Frances Burrell is best known as the daughter of actor Ty Burrell, the Emmy-winning star who became widely recognized for playing Phil Dunphy on the hit sitcom Modern Family. Unlike her father, Frances has grown up largely away from the entertainment spotlight. Her parents, Ty and Holly Burrell, have maintained a relatively private approach to family life, giving Frances and her younger sister Greta space to grow outside the constant attention that often surrounds celebrity families.
Frances became part of the Burrell family through adoption in 2010. At the time, Ty was already working on Modern Family, which had premiered the previous year and was quickly becoming one of television’s most popular comedies. Ty later described fatherhood as a major part of his life, while his public comments about Frances and Greta have generally centered on family experiences rather than revealing personal details about the girls.
As of the most recent reliable public reporting, Frances is one of Ty and Holly Burrell’s two daughters. The family moved from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City after Modern Family ended in 2020, and Ty has spoken positively about raising his daughters in Utah. In 2025, he described Frances and Greta as teenagers and talked about traveling with them and spending more meaningful time together as they grew older.
Who Is Frances Burrell?
Frances Burrell is the adopted daughter of actor Ty Burrell and Holly Burrell. Her father is best known for his role as Phil Dunphy on Modern Family, while her mother has pursued interests in cooking and the food business after initially working in acting.
Public information about Frances is limited, and that appears to be intentional. Her parents have not built a public celebrity profile around their children. Instead, Frances has remained mostly outside entertainment news, red-carpet appearances, and professional media coverage.
This makes Frances somewhat different from many children of Hollywood actors. Although her father spent more than a decade playing one of television’s most recognizable fictional fathers, Frances has not followed the same public path. There is no strong evidence establishing her as a professional actress, model, influencer, or entertainment personality.
Much of the available information about Frances comes indirectly through interviews with her father and reports about the Burrell family. Those sources provide useful background about her family without revealing details that the family has chosen to keep private.
That distinction matters when discussing Frances Burrell. Being the child of a celebrity does not automatically make every part of her life public.
Ty and Holly adopted Frances in 2010, and two years later they adopted their second daughter, Greta. Public sources consistently identify Frances as the older of the two sisters.
Quick Bio
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Frances Burrell |
| Known For | Daughter of Ty Burrell |
| Father | Ty Burrell |
| Mother | Holly Burrell |
| Sister | Greta Burrell |
| Family Status | Adopted daughter |
| Adoption Year | 2010 |
| Father’s Profession | Actor |
| Famous For | Phil Dunphy in Modern Family |
| Family Location | Salt Lake City, Utah |
| Public Profile | Private |
| Profession | Not publicly established |
| Known Career | No confirmed entertainment career |
When Was Frances Burrell Adopted?
Frances Burrell was adopted by Ty and Holly Burrell in 2010.
At the time, Ty was becoming increasingly famous because Modern Family had premiered in September 2009. The show quickly established him as Phil Dunphy, a well-meaning and often humorous father whose attempts to connect with his children became one of the series’ most recognizable storylines.
The timing created an interesting connection between Ty’s professional and personal life. While he was portraying a father on television, he was also experiencing fatherhood himself.
In an August 2010 interview with Redbook, Ty discussed becoming a father and confirmed that he and Holly had recently adopted Frances. The report described Frances as eight months old at the time.
The Los Angeles Times later reported that the couple had adopted Frances in 2010 when she was six months old.
Rather than turning the adoption into a major publicity event, Ty and Holly largely kept the family experience personal. That pattern continued after they welcomed their second daughter.
Frances Burrell’s Parents
Frances’ parents are actor Ty Burrell and Holly Burrell.
Ty Burrell was born in Grants Pass, Oregon, in 1967 and developed his acting career through theater, television, and film before landing his defining role as Phil Dunphy on Modern Family. The role brought him widespread recognition, multiple Emmy nominations, and two Emmy wins.
Holly Burrell has followed a less public career path. She originally pursued acting and met Ty while they were both involved with theater. The couple later moved to New York City while working on their acting careers.
Holly eventually changed professional direction and became interested in cooking. She studied at the French Culinary Institute and developed a career connected to food. Public reporting has also connected Ty, Holly, and Ty’s brother Duncan with restaurant businesses in Utah.
Ty and Holly married in August 2000. Their marriage has lasted throughout Ty’s rise to television fame, the success of Modern Family, their move to Utah, and the raising of their two daughters.
For Frances, this means growing up in a family where entertainment and food businesses were both part of the adults’ professional lives, while she herself remained outside those public roles.
Frances Burrell and Her Sister Greta
Frances has a younger sister named Greta Burrell.
Ty and Holly adopted Greta in 2012, two years after Frances joined the family. The arrival of Greta expanded the Burrell household to two daughters. At the time, the family chose not to release extensive personal information about their children.
