In the ABC sitcom Modern Family, Sarah Jane Hyland played the funny, carefree, charming, sweet, and a bit dumb character Haley Dunphy. She is the eldest child of the Dunphy household, yet she’s the one her parents worry about the most.
But throughout the series, the audience saw the character’s growth from a carefree, rebellious girl to a career-oriented successful woman. Even Haley’s love life is a bit twisty, but in the end, she finally settles for the one she thinks is best for her.
Haley had a very interesting arc in the show, with which many young audiences can relate too. Show creators did an awesome job bringing her likable characteristics while targeting young American audiences.
She is funny and confident, and her great arc also explores her emotional side. Her fashion career showed her great side while she has always been the foolish one that will never succeed and ended up being a successful working woman and a mum.
Haley’s Character Development:
It is always a great approach to make a character work on themselves and uplift her from zero to a great height. Haley’s self-awareness helped her to become a better version of herself by working hard, and that is why she is the fan-favorite character, especially among millennials, and Gen Z. American Actress TV star Sarah Hyland became an icon after her outstanding performance on ABC sitcom.
Here are the Reasons Why she is the Fan-Favorite Character of the TV Show Modern Family—
The Younger Version of Claire
In the first few seasons, we see Haley as an irresponsible, ditzy, rebellious girl who is quite popular in high school for her sociable attitude. She knows how to have fun and live a carefree teenage life. Haley is academically poor, sneaks out for parties and concerts, and indulges herself in mostly fun activities like a typical teenage cool girl.
Due to these reasons, her parents worry about Haley the most. Audiences get to know that she takes after her mother, Claire, in her rebellious teen years. So, she always stops her from making the same mistake, but in later seasons, we see Haley as the mature and business-savvy woman that she is.
Self-Aware Haley
In season 5, when Phil and Claire pressured her to talk about her future, Haley surprised everyone with her successful blog that she ran to earn extra money. With no academic prowess, Haley barely passed high school and got kicked out of college for her stupid deed. Compared to her intelligent little sister, Alex, she is a little dumb and takes time to understand things.
Even her family mocks her for being stupid. She may not be book smart, but she is precisely street smart, proving everyone wrong with her successful fashion blog. Haley informs them about her interest in fashion photography, and her work even got featured in a photography exhibition. Sorting out her career was an extremely wise decision for a character like her.
She is Aware of her Love Life too.
Haley has many love interests throughout the series. She is bold and confident and certainly knows what she wants. When Dylan, her first love interest, wanted to marry her, Claire immediately said no, and Haley too denied marrying.
Haley always knew her parents wouldn’t let her make decisions, but she revealed that she honestly didn’t want to get married at that time. It shows her mature side in making decisions on important events like marriage. Haley thinks it is not the time for her to be committed and wants to be independent and free.
Later, she finally decided to choose Dylan as the only one. When in hospital, she gets to know about her pregnancy she feels it will be good to be Dylan’s wife. It is great to see Haley take the step to propose to Dylan for marriage and be with him forever.
Responsible and Independent
Haley grew up to be mature and responsible. She took her career seriously over time. When she got the new job, she decided to live with Dylan and be more independent.
She was genuinely excited and confident to make her parents believe that she could be independent and responsible. The news stuns Claire, and Haley eventually realizes that she still needs her parents. Though, at the end of the series, Haley finally settles happily with her new family.
A Great Mother
During her pregnancy, Haley questioned if she would be a great mother or not. She realized she was certainly bad at it while doing the training. Dylan comforts her by saying that she will eventually be a good mother when she becomes a mother for real.
As it is said, in the last season, fans saw her becoming the good mother that she wanted to be. She enjoys motherhood as well as her work, like an independent, strong woman.
Haley got Rid of the Phone.
Haley from Modern Family was typically a teenage girl who was obsessed with her phone. Like her partying and drinking carefree nature in her early life, she always posts everything on social media, fully updated about trends like a true fashionista.
While she grew up to be more mature, we saw how she got rid of her phone for 24 hours in season nine. It was a completely different side of her truly appreciating nature. She realizes that it is important to look around her surroundings for real and that she can live without the phone.
Her Relationship With her Siblings
As the big sister, Haley is always compared to her smart younger sister, Alex. Her foolishness made her the main target of a joke in the family, which she doesn’t even realize. She is dimwitted and doesn’t care to know what’s going on around her.
She is aware that she is not the smartest and revealed in one episode that she is well aware of her family’s jokes about her. While she looks very confident, it certainly makes her insecure when compared to her sister.
Although these two sisters often get into arguments and annoy each other, fans see how they always motivate each other and have their back on each other. Haley had a great relationship with her little brother, Luke, who doesn’t annoy her intentionally. He even hid Haley’s college acceptance letter because he didn’t want her sister to go away from the house.
She is Funny
Haley's 420% sure. #ModernFamily pic.twitter.com/Vjl6wHMNWf
— Modern Family (@ModernFam) February 6, 2014
Haley doesn’t always get the spotlight of her being a funny character. She honestly has a great sense of humor which is quite underrated. This character has some serious moments, but she sometimes laughs it off with sarcasm, like a true main character.
Throughout the series, she had some witty moments and great humorous lines, which are as hilarious as ever. Sarah Hyland playing Haley Dunphy, portrayed her funny side pretty well. To conclude, Haley is the show star who worked on herself, focused on her strong points, landed a job like a successful woman, and never made her weakness come in the way.
The show creator gave this character a great arc, which is a great deal to the show and a journey of the character’s self-realization and growth. Sarah Hyland got the spotlight of her life with this character in the comedy series. Sarah Jane Hyland became a household name that is worth appreciating.
Recently, Sarah Hyland got married to her longtime partner Wells Adams in an outdoor ceremony at Sunstone Winery near Santa Barbara, California. Sarah Hyland and Wells Adams started dating in 2017, their wedding got canceled in 2020 due to the Covid-19 outbreak, and they finally tied the knot in August 2022. While fans wait for a reunion in the spin-off of Modern Family, they get to see a cast reunion at Hyland’s wedding as her co-stars were all invited to her wedding.
