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Millions were introduced to Aubrey Anderson-Emmons when she was just 4 years old, having joined the cast of Modern Family as Lily Tucker-Pritchett.
Now, more than a decade after she made her debut and five years after the show’s end, Anderson-Emmons is celebrating her milestone 18th birthday.
Anderson-Emmons marked the occasion on Instagram on Friday, June 6, sharing a mini photo shoot of her wearing a short, form-fitting, long-sleeved white dress, captioning it: “hehe bday week gonna go crazy 🔞.”
Her mom, Amy Anderson, shared 18 birthday cake emojis in the comments section.
Anderson-Emmons joined Modern Family in 2011 for season 3 as the adopted daughter of Mitch (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) and Cam (Eric Stonestreet).
She remained part of the cast for through the sitcom’s 11th and final season, which concluded in 2020.
In a separate post marking her special day, Anderson-Emmons got a tribute from one of her TV dads. Ferguson, 49, shared an old post of him and Anderson-Emmons to his Instagram Stories, writing, “Happy birthday 💕😘.”
Anderson-Emmons shared a TikTok on May 6, in which she opened up about her experience as a child actress, growing up in Hollywood and how she found her way back to acting thanks to her high school’s theater program after taking some time away.
“I think it was just really hard for me to grow up with so many people’s opinions around me,” she admitted in the video, noting that it got worse for her when she started auditioning for roles after Modern Family ended.
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“Once I got a bit older, I started auditioning again, and it’s just not something that I had mastered when I was young,” she continued. “And I slowly began to realize I was very sensitive at that age. That I could not handle that type of rejection.”
These days, she said she looks back on her experience fondly and is excited about the future.
“I’m grateful for all that Modern Family has given me and you wonderful people,” she said in the video. “And it’s time to move on to another chapter of my life where I get to share who I am.”
In addition to acting, Anderson-Emmons is now dipping her toes in the indie pop world with the release of her first single, “Telephones and Traffic,” which she dropped May 23 under the name Frances Anderson.
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Modern Family is now available to stream on Hulu.
