Rico Rodriguez, who captivated audiences worldwide as a child actor on the hit series Modern Family, made a public appearance this week at a film premiere, now at the age of 28.

Rodriguez was just 11 when he delighted viewers in 2009, portraying Manny Delgado, the charming son of Sofia Vergara’s Gloria, on the popular sitcom.

Manny’s doting, albeit straightforward, stepfather was played by Ed O’Neill as Jay Pritchett, Gloria’s considerably older husband, who led the show’s central family unit.

Over its remarkable 11-season run, the sitcom enjoyed international success, concluding in 2020 and paving new paths for its talented cast.

Following the show’s end, Rodriguez continued to make waves, appearing in various Nickelodeon projects. Last year, he lent his voice to the star-packed animated film Sneaks, sharing credits with notable talents like Anthony Mackie and Chloe Bailey.

When he appeared Wednesday at the premiere of the horror film It Ends, his boyish features from Modern Family were partly obscured by a goatee.

The Daily Mail has contacted Rodriguez’s representative for comment. 

Rodriguez, who did not act in It Ends, cut a summery, casual figure in a short-sleeved print shirt with a set of black trousers and tan leather sneakers.

He posed proudly with his sister Raini Rodriguez, who starred on the Disney Channel show Austin & Ally and played the title character’s daughter in Paul Blart: Mall Cop.

Born in Texas’ Brazos Valley, he began acting in Los Angeles at the age of just six, landing a part on Disney Channel’s That’s So Raven spin-off Cory in the House.

He jobbed around on shows ranging from ER and Nip/Tuck to iCarly to My Name Is Earl and featured in Epic Movie, the comedy starring Kal Pen and Jennifer Coolidge that parodied several of the era’s franchise tentpoles, including Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean and The Chronicles of Narnia.

When he was nine, he was cast as Manny Delgado on Modern Family, joining a cast that included Julie Bowen, Ty Burrell, Sarah Hyland, Ariel Winter, Nolan Gould, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Eric Stonestreet and Aubrey Anderson-Emmons.

Last year, Rodriguez gamely revealed that when he was a young boy he was occasionally flummoxed by his character’s dialogue.

He explained that Manny, an ‘old soul’, was given ‘these big paragraphs and words that I had no idea what I was saying’, on Ferguson’s podcast Dinner’s On Me.

‘I would look up online or I would ask my studio teacher Sharon, Miss Sharon, I would ask her: “Hey, what does this mean? Why are they laughing? Are they laughing because a kid’s saying this or because the line’s funny? What’s the context behind this?” And so she would explain to me, I’d go: “Oh, okay, I understand now.”‘

Modern Family won four Screen Actors Guild Awards for best ensemble cast in a comedy series, with Rodriguez included among the honorees.

The sitcom concluded in April 2020, a month into the Covid-19 lockdowns, with Rodriguez having already predicted how ‘tough’ the end would be.

‘I’ve been on this show for 11 amazing years and this is my family,’ he said in October 2019 ahead of the final season, via Hollywood Life. 

‘They’re my second family, so I know that once we’ve finished in March, I am going to think we’re going to come back and start up in July,’ the then 21-year-old actor explained. ‘It’s going to be weird when that time of the year comes around again and we know we’re not going to get together to start filming again.’

Shortly before Thanksgiving 2023, Vergara hosted the first full-blown Modern Family reunion, welcoming the entire principal cast except for Ty Burrell, as well as the show’s creator Steven Levitan and showrunner Christopher Lloyd.

Burrell was unable to attend because of a surgery, so Ariel Winter jokily held a framed photo of him for a group shot of the party that Vergara posted to Instagram, instantly setting off a round of death rumors the cast then had to quash.

Rodriguez’s post-Modern Family career has included two Nickelodeon reality series, one of them being The Substitute, a prank show in which celebrities disguised themselves as substitute teachers in real-life classrooms.

The other was an episode of Unfiltered, a game show hosted by Jay Pharaoh in which guests tried to identify a celebrity concealed by animation and a voice filter.

Last year, he was part of a voice cast including Chloe Bailey, Anthony Mackie, Martin Lawrence, Quavo, Swae Lee, Laurence Fishburne and Macy Gray in Sneaks.

In other news, Liberia has taken a significant step by declaring its readiness to accept up to 1,200 deportees from the United States over the forthcoming year, as part of a bilateral agreement between the two nations.

This accord represents one of the most substantial of its kind during the aggressive immigration policy period under the Trump administration. The move follows a visit from Liberia’s President Joseph Boakai, who was among five West African leaders invited to the White House last year for discussions with U.S. President Donald Trump.

Jerolinmek Piah, Liberia’s Information Minister, reported that the first batch of 20 deportees is anticipated to land on Liberian soil this Thursday. This marks the commencement of the broader repatriation process under the agreement.

The cohort of 1,200 deportees set to arrive over the next 12 months will consist not only of Africans but also include individuals hailing from North America, South America, and the Caribbean, Piah added, highlighting the diverse origins of those involved.

Piah said the deportees would be received “as guests,” adding that they could leave when they wanted and apply for asylum in Liberia.

He also said Liberia will receive support from the U.S. to manage the program and strengthen its migration system. But he said the deal was not part of a quid pro quo with the U.S. government and that the African nation was not demanding compensation in exchange for taking in the deportees.

“Liberia’s gesture is entirely humanitarian and in keeping with the country’s longstanding traditions,” he said. “The government of Liberia intends to provide the transferred persons with the necessary support to seek protection in Liberia and to be safe during their stay here.”

