Rico Rodriguez: I Wanted to Be a Cook!

Before starring in the hit comedy series Modern Family, Rico Rodriguez had other careers in mind!

The 12-year-old actor, who plays Manny Delgado on the ABC show, recently revealed he dreamed of becoming a cook, an astronaut, a racecar driver – or all three!

“I thought I’d be a Nascar chef going to the moon,” he told AOL (via PopEater).

Rico also said he never thought about trying his hand at acting until about three or four years ago when he saw his sister working in the business.

“I was probably the shyest boy known to man,” he said.

As for Modern Family‘s other young star, Nolan Gould, Rico says the two are “best friends. We do everything together. We do all kinds of amateur stunts. We almost got into trouble with the security guards [on set] a couple of times.”