Over the years, Ty has occasionally discussed his daughters in interviews, especially when talking about fatherhood, family travel, and life in Utah.
In 2025, Ty spoke about Frances and Greta as teenagers and explained that traveling with them had become a meaningful way to spend time together. He mentioned taking one daughter on a trip while Holly traveled with the other, describing the experience as a positive opportunity to have conversations and strengthen their relationship.
The comments offer a glimpse into their family life without turning the girls themselves into public entertainment figures.
Frances Burrell and Ty Burrell’s Life as a Father
One of the most interesting parts of Frances Burrell’s story is the contrast between Ty Burrell’s fictional and real-life roles as a father.
On Modern Family, Ty played Phil Dunphy, a cheerful, sometimes awkward father who constantly tried to maintain strong relationships with his three children. The character became famous for his jokes, enthusiasm, parenting mistakes, and optimistic personality.
In real life, Ty became a father shortly after the show began.
That overlap occasionally became part of interviews about his career. Ty has explained that his experience as a father gave him a different perspective on the family storylines in Modern Family. He could relate to some of the situations involving parenting, children growing up, and family relationships.
However, Frances’ real life is very different from the fictional lives shown on television.
She did not grow up as a television character. She also did not become part of Modern Family as one of its young performers. Her connection to the series comes primarily from being the daughter of one of its stars.
Why Frances Burrell Has a Private Life
Frances Burrell’s limited public profile is not unusual for the child of a celebrity who has parents committed to privacy.
Ty and Holly have occasionally discussed family life, but they have generally avoided turning their daughters into public personalities. This approach has allowed Frances and Greta to grow up without the same level of media exposure experienced by many celebrity children.
This is particularly notable because Ty played a character whose family life was constantly shown on television.
Fans of Modern Family watched Phil Dunphy raise his children for 11 seasons. They saw fictional family celebrations, arguments, vacations, school experiences, and major milestones. But the real Burrell family has kept most of those experiences away from television.
That difference helps explain why relatively little verified information exists about Frances.
There are online pages that make claims about celebrity children, but not every claim is supported by reliable evidence. Information about Frances’ school, personal interests, friendships, relationships, or future plans should not automatically be treated as fact simply because it appears on a website.
For a private person, especially someone who grew up outside the entertainment industry, the absence of information is not necessarily a gap that needs to be filled with speculation.
Where Does Frances Burrell Live?
Public reporting has placed the Burrell family in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Ty and Holly had connections to Utah before the family’s later move. Holly is from Utah, and the couple eventually made the state an important part of their family life.
After Modern Family concluded in 2020, Ty and his family moved from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City. In a 2025 interview with PEOPLE, Ty said he had no regrets about leaving Los Angeles and described Utah as a great place to raise his daughters.
The move represented a significant lifestyle change.
Los Angeles had been closely connected to Ty’s acting career, while Utah offered the family a quieter environment and greater access to outdoor activities. Ty said that his family gradually became comfortable with the outdoorsy lifestyle, even though it was initially unfamiliar to them.
Because Frances is a private individual, specific information about her residence, school, or daily routine should not be published as though it were public biographical information.
Frances Burrell’s Connection to Modern Family
Although Frances Burrell was not a cast member of Modern Family, the television series is an important part of the story surrounding her family.
Modern Family premiered in 2009 and quickly became one of the most successful sitcoms of its era. Ty Burrell played Phil Dunphy, the husband of Claire Dunphy and father of Haley, Alex, and Luke.
The show ran for 11 seasons and concluded in 2020.
During those years, Ty’s professional life became highly visible. He received multiple Emmy nominations for his performance and won the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series twice.
Meanwhile, his real family remained comparatively private.
This created an interesting public perception. Millions of viewers knew Ty as Phil Dunphy, a fictional father of three, while relatively little was known about his real daughters.
That separation appears to have been intentional and helped Frances grow up without becoming a child celebrity simply because of her father’s success.
Did Frances Burrell Become an Actress?
There is no reliable public evidence establishing Frances Burrell as a professional actress.
This is worth mentioning because children of famous actors are frequently assumed to be interested in following their parents into entertainment.
Frances, however, has not established a known acting career.
She has also not been publicly presented as a regular television personality or social-media celebrity. Her father’s entertainment career should not be confused with her own professional direction.
As she gets older, her career choices may change. She may eventually work in entertainment, business, education, technology, arts, or another field entirely. At present, making a definite prediction would be speculation.
The most accurate description is that Frances Burrell is known publicly because of her family connection, not because she has established an independent entertainment career.
Frances Burrell’s Family’s Move From Los Angeles to Utah
The Burrell family’s move to Utah became an important chapter in their life.
After Modern Family ended in 2020, Ty, Holly, Frances, and Greta settled in Salt Lake City. Ty later explained that the move gave the family an environment he considered well suited to raising children.
