Whatever Happened To The Actress Who Plays Lily On Modern Family?
In the first episode of "Modern Family," Cam Tucker (Eric Stonestreet) and Mitch Pritchett (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) adopt a daughter named Lily. She's just 1 year old at that time, and in typical Hollywood fashion, portrayed by baby siblings named Ella and Jaden Hiller. Then, starting in Season 3, an actor named Aubrey Anderson-Emmons took over the role. Anderson-Emmons was 4 years old when she joined "Modern Family," meaning she was genuinely just about the same age as Lily at the time of her debut.
From that point on, Anderson-Emmons remained a core member of the "Modern Family" cast. Following the series finale in April 2020, she had appeared in a total of 179 episodes and aged from a toddler to a teenager in front of the sitcom's audience. Her one additional acting credit, meanwhile, was in a short film titled "Distance" that premiered in 2014. Since the end of "Modern Family," Anderson-Emmons has yet to work in film or TV. But fans of her character can rest assured that she's keeping plenty busy as a content creator and artist, even if acting may not ultimately be her career path of choice for now.
Anderson-Emmons appeared as herself on TV semi-regularly
While Aubrey Anderson-Emmons may not have landed more than a single additional acting role during or after "Modern Family," she made promotional appearances as herself and occasionally worked on reality TV throughout her time on the sitcom. In fact, she earned her second-ever credit in 2012, just one year after joining "Modern Family," for a cameo in the "Disney Parks Christmas Parade" special that aired on ABC in 2012.
Anderson-Emmons' first talk show appearance came one year later, when she guested on a "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" episode in 2013. Then, in 2016, she ventured outside of strictly promotional work for the first time when she worked as a celebrity judge on an episode of "Beat Bobby Flay." Her busiest year as a TV performer was 2018, during which she was a contestant on the Nickelodeon reality series "Paradise Run" as well as a guest on both "Home and Family" and "The Real." Her most recent TV appearance was technically after the last "Modern Family" episode, albeit in the "A Modern Farewell" special that aired in its immediate wake.
Fans of Anderson-Emmons' acting work who are interested in seeing her in a different context will have to look back to either old talk show episodes or her brief reality TV appearances — otherwise, Anderson-Emmons' filmography mostly just consists of "Modern Family."
She's done considerable charity work
When she was 11 years old, meaning around the time she would have been filming "Modern Family" Season 10 or 11, Aubrey Anderson-Emmons had already begun dedicating some of her time to an impressive variety of charities. By that point, she had worked with St. Jude's Hospital, the California Covenant House Youth Shelter, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Help A Mother Out, Walk For Women, and the Dave Thomas Foundation For Adoption, among others.
While specifics about her charity work beyond the organizations she's been involved with are not necessarily matters of public record, her commitments to these charities were cited in "The Book of Awesome Girls" by popular author Becca Anderson. In this and a number of other, similar volumes, Anderson profiles girls and women who have contributed significantly to history or pop culture. Anderson-Emmons is among some of the younger individuals profiled. While her work as Lily on "Modern Family" is the primary reason for her inclusion, her charity work is her sole venture outside of acting that Anderson found to merit mentioning.
She's active on social media
The best way for fans of Aubrey Anderson-Emmons to keep up with her present-day activities is through her social media channels. Like a typical Zoomer, Anderson-Emmons is most active on Instagram and TikTok. On both platforms she boast followings of more than 1 million users each and posts regularly.
In fact, Anderson-Emmons' social media activity has earned her some viral attention after "Modern Family" concluded. An otherwise standard TikTok dance video she posted in 2021, for instance, amassed nearly 2 million likes and countless comments from users surprised to see the former "Modern Family" baby grown up. A comment that simply reads "GIRL ITS LILY WHAT" received more than 68,000 likes alone.
Fans of "Modern Family" had a similar reaction to a photo that Jesse Tyler Ferguson posted alongside Anderson-Emmons on X, formerly known as Twitter. Among the countless users sharing how shocked they were by her growth was former "Modern Family" co-star Sarah Hyland, who played Haley Dunphy. That said, Anderson-Emmons is an active poster and maintains a genuine following beyond just the sort of reactions based on nostalgia for her work as Lily.
She runs a food review account with her mom
Since Aubrey Anderson-Emmons started acting when she was just 4 years old, her mother Amy Anderson has been a key contributor to her career from the very start. In fact, Anderson is an actor herself, having appeared on shows like "Raising Hope" and "Silicon Valley" during her daughter's "Modern Family" tenure.
Together, Anderson and Anderson-Emmons review food on social media under the name FoodMania Review. The project dates all the way back to June 2015, meaning Anderson-Emmons was just 8 at the time. They continued posting regularly on YouTube through November 2021. While that YouTube account is now inactive, they continue to post to a FoodMania Review Instagram page to this day. Full video reviews in the style of their YouTube channel are rare, but they still post unique or otherwise interesting meals in addition to some general food-related content. The collaborative relationship Anderson established with her daughter at the start of "Modern Family" Season 3 still persists in the form of this shared social media project.
She's a songwriter and plays in a band
Aubrey Anderson-Emmons may no longer be an active Hollywood actor, but she does perform as a musician with some regularity. Her interest in singing, in fact, dates back to 2012, when she was just 5 years old. At that point in her life, when she was still working on "Modern Family" Season 4, her mother Amy Anderson shared — in addition to a few other songs — a video of Anderson-Emmons singing the Adele single "Someone Like You." The clip went viral, thanks in part to her newfound fame at the time.
Nowadays, Anderson-Emmons herself uploads videos in which she performs her own original music to her Instagram and TikTok accounts. She also lends her talents to a band called October, based in Los Angeles. October only started playing shows in November 2023, so whether this group becomes a major outlet for Anderson-Emmons or ends up as a part-time hobby remains to be seen. In either case, music seems to have become her primary mode of artistic expression now that "Modern Family" is firmly in her past.