This Modern Family Alum Appears In Paramount's Frasier Revamp & The OG Series

While the 2023 "Frasier" revival is a sequel to the original '90s "Frasier," the supporting cast surrounding protagonist Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer) consists almost entirely of new additions. The one notable returning character is Frasier's nephew David, but he's a newborn in the original season finale and a college-aged in the new show, so a different actor plays him in each series. That said, one actor technically returns from the original "Frasier" and viewers might remember him for his work on "Modern Family."

In "Frasier" Season 10, Episode 20, actor Kevin Daniels plays Steve, an employee at a cafe Frasier and Niles (David Hyde Pierce) briefly hope to frequent as regulars. Then, in Episode 2 of the revival, Daniels appears as a firefighter named Tiny who works with Frasier's son Freddy (Jack Cutmore-Scott). At a bar one night, Frasier finds out that Freddy lied to his co-workers, saying his dad died when he was young. Instead of outright revealing the truth, Frasier helps maintain his son's lie before eventually revealing himself to be Freddy's father. Hilariously, Frasier claims that he and Freddy's mother Lilith (Bebe Neuwirth in the original series) only just learned this to be true. Tiny buys this.

On "Modern Family," meanwhile, Daniels plays a friend of Cam (Eric Stonestreet) and Mitchell's (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) named Longines in a total of 12 episodes between Seasons 2 and 11. By the time of his first appearance on "Modern Family," Daniels had already worked as a screen actor for over a decade.

Kevin Daniels' acting career dates back to the late '90s, when he appeared in a TV adaptation of "Twelfth Night" and played an unnamed character in an episode of "Mad About You." In the 2000s, he had short stints on shows like "Law & Order," "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "JAG," "Charmed," and "Smallville." His first "Frasier" role also premiered during this time period, in 2003. The following year he even played a firefighter — like his "Frasier" revival character — in the film "Ladder 49."

Daniels' longest-running TV role kicked off in 2014 when he debuted as one of the leads in USA's paramedic comedy "Sirens." In a 2015 interview with Slate, Daniels listed firefighters among the types of characters he plays most frequently. "I'm a cop, firefighter, EMT. I'm a gay man," he said. "I've played a couple of lawyers; played a serial killer once. I've played a lot of basketball players, a couple of football players. It's either athletic, because I'm tall; something imposing or menacing; or something really funny and light-hearted."

Landing his role on the new "Frasier" series, then, likely had nothing to do with his prior, unrelated "Frasier" character. Rather, it seems to have been a function of both his extensive acting experience and his familiarity with playing firefighters on TV.