I've always taken advantage of being sexy: Sofia Vergara

Sofia Vergara, the buxom Latin star of Emmy-winning comedy series Modern Family, readily concedes that she gets a lot of mileage from her thick accent, which sounds preposterous even compared to the most stereotypical Hollywood portrayals of Latinos.

She says: "When I started acting, I thought I could get rid of it. I didn't understand why actors such as Penelope Cruz or Salma Hayek hadn't fixed their accents.

"But it was horrible. I had a coach for many hours and months and it didn't do anything. I would go to auditions and be so conscious of how the words were coming out of my mouth that I forgot everything about acting. I was a mess.

"So I said, 'I can't do this.' And I never had any training as an actress, so I think what helped me was that I was a little bit spontaneous. So I thought, 'You know what, I'm going to go for the audition for Modern Family and if they like me, they like me.'