Ed O’Neill Plays Donald Sterling In FX Series About Disgraced LA Clippers Owner

Ed O'Neill, left, and Donald-Sterling Gregg DeGuire; AP Photos

Ed O’Neill is set to star opposite Jacki Weaver and Laurence Fishburne in The Sterling Affairs. The Modern Family alum will play the title role in FX’s six-episode limited series about the downfall of Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling amid the team’s drive to win a championship under coach Doc Rivers.

The Sterling Affairs is written by Gina Welch based on the ESPN 30 for 30 podcast reported and hosted by Ramona Shelburne. The series tells the behind-the-scenes story of Rivers (Fishburne) and the Clippers’ quest to bring a championship to one of the historically worst franchises in all of sports during the impending downfall of the team’s owner, Sterling, whose notoriously racist behavior is brought to light amid the power struggle between his wife of 60-plus years, Shelly Sterling (Weaver), and his mistress, V. Stiviano.

2022 FX Pilots & Series Orders

Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson’s Color Force is producing. The Sterling Affairs will be executive produced by Welch, Jacobson, Simpson and Shelburne. Kevin Bray will direct the first block and serve as an executive producer on those episodes. Nellie Reed of Color Force and Rembert Browne will serve as Producer. The series will be produced by FX Productions.

O’Neill is known for playing the patriarch in two hit family comedy series, Fox’s Married… with Children and ABC’s Modern Family. For his role as Jay Pritchett on Modern Family, which ran for 11 seasons, O’Neill earned three Emmy nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actor In a Comedy Series. He was recently seen in the independent feature The Last Shift for Albert Berger & Ron Yerxa opposite Richard Jenkins, which premiered at Sundance 2020. O’Neill is repped by Gersh and Brillstein Entertainment Partners.