The actor opened up with ET about what it's been like to watch his young co-stars grow up in the years since the show debuted.
Ariel Winter has had a big year, what with graduating from high school, getting into UCLA, and routinely challenging body shamers and haters with her slew of controversial Instagram pics. And her personal successes have not gone unnoticed by her Modern Family co-stars.
"Ariel is really a wonderful young girl," Jesse Tyler Ferguson told ET on Thursday, praising the 18-year-old actress, whom he's worked with on the ABC sitcom for seven years.
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ET caught up with the actor at a special screening of his new film, Ice Age: Collision Course, in New York City, and the 40-year-old actor couldn't contain his praise for his numerous young co-stars, including Winter’s onscreen sibling and cousins like Sarah Hyland, Nolan Gould, and Rico Rodriguez.
"I'm proud of all the kids on our show. They've grown up to be you know amazing adults," Ferguson marveled. "You know when we met these actors and actresses they were 12, 13 years old and now they're driving themselves to work and they're graduating from high school and going off to college."
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As for Winter, Ferguson knows she's got a lot of good things coming her way. "She has a great future in front of her," he shared. "She's a smarty."
For more on the young actress' recent, impassioned response to online critics and body-shaming bullies, check out the video below.
Ice Age: Collision Course hits theaters July 22.