Last night, in a Q&A moderated by Professor Lowry Marshall, Modern Family star Julie Bowen ’91 spoke about her acting career, her experience at Brown, and how her college education has impacted her perspective in both her professional pursuits and her life in general. While her co-star Ty Burrell, who plays Phil Dunphy on the hit show, has his own (nonsensical) golden nuggets of “Phil’s-osophy,” Julie Bowen showed us that she had her own bits of wisdom to impart.

Go abroad:  ”As a blonde 20-year-old in Italy, you don’t have to pay for shit.”

Rock > SciLi:  “When I went here, you could smoke in A Level … Why would you go anywhere else? You were a flask away from an academic party.”

Don’t date an actor:  Julie explained that an ex-boyfriend, who was an actor, once told her, “‘A relationship is a two-car garage, Julie, and an actor’s ego takes up a space and a half.’”

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This Wednesday, October 24th, the Brown Lecture Board will be hosting a Q&A with Julie Bowen ’91. You might recognize her blonde locks and Colgate smile from ABC’s hit TV show Modern Family, where she plays Claire Dunphy, a crazy party girl turned mom of three. Bowen has won the Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series two years in a row. In case you aren’t a fan of the show, here are 5 reasons you should come out and see her:

1. Claire and Phil Dunphy are the parents you wish visited on Parents Weekend. Haley, Alex, and Luke Dunphy might disagree, but Claire and Phil would be delightfully awkward meeting your college friends (and maybe your more-than-friends.)
2. Bowen proves that there is a future with an Italian Renaissance Studies concentration. Granted, what she does is in no way related to Italian Studies, but still! There’s hope! Maybe the Dunphy clan will take a summer vacay to Rome and Bowen can woo wow us with her italiano.
3. Her day job is being a mom. She couldn’t party à la Sofia Vergara after the Emmy’s because she had carpool the next morning. She has three adorable boys and is married to someone who’s not involved with Hollywood. So she’s just a normal mom, you guys! And the driver of what is probably the most fun carpool ever.
4. Her 2012 Primetime Emmy acceptance speech was basically an ode to nipple covers. Only Claire Dunphy can get away with saying nipples as many times as she did in under two minutes at the Emmys.
5. She and Sofia Vergara are friends in real life, and it warms our hearts. Bowen has openly spoken about how she has rooted for Vergara at both Emmys. Because who doesn’t want to be friends with Sofia Vergara?

But here’s the real reason you should go: Bowen is a Brown alum, and she’s reppin’ hard in Tinseltown, where she plays an amazing character in an amazing show. Basically she’s amazing, if I hadn’t already made that clear. And you can still get tickets tomorrow! Tickets will be distributed again starting at noon in the Kasper Multipurpose Room. The line might start a couple of hours earlier, though. So you might want to skip 10 a.m. section. Claire Dunphy’s worth it.

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It’s happening!

Still swooning over John Krasinski ’01′s Q&A madness last fall? If you’re a freshman and couldn’t experience this awesomeness, don’t worry, because Brown Lecture Board has done it again. Fresh off an Emmy win, Julie Bowen ’91 of “Modern Family” fame will grace us with her presence in Salomon for another Q&A on Wednesday, October 24. As per usual, you can line up in the Kasper Multipurpose Room on Monday, October 22 and Tuesday, October 23 to get tickets, which will be available beginning at 12 p.m. on both days. You know the drill: one ticket per Brown or RISD ID, and only two Brown or RISD IDs per person. Don’t get smart.

Start drafting your questions. I hope they’re something along the lines of… Can you do your Sofia Vergara impersonation plz?! (Forward to the 2:00 mark.)

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Julie Bowen ’91 has won the Best Supporting Actress Emmy award for her performance in the comedy “Modern Family.” She plays the hyper-organized, reckless driver-heckling perfectionist Claire Dunphy on the show. Her co-star Eric Stonestreet has also won the award for Best Supporting Actor in tonight’s ceremonies, which Jimmy Kimmel is hosting. Bowen, pictured above with co-star Ty Burrell, also won the award at last year’s Emmys.

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