In a 2025 interview, he described the experience positively and said he enjoyed the lifestyle his family had developed there.
The move also reflects a broader shift in Ty’s life after Modern Family.
For more than a decade, his schedule was closely tied to a major television production. After the show ended, he was able to spend more time with his family and pursue other projects, including voice work and podcast-related projects.
For Frances and Greta, the change meant growing up in Utah during their teenage years rather than continuing to live in Los Angeles.
What Ty Burrell Has Said About Raising His Daughters
Ty has occasionally shared positive comments about raising Frances and Greta, but he generally avoids revealing overly personal information.
One theme in his interviews has been the importance of spending real time together.
In 2025, he spoke about traveling with his daughters and how their teenage years had created opportunities for new conversations. He described one trip with a daughter during spring break as particularly enjoyable and said the experience allowed them to talk about subjects they might not previously have discussed.
This reflects a normal part of parenting: as children grow into teenagers, the relationship changes.
For Ty, fatherhood has therefore moved from caring for young children to building relationships with teenagers who have their own opinions, interests, and growing independence.
Because Frances is a private person, these general comments from her father are more useful than attempts to uncover details about her personal life.
What Is Known About Frances Burrell’s Current Life?
The public record about Frances’ current life is limited.
The most reliable information establishes that she is Ty and Holly Burrell’s older daughter, that she was adopted in 2010, and that she has a younger sister, Greta. More recent reporting describes both sisters as teenagers and places the family in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Beyond that, reliable public sources do not provide a detailed account of Frances’ everyday activities.
There is no strong reason to treat unverified online claims about her education, private relationships, personal accounts, or future career plans as established facts.
For readers researching Frances Burrell, this is an important distinction. A good biography should separate confirmed information from assumptions.
Why People Search for Frances Burrell
Interest in Frances largely comes from her connection to Ty Burrell.
Modern Family developed a huge international audience, and Phil Dunphy became one of Ty’s most recognizable roles. Because Phil was portrayed as a devoted father, fans naturally became interested in Ty’s real family.
Frances is especially notable because she was adopted during the early years of Modern Family. That timing made Ty’s transition into real-life fatherhood part of the broader story of his career.
However, Frances did not seek celebrity status herself.
Her story is therefore less about fame and more about growing up in a famous family while maintaining a relatively normal and private life.
Frances Burrell and the Meaning of Family
Adoption is an important part of Frances Burrell’s family story.
Ty and Holly chose to adopt Frances in 2010 and later adopted Greta in 2012. Their family has consistently been described as close, with Ty speaking positively about fatherhood and the relationship he shares with his daughters.
Ty has also spoken over the years about how becoming a parent changed his perspective.
His real-life family experience sometimes influenced how he understood the parenting storylines on Modern Family. Yet the Burrell household remained separate from the fictional Dunphy household.
That distinction is important because Frances is not simply an extension of her father’s television character. She has her own life and identity, even though public knowledge about that life remains limited.
Conclusion
Frances Burrell is best known as the older daughter of Modern Family star Ty Burrell and his wife, Holly Burrell. Adopted in 2010, she grew up during a period when her father’s acting career was reaching new heights, yet her parents chose to keep their daughters largely outside the celebrity spotlight.
Her family story is closely connected to Ty’s career, but Frances herself has not pursued a public entertainment career. She has remained a private member of the Burrell family, alongside her younger sister Greta.
The family’s move from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City after Modern Family ended in 2020 marked another important chapter. Ty has described Utah as a positive place to raise his daughters and has spoken about enjoying travel and spending meaningful time with them as they have grown into their teenage years.
Ultimately, the most accurate picture of Frances Burrell is also the simplest one: she is the daughter of a famous actor who has grown up largely away from public attention. While her father’s career has made her name recognizable, the limited public information about her personal life reflects the privacy her family has chosen to maintain. That privacy should be respected rather than filled with unsupported claims or speculation.
Frequently Asked Questions About Frances Burrell
Who is Frances Burrell?
Frances Burrell is the daughter of actor Ty Burrell and Holly Burrell. She became part of their family through adoption in 2010. She is best known publicly because her father played Phil Dunphy on Modern Family.
Is Frances Burrell Ty Burrell’s biological daughter?
Frances was adopted by Ty Burrell and Holly Burrell in 2010. Public sources consistently describe her as their adopted daughter.
Does Frances Burrell have a sister?
Yes. Frances has a younger sister named Greta. Ty and Holly adopted Greta in 2012, two years after Frances joined the family.
Is Frances Burrell an actress?
There is no reliable public evidence that Frances has established a professional acting career. Although her father is a well-known actor, she has maintained a private life away from the entertainment industry.
Where does Frances Burrell live?
Public reporting places the Burrell family in Salt Lake City, Utah. Ty and Holly moved there with their daughters after Modern Family ended in 2020, and Ty has spoken positively about raising his daughters in Utah.
