He’s best known for his Emmy-winning portrayal of Cameron Tucker in the ABC sitcom Modern Family, but Kansas City, Kansas, native Eric Stonestreet is just as famous locally for being a superfan and inner-circle friend of the Kansas City Chiefs.
The 51-year-old actor and comedian has a long list of TV and film credits, most recently providing the voice of Duke in the Secret Life of Pets films and hosting Fox’s reality competition series Domino Masters. Stonestreet recently wrapped a role in Season 2 of the Disney+ series The Santa Clauses.
Stonestreet attended Piper High School and earned a degree in sociology at Kansas State University in 1996, where he was also active in theater. He’s part of the “KC mafia” of top actors—along with Rob Riggle, Paul Rudd, David Koechner, Jason Sudeikis, and Heidi Gardner—who host Big Slick, an annual celebrity weekend fundraiser for Children’s Mercy hospital. Tickets for this year’s events June 2-3 at Kauffman Stadium and T-Mobile Center are at bigslickkc.org/events.
Other philanthropic projects close to Stonestreet’s heart are the Vincent and Jamey Stonestreet Theatre Scholarship, named after his parents, at K-State, and the Vincent A. Stonestreet Family Fund at Kansas City Hospice, which provides services and grants wishes for pediatric hospice patients.
Stonestreet, who lives in Los Angeles, is engaged to pediatric nurse Lindsay Schweitzer, whom he met at Big Slick in 2016. IN Kansas City caught up with him by phone recently when he was in town to host the NFL Draft.
At one point when you were young, your parents moved the family to a small farm. How old were you, and how did that change your life?
I think I was 4 going on 5 or something. It wasn’t a farm when we moved there, it was just five acres, but we were moving from 7th and Sandusky in Kansas City, Kansas, clear out to 110th Street near Piper, so it was quite a move, more for my brother and sister than for me because I was so young. My childhood memories kind of start from living out in the country.
Any memories of 7th and Sandusky?
Most of my memories from there were living next door to my grandma and grandpa. I definitely remember running over to grandma and grandpa’s house for candy and snacks and playing in their yard and sliding down their terrace on pieces of cardboard.
What are your fondest memories of living in the country?
Space and land. My dad always loved animals and I think if he had the opportunity to have gone a different way in his life, he probably would have been a veterinarian or a farmer. He was the inspiration for us joining 4-H and my brother having cattle and me having pigs by the age of nine or ten.
You speak glowingly about 4-H. What did you love about it?
So much of 4-H, I learned how much I loved after 4-H. As a kid, you’re going through stuff and doing things just because that’s what your friends are doing. You don’t realize the lessons that you’ve learned in life from something until you have an opportunity to apply it. And then you say, “Where did I learn this?” And you realize, “I learned this from being in 4-H and having animals.”
I had dogs and cats and goats and pigs to take care of from a very early age. What I was learning was that life exists outside my three-foot perimeter. When you are 10 years old and something is relying on you for sustenance, there’s no way that that doesn’t teach you responsibility and caring for others.
And I loved the fair. Every August was the Wyandotte County Fair and spending the night at the fairgrounds and just the camaraderie of all the kids with the animals. It was an idyllic time. I wish it was the same now, but it’s not.
After you graduated college, what was your first move in the direction of show business?
I went from Manhattan, Kansas, to Chicago and started my career there. I lived there for two years and then moved to Los Angeles in 1998.
By the time I got to LA, I was prepared because of the two years in Chicago—I loved that city. I had an affection for Chicago and had gone there many times before I moved there. I had a familiarity with the theater that I was going to study and work at, ImprovOlympic. So, it felt like the perfect place to go to season myself and to figure out if I wanted to do this career thing, this acting thing, and also if I was any good at it.
So, when I got to LA, I was ready for LA because I had taken the intermediate steps and put in the work.
Where did you live when you first got to Los Angeles?
I lived in Burbank, California—not Hollywood Hills, not Beverly Hills, not the hottest, hoppin’ place. Because of my work ethic, I lived where I felt comfortable and where I was close to my friends, where I could get an affordable apartment with a parking space. I’ve always been very pragmatic and thoughtful in my approach to the business of show business. It was never, “Here’s dad’s credit card, go have a good time.”
You’ve lived there a long time. You obviously love Kansas City, but what do you love about LA?
[Pause] It’s a hard question to answer. The easiest thing is to say, “I love the weather,” right? And it is true that when you live in a place like Los Angeles, weather isn’t a topic of conversation. In Kansas City it’s like, “Is it going to rain today? I better take an umbrella.” “Is it going to be cold today, I better take a jacket.” In LA, it’s never a thought—it’ll probably be sunny, and it’s probably going to be 70.
