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Nolan Gould: What Happened To The Modern Family Star?
Nolan Gould is 24 years old with an estimated $12 million dollar net worth. The Modern Family star has changed dramatically since the series ended.
There’s a lot about Modern Family actor Nolan Gould that television audiences might not be aware of. Much like his former costars Sarah Hyland, Ariel Winter, Rico Rodriguez, and Aubrey Anderson-Emmons, Gould was hardly ever recognized for his fantastic acting work over his 11 seasons on the hit television series. He was often eclipsed by the parental figures in the cast, with Sofia Vergara, Julie Bowen, and Jesse Tyler Ferguson seeming to dominate the show’s awards season runs.
Yet, the overall success of Modern Family rested on the shoulders of its younger performers, with Nolan Gould transforming the most. The now 24-year-old has put his years playing the character of Luke Dumphy behind him and is moving forward in his acting career. Audiences have seen this actor transition into adult roles since Modern Family went off the air in 2020.
Here is everything we know about Nolan Gould, including his career trajectory, IQ, net worth, and relationship status.
Modern Family premiered on ABC in 2009 and was a bonafide hit with audiences from the start. The series revolved around the extended family of suburban Los Angeles residents connected to patriarch Jay Pritchett, played by Ed O’Neill.
The show depicted three separate family units, and Nolan Gould embodied the character of Luke Dunphy, the youngest child of Claire and Phil Dunphy (Julie Bowen and Ty Burrell, respectively).
When the series debuted, Nolan Gould was 11 years old, and Modern Family was the first regular gig the young actor had secured up to that point. Before he stepped into Luke Dunphy’s shoes, Gould had acted in commercials since the age of three but had yet to land a steady job as a child actor. He was also featured in small parts in movies like The McPassion and Space Buddies just before Modern Family hit television screens.
Loyal Modern Family viewers watched Nolan Gould grow up on television right before their eyes, aged from 11 years old to nearly 22 when the show aired its series finale.
His brother Aidan was also a child actor, having appeared on an episode of Modern Family, Workaholics, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, and Gilmore Girls. Nolan Gould is now 24 years old and branching into roles outside Luke Dunphy.
Since becoming famous for playing the adorably dim-witted Luke Dunphy on Modern Family, Nolan Gould has established a filmography that most actors would dream of cultivating. He has appeared in the television shows Sofia the First alongside his television sister Ariel Winter and a 2022 episode of Grey’s Anatomy. He was featured as a contestant on Worst Cooks in America: Celebrity Edition and Celebrity Dating Game and was a guest diner on Hell’s Kitchen.
As far as movies go, Nolan Gould does his best to show his face on the big screen whenever an opportunity comes. He has played supporting roles in the 2011 flick Friends with Benefits opposite Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis, The To Do List alongside Aubrey Plaza, and Field of Lost Shoes with Lauren Holly and Jason Isaacs.
Gould will next be seen in the mockumentary comedy film The Nana Project, also starring Mercedes Ruehl, Nicky Whelan, and Margaret Avery.
Actors aren’t typically regarded for their intelligence, as has been the case for Lisa Kudrow, who played ditsy Phoebe Buffay on Friends despite graduating from Vassar College.
A similar fate has befallen Kudrow’s Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion costar Mira Sorvino, who was cast as a lovable dimwit in the movie, which disregards the fact that Sorvino attended Harvard University.
Nolan Gould has experienced some of this mislabeling as he became famous for portraying numbskull on television, but the actor himself has a high IQ.
Nolan Gould’s IQ is 150, according to a report by US Magazine. At 13, Gould graduated high school very early while on a summer break from filming Modern Family, having taken the GED exam and testing out of high school level academics.
He is also a member of Mensa, the oldest high-IQ society recognized worldwide for members who score at the 98th percentile or higher on approved intelligence tests.
As a working actor, Nolan Gould has relied on a slew of performance work to help his net worth increase over time. But landing the role of a lifetime like Luke Dunphy at an early age, Gould has risen to the heights of his profession by appearing in a long-running series. At one point, the younger cast of Modern Family had to defend themselves to their bosses at ABC to get a raise for starring on the show.
According to HuffPost, Nolan Gould, Sarah Hyland, Ariel Winter, and Rico Rodriguez were all granted significant raises for the 2013 to 2014 season of Modern Family.
Each member of the young cast earned around $70,000 per episode for that season, more than their adult counterparts made the previous season. However, the elder castmates like Eric Stonestreet and Sofia Vergara made around $170,000 per episode for that season.
For every season after 2013, Nolan Gould earned more money as the series kept getting renewed. Eventually, his salary ballooned to around $125,000 per episode for the few later seasons of Modern Family, amounting to an annual salary of close to $3 million in addition to other projects he was involved in. If Gould earned that amount for a few years, his net worth should stand around $12 million today.
Growing up on screen is never easy for a child actor, especially one who experiences puberty on a weekly basis in front of loyal viewers. But Nolan Gould hasn’t been the typical former child star, as he paid close attention to fitness and his well-being while staying in shape for the series. Initially depicted as a clumsy child on Modern Family, Gould ensured that Luke Dunphy morphed into a fit young man by the series’ end.
Nolan Gould’s Instagram account demonstrates the power of fitness and what it looks like to achieve specific health goals. As an actor and environmentalist, Gould often posts pictures to social media showing off his gym routines, including mountain climbing and even aerial fitness. He delights in posting photos and videos to his 1.7 million Instagram followers.
There have always been rumors that Nolan Gould and former television sister Ariel Winter dated when the cameras weren’t rolling. However, Gould seemingly put that rumor to rest in an interview with the Allegedly podcast (via E! Online) in 2016. He stated he wouldn’t want to risk their friendship and the experience they both shared growing up on a television show by confirming, “I love her but she’s a really good friend.”
But that doesn’t mean Nolan Gould is above dating within the entertainment industry. In 2016, he attended the Screen Actors Guild Awards with actor Joey King and the two posed for pictures on the red carpet, which fueled dating rumors. He has also been seen getting close to Australian model Hannah Glasby in the past.
In 2021, Nolan Gould was a contestant on Celebrity Dating Game, where he was matched up with Australian social media manager Rose Rosenfeld. Even though the game show’s hosts Zooey Deschanel and Michael Bolton cheered on the new union, it doesn’t appear that Gould and Rosenfeld have dated since. Nolan Gould seems to be single for the time being.
