‘Modern Family’ Star Ariel Winter Reveals Brand New, Bright Red Hair

Ariel Winter is seeing red with the bright new hair color she unveiled on Friday.

Winter is best known as the brunette genius Alex Dunphy on Modern Family, but this week she showed off her new off-season look. The 21-year-old actress dyed her hair a bright, vibrant red as she stepped out in Los Angeles on Friday. The color ws so convincing it could have been natural on her if she were not one of the most recognizable performers on TV today.

Winter smiled wanly as she passed photographers in the city. She wore a black shirt with laces up the front tucked into jeans, with knee-high black boots to match. Winter carried a fine black handbag over her shoulder and held her phone in her hand, apparently in a hurry to get on with her busy day.

It is an exciting time for Winter and the rest of the Modern Family cast. Season 10 of the beloved sitcom wraps up this week, leaving the Pritchett and Dunphy families for their last summer off between seasons. Last week found Winter’s character Alex completely stressed as she approached the end of her studies at Caltech, and the season finale is sure to end on a cliffhanger to draw fans back in in the fall.

Of course, it should not take much, as Modern Family is one of the most successful network sitcoms on these days. The show was renewed for Season 11 at the last second, while many fans thought that this would be its last year. According to a report by Variety, the renewal was held up by contract negotiations for Winter and her other young castmates, who saw significant pay raises for the last season.

While their salaries were not revealed, Winter, Sarah Hyland, Rico Rodriguez and Nolan Gould have all grown up before our eyes on Modern Family and were likely looking to be treated as the adult cast members are. The older actors — Julie Bowen, Ty Burrell, Eric Stonestreet, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Ed O’Neill and Sofia Vergara — each reportedly pull in $500,000 per episode.

There can be no doubt that the raises are deserved, as Winter and the other young adults are driving forces on the show. Their journeys into young adulthood have carried the plots of recent seasons, and in February series co-creator Christopher Lloyd seemed to confirm that would still be the case going forward.

“For 10 years, our characters have bravely faced turning points in life and moved through them to great personal enrichment; we have chosen a different path by doing one more season of Modern Family,” he said.

The season finale of Modern Family airs on Wednesday, May 8 at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.