Millie Bobby Brown in Modern Family: Episode Guide, Character Details, and Faqs Answered
Brown’s brief stint in Modern Family was not an isolated lucky break. Between 2013 and 2015, her family relocated across continents to support her acting career, moving between Bournemouth, Orlando, and Los Angeles. She picked up episodic roles across a diverse cross-section of American network television.
To understand how common these transient child roles are, and how quickly Brown moved through them, it helps to look at the timeline immediately preceding her 2016 breakthrough:
| Year | Show & Network | Character | Role Scale |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Once Upon a Time in Wonderland (ABC) | Young Alice | Two episodes (Guest) |
| 2014 | Intruders (BBC America) | Madison O'Donnell | Series Regular (8 episodes) |
| 2014 | NCIS (CBS) | Rachel Barnes | One episode (Episode 12x06) |
| 2015 | Modern Family (ABC) | Lizzie | One scene (Season 6 Episode 17) |
| 2015 | Grey's Anatomy (ABC) | Ruby | One episode (Phone call plotline) |
Her work on BBC America’s Intruders earned public praise from Stephen King, but the show failed to capture mass viewership. Following that cancellation, Brown went through dozens of rejections. The Modern Family booking kept her SAG-AFTRA health insurance active and added a top-rated comedy to her demo reel. Months later, she landed the Grey's Anatomy appearance where she spent the entire episode on the phone receiving medical instructions from Meredith Grey. By late 2015, the Duffer Brothers launched casting for a secretive Netflix supernatural series called Montauk, which eventually became Stranger Things.
