Alexandra Anastasia "Alex" Dunphy is the middle child of Claire and Phil Dunphy.

Alex is evidently the most intelligent and accomplished of Claire and Phil's
children. She is the older sister to her goofy brother, Luke, and the younger
sister to her shallow sister, Haley.
Biography
Before the show
Alex was conceived in a hotel room in Disneyland ("The Graduates") and her birth
was a surprise to her parents (“Alone Time”). She was born on January 14, 1996. Her
older sister Haley is three years older and her brother Luke is two years younger.
Claire says that during her pregnancy with Alex, she had a "pregnancy brain",
implying that the brainy Alex was strongly competing with her for resources ("When
a Tree Falls"). She had a poem published in Highlights Magazine when she was five
years old. ("Patriot Games").

Personality
Although Alex is younger than most of her family, she is arguably the most
intelligent and well-read member, even more than Manny and her lawyer uncle,
Mitchell ("Other People's Children"). Being an overachiever, she tends to address
people with sarcasm and condescension, although most of the time nobody gets her
humor. She is also shown to be competitive just like her mother, Claire, which she
admits is because she is not used to not coming in first. She takes great pride in
her schoolwork, much more than Haley or Luke, and she rarely ever has meltdowns
regarding her schoolwork except for once in "Under Pressure" where she rages on her
birthday and after Claire attends an open house, — although she has 6 hours' worth
of homework total in all of her AP Advanced classes. Claire even said to Alex, "I
don't know how you don't have a meltdown every day."

Having raised by inexperienced parents, Alex learned to be extremely self-reliant

at a young age till Phil once compared her to a self-cleaning oven ("Under
Pressure"). Due to her abilities, her parents also tend to pay less attention to
her concerns in favor of her less capable siblings. Alex often breaks the fourth
wall when her family discusses ridiculous ideas and she feels like the odd ball. In
"Grill, Interrupted", her grandfather Jay confides in Alex that the family needs a
leader and one day he will not be around to do it anymore, implying that in the
future, she will the the one to keep the family in check because she is the only
one who can do it.

She enjoys messing her family when they are rude to her, which is fairly often,
taking advantage of their and inferior intellect by fooling them into believing
unrealistic things. At one time she convinced Haley that she could charge
electronics by rubbing the battery on her head and Luke that he could do the same
by holding it in his mouth ("En Garde"). As much as she enjoys torturing her
brother and sister, she always seems to have their backs, as in "Undeck the Halls"
when she confesses to smoking, even though she didn't do anything, to bring back
Christmas for them or in "Games People Play", when Alex says she would have tutored
Luke if she had known he was failing Pre-Algebra.

Alex is almost always bickering with her sister Haley, usually regarding her
appearance. According to Haley, Alex has no fashion sense, and finds it difficult
to make friends at school. It is shown in several occasions, that she does indeed
care for her reputation, like when she refuses to be seen with her mother dropping
her off to meet with her friends ("Benched"), and when she accepts advice from
Haley about how to be friends with a popular girl at school ("Strangers on a
Treadmill").

Alex is also shown to yearn for her mother's approval through academic awards
("Integrity"). In high school, she is part of the debate team and the French club
("Rash Decisions"), practices lacrosse, and plays the cello and sings the backup
vocals of her band, Electric Light Dorkestra ("Best Men"). She later admits to
Haley that she eventually hated playing the cello but continued to play it because
she is not used to quitting ("Someone to Watch Over Lily").

Alex was also implied to be multilingual, being part of the French club and
speaking some form of Chinese in "Planes, Trains and Cars". She says that she also
know Elvish. She is sensitive to the sight of blood faints because of it
("Arrested", "Heart Broken").