Jesse Tyler Ferguson Introduced His ‘Modern Family’ Co-Star Sofia Vergara to Joe Manganiello

Sofia Vergara and Joe Manganiello are one of the hottest celebrity couples out there — and they owe it all to Vergara’s Modern Family co-star, Jesse Tyler Ferguson. The actor acted as an intermediary for the pair and set them up while he and Vergara were working together on the set of the popular ABC sitcom. 

Sofia Vergara has been married before

Vergara had already been married and divorced when she met her friend Ferguson on the set of Modern Family. In fact, she married her high school sweetheart before she made it big in Hollywood. However, Vergara and her first husband, Joe Gonzalez, divorced in the early 1990s. 

Right before she met Manganiello, Vergara was dating a businessman named Nick Loeb. The two were together for years before breaking it off in the thick of Vergara’s Modern Family run in 2014. Just a few months later, Vergara met Manganiello. The two got married in 2015 after a brief engagement. 

Vergara met and married Manganiello all while working on Modern Family. In fact, if it weren’t for the show, the two actors may have never met in the first place. 

Joe Manganiello asked Jesse Tyler Ferguson for Sofia Vergara’s phone number

According to Insider, Jesse Tyler Ferguson is the reason Joe Manganiello and Sofia Vergara are together today. Ferguson plays Mitchell Pritchett on the show, stepson to Vergara’s character, Gloria Gonzalez Pritchett. Although she’s technically his stepmom, Gloria and Mitchell are more like close friends in Modern Family. In real life, that’s how things seem between Ferguson and Vergara. 

After Vergara broke up with Loeb in 2014, Ferguson set her up with Manganiello. The arrangement was at Manganiello’s request. Apparently, he had been admiring Vergara from afar for a while. When she became single, he couldn’t miss his chance. He asked Ferguson for her number, and Ferguson gave it to him. Apparently, Vergara wasn’t sure if she wanted to go out with Manganiello at first. After all, she was fresh out of another relationship. In the end, she decided to take the chance. It’s safe to say she doesn’t regret it. 

As for Ferguson, he seemed pleased with the new couple he had a hand in making. According to ET, he joked about dating both Manganiello and Vergara on Twitter while rumors swirled early in the relationship. 

Jesse Tyler Ferguson isn’t the only celebrity matchmaker 

Ferguson isn’t the only actor to set up his costars. According to Insider, Justin Theroux and Jennifer Aniston met thanks to another A-list actor. Specifically, Iron Man himself, Robert Downey Jr. Theroux and Downey Jr. worked together on Tropic Thunder, and Theroux met Aniston at a party at the Marvel legend’s house. Although Theroux and Aniston are no longer together, the two are still good friends. 

The now-divorced couple Liam Hemsworth and Miley Cyrus met on the set of The Last Song, but another actor did the actual matchmaking. Insider claims that Cyrus used child actor Bobby Coleman as a go-between, asking him to find out if Hemsworth was interested in her. Coleman essentially became a matchmaker, even if it wasn’t his idea. But Coleman got more than just satisfaction out of setting up his two co-stars. Cyrus paid him $10 to be the go-between.