Ariel Winter replaces Demi Lovato as lead of comedy series Hungry

Modern Family-actor Ariel Winter has replaced singer Demi Lovato as the lead star of the upcoming NBC comedy series Hungry.

Lovato, who is executive producing the show along with her manager Scooter Braun, stepped down from acting duties last week due to scheduling conflicts.

Written by Suzanne Martin and set to be directed by James burrows, the multi-camera comedy series follows a group of friends who belong to a food-issues group helping one another as they look for love, success and the perfect thing in the fridge that's going to make it all better.

The cast of the series includes Valerie Bertinelli, Gabriel 'Fluffy' Iglesias, Ryan McPartlin, Alex Brightman and Ashley D Kelley.

Hungry is set to begin production this week. The show is produced by Sean Hayes and Todd Milliner's Hazy Mills, SB Projects and Universal Television.

Winter is best known for playing Alex Dunphy on ABC's Modern Family, which won four SAG Awards for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series. The actor has also voiced the title character in Disney's animated series Sofia the First.