Modern Family's Ed O'Neill was offered a job by the mob before fame

Ed O’Neill, whose fame skyrocketed after appearing in the comedy series Modern Family, almost starting working for the mob, he has revealed in a new podcast.

The Hollywood star was so broke before his big break he needed to make ends meet – and it may have turned into an offer he couldn’t resist. The TV actor was ready to throw the towel in while trying to make it in Tinsel Town because his career wasn’t going anywhere. That’s when Ed O’Neill received a unique opportunity which would have seen him work for the mob.

‘Didn’t have a clue what to do next’

The Modern Family star sat down with his former colleague, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, who plays his son, on his podcast called Dinner on Me on Tuesday. During their chat about their careers, Ed O’Neill admitted he almost accepted the mob gig back in his 20s.

He said: “I had friends in organized crime,” thinking back to an old friend, Jim, from Youngstown Ohio.

It was 1969 when the potential new career path almost became history. At the time, Ed had been fired by the Pittsburgh Steelers and was at a loss of what he should do next.

His mate Jim called him and asked Ed to “take a ride” with him. He told the now 77-year-old he knew of Ed’s money problems.

Ed explained he told Jim: “I said, No I’m broke. You know, I don’t know what I’m going to do”.

Jim then drove him to a ‘fancy’ restaurant the Modern Family star would ‘never’ go to.

The Married with Children actor remembered: “He started talking to the bartender. He says, ‘I’m looking for this kid, his name is whatever, Demko, his name is Jimmy Demko, do you know him?’ And the guy says, No, it doesn’t ring a bell.”

Then Jim gives him 20 dollars and tells the bartender if he comes in again to ‘call his number’.

Ed O’Neill was offered ‘good money’ for working for the mob

After they leave the diner, Ed O’Neill says this is when his pal Jim from the mob offered him a job.

The celebrity continued: “We left and he said, ‘You can do this kind of stuff for me, you know, I’ll protect you, I’ll give you easy stuff. Just you collect here. You do that. You run, you drop something off here and there. You know, you may have to lean on a guy. You’re good at that. You can make some good money.

“I said, ‘Let me think about it, Jim. Cause I’m, I don’t know. I might be leaving town to pursue this acting thing.”

Ed returned home that night. But his dad saw he had been with Jim asked him a simple question.

“He said, ‘I saw you take a ride with Jimmy … I just want to ask you a question,” Ed’s dad quizzed. “Can you do time?”

“No,” is the simple answer Ed had to the big question.

That small conversation led to Ed pursuing acting in New York. Within months of the big move, he became a stage performer.

He was then cast as Al Bundy in Married with children, which ran for 10 years in 1987.