United Kingdom, June 9 -- Modern Family prepared Jesse Tyler Ferguson for fatherhood.

The 50-year-old actor's alter ego, Mitchell Pritchett, helped the star learn how to communicate with and understand children through his on-set relationship with Aubrey Anderson-Emmons, who played Lily, the adopted daughter of Mitchell and husband Cameron Tucker (Eric Stonestreet).

Jesse - who has sons Beckett, 5, and Sullivan "Sully", three, with his 40-year-old spouse, producer-and-actor Justin Mikita - explained to Parents: "Aubrey was about three when we started, which is wild to me because she was as young as my youngest is now.

"I can't even imagine him having a job!

"But there's a lot of downtime on set. For me, it was about having conversatio...