10 Questions for Ty Burrell

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Ty Burrell, who’s known for his comic antics as the mortifyingly uncool dad Phil Dunphy on Modern Family, would have quite liked to be an action hero. In this week’s 10 Questions, he explains that he doesn’t quite fit the superhero mold . “I don’t have the constitution to deliver lines in the way a leading man in an action film can do it,” he says. “But I do love all the action stuff, and that has been almost the most fun part of Modern Family.”

In the indie comedy, Butter, he costars with action star alumni Jennifer Garner and Hugh Jackman, who came to fame for their physical prowess in Alias and X-Men, respectively. “[Jackman] is so frustrating, because he can also do musicals, and I don’t know what the deal is, but it’s really angering,” says Burrell. “Why, Hugh, why?”

In the movie, in which people may well see political parallels, it’s Burrell who has all the skills: he’s the Leonardo da Vinci of the Iowa butter carving scene (he recreates “The Passion of the Christ” with Neil Diamond in the Jesus role). Alas, in real life, the actor says he’s not much good at dairy-product art. “I tried to do my hand and it ended up looking like an oven mitt,” he says. “It was just awful.”

For more about Burrell, including his own political leanings and why he lives in Utah, check out this week’s issue of TIME.