Ariel Winter sparks dating rumours with Sterling Beaumon

Actress Ariel Winter has sparked rumours of a romance with her longtime friend Sterling Beaumon.

The two former child stars have known one another for years, but they recently reconnected following Ariel's split from longtime boyfriend Laurent Claude Gaudette, and have been spotted out together on multiple occasions in the past week.

One of their outings included attending the SkySpace Launch Party in Los Angeles on 14 July (16), when they posed for photos with their arms around one another.

An eyewitness tells E! News, "The two arrived at the SkySpace LA event together and left together. They were seen hanging out all night and it seemed like they were more than just friends."

"They were definitely very flirty and always close to each other," the source added.

Ariel, 18, and Lost actor Sterling, 21, have also been seen hanging out with friends at celebrity hotspots like The Roxy and The Nice Guy, as well as taking in a concert together, according to the publication.

The Modern Family actress took to Instagram earlier this week (begs18Jul16) to share a black and white snap of the pair entering The Nice Guy lounge, and simply captioned it, "About last night.."

Beaumon posted a similar snap on Wednesday (20Jul16), writing, "Stay down with my day ones."

The stars, who appeared in a Nintendo commercial in 2010, have yet to comment on the romance speculation.

Ariel confirmed she and Gaudette were no longer dating in June (16) with a telling post on Instagram.

"When you're surprised that people just haven't gotten it yet...", she posted, before adding a throwback clip of Kim Kardashian stating, "I'm dropping hints that I'm single."