© Rex Features

© Rex Features

© Rex Features

SARAH HYLAND, famously gorgeous as Haley Dunphy in Modern Family, liked to think of herself as Carrie Bradshaw when she was growing up.

"I always loved fashion - who doesn't love dressing up in their mother's clothes? And I was in New York and my name was Sarah so I just wanted to be SJP," she says. "I wore heels most days to school, despite there being four flights of stairs to the classrooms."

She doesn't rule out creating her own fashion line one day, having co-designed the dresses she wore to the Emmy's for two years running, first with Christian Siriano and last year with Marchesa's Georgina Chapman, but for now - on a break from the SAG award-winning sitcom that has put her in the big league, she's spreading her wings a bit. So far that's meant living a nocturnal life in London over the summer (as a result of filming Vampire Academy: Blood Sisters, mostly at night, rather than hitting the party scene too hard - though ask her about her experience of London so far and Mahiki does feature), and playing Blanche Barrow in the Bonnie & Clyde: Dead And Alive miniseries that is due for release in the autumn.

Meeting the 22-year-old actress - who has been acting since the age of four; has played daughter to Jennifer Aniston and Brooke Shields; and decided she wanted to have her own production company at the age of nine - for the first time and you expect a) precocity beyond description and b) insane feelings of jealousy - but surprisingly you get neither.

"I don't know how I, of all people, ended up with this 'hot girl in bikini' reputation - with all the amazing looking people in LA," she says, laughing. "It's flattering of course, but it's weird." Undoubtedly PR-aware, her statements are considered but genuine - she clearly has brains to go with talent and looks, which make a great recipe for staying power.

Having successfully avoided the fame thing so far, she baulks at the word 'celebrity' and has mastered a British accent while she's here so that when stopped and asked, "aren't you the girl from…?" she can deny it and give herself a false name and a "but thank you so much, I'm flattered." Sweet.

And whatever happens, she'll be sticking with Modern Family. "I'd be an idiot not to. My dad is an actor and he's always said that what you want is that one show that goes on for years, that gives you a steady pay check and keeps food on the table and a roof over your head."

© Getty

She has plenty of reasons to stick with it, not least because her co-star Sofia Vergara sets a great example of a great actress whose brains make her looks work for her. "I really look up to her as a business woman," says Sarah. "She's so great at being the hot commodity of boobs and red lipstick and bikinis at the same time as working for Pepsi and CoverGirl and Kmart. I admire her for saying, 'look I'm not going to be this hot forever so I have to be smart about it.' Though looking like she does, you kind of want to say, 'I think you're good for a while.'"

So as her fame grows and her repertoire broadens from "hot girl in bikini" to the fake pimples her Vampire part requires and the short bob, Southern accent and MAC Desire lipstick of Barrow ("I stole it from the set, I LOVE it"), will the SJP in Hyland resurface? "It's not at the forefront right now but I love the fashion aspect of my job," she says. "But do I make all the right choices? No."