Liberia’s government referenced its historical ties to the United States, including its roots in a 19th-century settlement established for free and formerly enslaved Black Americans and its history as a country with “a long history of accepting people seeking refuge from political and other crises.”

Liberia’s Justice Minister Natu Oswald Tweh said that the country has screened the migrants ahead of their arrival.

“Most of them are people who had immigration violations and offenses,” he said.

The Liberian government said the arriving deportees are not criminals and are not being prosecuted under U.S. or Liberian law.

Since Trump returned to the White House in January of last year, his administration has reached several deals with African countries to accept third-country deportees, including in some cases migrants who have legal protections barring their return to their countries of origin because of risks of torture, persecution or other abuses. It was not immediately clear whether any members of the group being sent to Liberia have such protections.

Under several agreements that have not always been publicly disclosed in full, the administration has deported thousands of people to nearly two dozen countries that are not their own, with about 10 of them in Africa, according to immigration advocates.

The administration has defended the third-country deals as lawful, saying federal immigration law permits the government to remove migrants to willing third countries. The Supreme Court last year stayed a lower-court order that had imposed additional procedural requirements on third-country removals while litigation continued.

The U.S.-Liberia agreement says Liberia will not return a transferred person to their home country while a protection claim is pending and that both governments intend to act consistently with their obligations under refugee and anti-torture law.

Rights groups say some migrants have been sent to countries they have never visited or where they could face safety risks, potentially increasing pressure on them to return to their countries of origin.

Other African countries that have taken in third-country deportees include the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Ghana and Sierra Leone.

Warning: The content of this story contains graphic details.

Kim Zolciak and Kroy Biermann’s son, Kroy Biermann Jr., found himself in a troubling situation as he was arrested for alleged sex crimes, with his mug shot revealing a stoic demeanor.

At 15 years old, KJ, as he is commonly known, maintained a blank expression while dressed in a black T-shirt for the photo taken by the Alpharetta Police Department, which was later acquired by Page Six.

The incident, which led to KJ’s arrest, involved charges of aggravated sodomy and aggravated sexual battery, and occurred in Alpharetta, Georgia, on a recent Wednesday.

Court documents reveal that a female classmate accused KJ of an assault that allegedly took place in a gym’s changing area on April 23. She reported to authorities that KJ allegedly forced himself on her, ignoring her refusal, while they were in a co-ed sauna.

Per the filing, KJ allegedly attempted “multiple times to have sexual intercourse with her by trying to pull down her pants.” He is also accused of forcing oral sex and digitally penetrating her vagina.

The alleged victim “managed to get away from him,” after which KJ allegedly “pulled up his pants and left,” the filing claims.

The female classmate claimed she did not tell anyone about the alleged assault and went to school the following day, where she allegedly “ran into KJ’s girlfriend.” She allegedly fled the property and went to a Starbucks, where she contacted her family to let them know she was having a panic attack, court papers state.

She went to the North Fulton Hospital in Georgia for an examination on April 24. A police report states that there was no evidence of male DNA in her mouth or vagina, according to the examination.

KJ was taken into custody on Monday and is being held without bond at the Juvenile Court of Fulton County. He is scheduled to appear in court on Sept. 1.

The teen’s attorney, Jason Sheffield, claimed in a statement to Page Six that his client is “100% innocent” and that he “tried to present evidence to the arresting officer, including a passed polygraph by a notable and respected sex offender polygrapher,” and claimed he has “evidence of other prior false allegations by the alleged victim.”

RELATED: Psychiatrist Reveals Lindsay Clancy’s Heartbreaking Mental Struggle: ‘Someone Else Controlled Her Mind

“Additionally, the officer’s report notes [that investigators] found no male DNA on or inside the areas the alleged victim claimed she was assaulted. The fact that he’s been arrested and is being held without bond is a tragedy,” Sheffield said in part.

“He is not only presumed innocent, but is, in fact, innocent. I’m asking the public not to presume the truth of these allegations and to give the families on both sides their space and privacy,” his statement concluded.

His mom also addressed KJ’s arrest in an exclusive statement to Page Six on Friday.

“The allegations being made against my son are nothing short of reckless and deeply troubling,” the “Real Housewives of Atlanta” star’s rep told Page Six in a statement.

“He categorically denies ever being involved with this woman or engaging in the conduct she has alleged.”

The Bravo alum claimed her son voluntarily took a polygraph examination regarding the allegations and passed.

“Additionally, an examination was conducted, and no DNA belonging to my son was found,” the statement continued. She claimed, “We are also aware that this individual has made similar allegations involving two other people, which raises serious concerns that deserve to be carefully examined.”

Zolciak said in the statement that “false accusations” can have “devastating consequences” for the person being accused, as well as “for genuine survivors of sexual assault and abuse.”

“Every legitimate allegation deserves to be taken seriously and investigated based on the facts and evidence. At the same time, no one should be publicly condemned based solely on an accusation,” she wrote.

The statement concluded, “We remain confident that the facts and evidence will establish the truth, and we ask that people allow the proper process to take its course rather than spreading unproven allegations.”

Zolciak and her estranged husband, who have been locked in a contentious divorce since 2023, co-parent KJ and his siblings — Kash, 14, and twins Kaia and Kane, 12. Zolciak is also mom to daughters Brielle, 29, and Ariana, 24, from previous relationships.

If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call the Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-330-0226.