I love LA because it’s the place where lightning in a bottle can happen.
What’s your quick take on the food scene in the two cities?
I love all the ethnic foods you can find in Los Angeles, but having been home in Kansas City more often in the last couple of years, our diversity in restaurants is very much expanding. I always tell people, “We’re known for barbecue but do not sleep on Kansas City Mexican food.”
‘‘There’s not many places where I’m happier than when I’m at Arrowhead. Manhattan, Kansas, is another place I would say is my happy place but being in Arrowhead at a Chiefs game is a perfect day for me.”
How would you describe the nature of your Kansas City Chiefs fandom?
I’ve become friends with our general manager, and when Patrick became the starter, he said, “Dude, you’re not going to want to miss many Chiefs games in this next span.” Lindsay and I decided to get a suite so I could go to all the games. I do not miss a home game. I’ve been a season ticket holder from my freshman year in high school all the way through college, then my parents kept them for a while and then got rid of them.
It was a great full-circle moment for me to be able to get a suite at Arrowhead. It’s literally right above where my two season tickets were. There’s not many places where I’m happier than when I’m at Arrowhead. Manhattan, Kansas, is another place I would say is my happy place but being in Arrowhead at a Chiefs game is a perfect day for me.
I saw you on TV at the Super Bowl. What was that like?
I’ve been able to go to two Super Bowls. I skipped the one we didn’t win. Winning the AFC Championship that first year in Arrowhead and seeing Norma Hunt accept Lamar’s trophy—that was the pinnacle for me. Just to see us finally get over that hump and win the trophy that is named for the owner of the Kansas City Chiefs and the creator of the Super Bowl, that was a moment that I’ll never forget.
Going to the Super Bowl was just otherworldly. I had made a pact that I would never attend a Super Bowl unless the Kansas City Chiefs were in it. I didn’t know how long I would have to wait, or that I would get three chances at it. I’m just so excited that this is the run we’re on right now.
Your dad died of cancer a year and a half ago. What is the hardest part about him being gone?
Just the ability to give him a call. Ask him a question. I can’t think about how many times I think, “Oh, my dad would know the answer to that.” Looking at pictures of him and thinking he’s just sitting in his chair over at the house, and he’s no longer there.
But mostly just being able to get his advice or tell him something good. He was my biggest fan. He loved everything that I did. He wasn’t always able to show that in the traditional way, but since he’s been gone, I can’t hardly go anywhere in the city when somebody doesn’t see me and say, “I knew your dad.” Or, “Your dad used to come in here.” Or, “Your dad was awesome and he talked about you all the time.”
I was up in Liberty in a sporting goods store and a dump truck pulled into the parking lot, and I’m walking in and the driver goes, “Oh, hey, I knew your dad.” A dump truck driver! Or I go into a café in North Kansas City, and all the waitresses knew my dad. It’s been a treat to have those moments.
In what way are you like your dad, and in what way do you aspire to be more like him?
My dad started off at a neutral level with everyone he met. He might have heard that somebody didn’t like you, and he was always a person that would make his own decisions with people. He always taught me that. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve applied that in Hollywood, where you hear stories and rumors about people and then you meet them and you have the most marvelous experience you could ever have.
Also being on time constantly. My dad taught me from a very early age, “Being on time is being late. Being early is being on time.” And that’s a saying in Hollywood that actors live by.
And, do what you say you’re going to do. Mean it. My dad never played the fool in a situation. He was very upfront and honest. You always knew where you stood with him. It’s hard for people to deal with. Most people put up a façade and say and do what they think they need to, to move through a situation. If my dad was mad at you or my dad was upset with you or disappointed with you, you knew it. He made it very clear, and then he moved on from it. He was very much a water-under-the-bridge guy.
The thing I always go back to is how fair and just he was. He knew what was right and what was wrong, and he was always in the defense of someone else. He always stood up for himself and other people, and I aspire to be that way. In our business it’s very difficult to be that way, to take up the fight for other people but I try my hardest to always keep my eye out for—I don’t want to say the little people, but in Hollywood on a call sheet it’s divided up that way. People are above the line or below the line and I try to make myself as available and accessible to the crew as I can. Because I know that’s how dad would have been as an actor. He’d know everybody’s name and want to know how their weekend was. I’ve always tried to be that person.
Interview condensed and minimally edited for clarity.