host on an exotic travel TV series, "Fuera de serie", giving her considerable exposure in the Latin American market, especially in the U.S. on Univision. When her contract with Univision had expired she began appearing in the U.S. in a number of sitcoms on the ABC television network. Another significant role for her was the Colombian version of "Desperate Housewives" where she portrayed Alicia Oviedo, the Latina equivalent to Mary Alice Young.

ABC's drama "Dirty Sexy Money" featured Vergara as the love interest to a member of the Darling Family for one season. Also, on the #1 rated Spanish language soap opera or telenovela "Fuego en la Sangre" she made a special guest appearance. In 2009 she was cast as Gloria Delgado-Pritchett for a mockumentary-style sitcom on family life in the 21^st century.

'Modern Family': Ricky Ricardo in Reverse

In September 2009 "Modern Family" premiered during the fall season on ABC receiving the highest praise from television critics and watched by over 12-million viewers. This was the network's first comedy series done in a documentary format with fictional characters known as a mockumentary or mock documentary. Sofia's TV character is married to a much older man with two adult children, one in a traditional marriage and the other in a domestic partnership. Coincidentally Gloria Pritchett is from Colombia with a son from her previous marriage.

There are similarities to another Hispanic character, Ricky Ricardo, from another sitcom, "I Love Lucy", who is from his homeland of Cuba. Both have sons on their shows, but most importantly they stayed true to their own culture, which has been incorporated into their characters. One case in point is their thick accents. It was during the 2011 SAG Awards there was a clip of a "Modern Family" episode featuring Vergara giving a toast to one of her Colombian relatives with a very long full name. Members of the Pritchett/Dunphy families had a difficult time trying to pronounce those names, much less remember them. There were similar moments on "I Love Lucy" where Ricky Ricardo would go into a barrage of speaking Spanish when he got too excited.

Each of these characters were the only Hispanics in a predominately non-Hispanic show that has become either iconic over the decades or has been nominated for Emmys, Screen Actors Guild Awards and Golden Globes. "Modern Family" won an Emmy in 2010 for Outstanding Comedy Series. In 2011 the ensemble cast of "Modern Family" each received an Actor statuette for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series.

Desi Arnaz: Fleeing Cuba to White Bread American Success

Desiderio Alberto Arnaz y Acha III was born in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba on March 2, 1917. He grew up in a very wealthy and politically influential family. His father was mayor of Santiago. In 1933 the Batista revolution took place in Cuba where Desi's father was later jailed. The family eventually fled leaving all of their magnificent homes, ranches and mansions behind.

Only 16 years old when he came to the U.S. settling in Miami, Florida. Six years later in 1939 he moved to New York and appeared on Broadway, which eventually led him to go to Hollywood. His show on Broadway was being made into a film version. One of the actresses in this movie musical was none other than Lucille Ball. In 1940 Desi and Lucille were married. Later on he formed his own orchestra where he toured the country. This put a strain on the marriage due to Arnaz's infidelities and alcoholism on the road.

As a way to save the marriage they had an idea to portray themselves in a fictional setting in the new medium of television. It was a half-hour comedy show featuring the real-life married couple. Desi's character would be an orchestra leader with a permanent gig in New York City and Lucy was the devoted, but somewhat dutiful housewife. She would get into crazy situations, which lead to the genre of sitcoms or situation comedies. Would an American audience really be acceptable to an ethnic actor in a leading role in the early '50's?

'I Love Lucy': 1950s Modern Archetypal Family

The Arnaz's developed a traveling show around the country based on their idea of a television show to prove to the network America would embrace Lucille Ball's husband. It was a great success, so on October 15, 1951 "I Love Lucy" premiered and then ran for six seasons until May 6, 1957. It was the most watched show in four of its six seasons. "I Love Lucy" won five Emmy Awards and was nominated numerous times.

TV Guide ranked this sitcom at #2 for their list of the greatest television shows. Time magazine listed it in their 100 Best TV Shows of All-Time. In 1953 when their TV son, Little Ricky, was born it drew in 44-million viewers. It was also the first time a real pregnant actress appeared on TV. Pregnancy was a taboo subject on TV then, but "I Love Lucy" managed to break that barrier. Many episodes featured Latin music from Ricky Ricardo, which became popular with many viewers across the country.

One of the many reasons for the enormous popularity of this loving show was it personified the ideal archetypal 1950s married couple who were young and just starting out. In a time before political correctness Arnaz wanted no ethnic jokes ever on the show. The only thing mentioned was Ricky's accent. Only Lucy was allowed to bring it up in sporadic episodes. To this day "I Love Lucy" is still shown in TV reruns all over the world.

Only time will tell if "Modern Family" will last for many seasons and decades to come. There's no doubt this half-hour series has broken some grounds for a network show, primarily with significant characters in a domestic partnership. It is only recently Gloria Delgado-Pritchett's accent was made an issue. However, Sofia Vergara has achieved a milestone, much like Desi Arnaz, as the first Hispanic actress to begin her career in a U.S. Hispanic Network and crossover successfully to the mainstream general market.

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