You probably know her as Alex Dunphy.
Since 2009, the world has watched firsthand as this actress navigated growing up in the spotlight.
This is the stunning transformation of Ariel Winter.
“My mom put me in the industry when I was 4,” she explained toPeople.
Yet, it was something at which she truly seemed to excel.
“There’s a lot of rejection,” Winter explained.
“I heard ‘no’ thousands of times.
That was hard to cope with.”
However, in her first recurring role, she needn’t have worried about her hair.
Yet, oddly enough, Winter never interacted with the other actors on the show.
Coincidentally, she was named after the animated Disney character Ariel from “The Little Mermaid.”
This time, audiences everywhere got to enjoy a lot more than just her voice.
“We all really liked each other from the beginning,” Winter toldGood Morning America.
“There was good chemistry between us.”
The entire cast and crew quickly felt like family to her, and fans were loving it.
The young actress began getting noticed for a variety of other new roles, as well.
While animation wasn’t anything new for Winter, this specific role was something special.
Playing the young princess required Winter to use her voice in an entirely new way by singing.
It turns out, singing was always something she had hoped to do in the spotlight.
Eventually, she even got to perform duringan episodeof “Modern Family.”
“People on the internet really suck,” she toldTeen Vogue.
“It’s like a double-edged sword,” she explained on “Live with Kelly and Ryan.”
She added that everyone gets to see these moments as she experiences them herself, which can be hard.
Animated roles were still something she pursued for an important reason, too.
“I feel comfortable there,” she admitted toElite Daily.
Unfortunately, it seemed as though everybody was focusing on what she looked like instead of what really mattered.
“That’s all people would recognize me by,” she said.
“Not, ‘Oh, she does great work on ‘Modern Family.'”
Because of her growing bust, “I had a lot of back problems.
I really couldn’t stand up straight for a long period of time,” she admitted.
In 2015, Winter decided to undergo breast reduction surgery to drop two cup sizes.
She looks so different,'" she explained.
“And I also think there’s some good that can come from [telling] my story.
Behind the scenes, the young actress seemed to be suffering.
Though Winter has bypassed speaking publicly about the situation, her mother hasn’t.
She appeared on “Dr. Phil” solo to discuss the relationship she has with her daughter.
“It just tried to make herself look better.”
In 2015, when Winter was 17 years old, she officially became emancipated from her mother.
“[It was] a really bad chapter.”
After Winter began living with her sister, she was encouraged to seek therapy which completely changed her life.
“Therapy is so important.
I never want to quit therapy,” she admitted toTeen Vogue.
“I feel like people are never ‘cured’ [with] therapy.
It’s not a ‘cured’ thing, because you’re not going in sick.”
“And that’s something that I’m doing a lot more of now.”
Yet, the series impacted a lot more than just its fans’ lives.
The series is truly what catapulted Winter’s acting career.
“We became this family,” Winter said, and her on-screen family is forever.
Ariel Winter went to college
Outside of acting, there was something else Winter aspires to do.
“And as long as I have a backup plan, then I’ll be all set.”
Yet, it didn’t seem that Winter really needed a backup plan after all.
“I loved going [to UCLA],” she admitted toThe Hollywood Reporter.
“However, I overestimated what I could do at that time.
I wasn’t really able to get to the majority of my classes.”
“Alex is a great character, but Alex doesn’t change a ton.
“It really is completely different,” she explained toEntertainment Weekly.
“I want to do something completely different from what I’ve always done,” she added.
“And I think this was an amazing experience for me to start that.”
Even off-screen, she had been in a serious relationship with actor Levi Meaden for three years.
That same year, a source toldUs Weeklythat Winter was now an item with actor Luke Benward.
In 2020, she decided to tell them from behind the camera.
She has a pretty great producing partner by her side, too her boyfriend.
“Can’t wait to keep growing, building, creating and achieving together,” Winter gushed onInstagram.
Now, it seems safe to say we’ll be seeing a lot more from these producing partners.
Yet, her end goal is something entirely different.
It’s a subject near and dear to her heart, too.
Winter hasfive dogsof her own, all of which she has adopted straight from shelters.
While there are animal shelters all over the world, Winter wants her specific one to be special.
“I don’t want to make just a regular shelter.
We have those,” she explained.
That breaks my heart,” she said.
“I would like for a senior dog to live out the rest of its days happy.”
