I saw Ayo Edebiri on screen for the first time as Sydney Adamu in the first episode of The Bear. She shows up at The Beef, a run-down struggling restaurant in Chicago, and introduces herself twice. “Hi. Hello,” she says. She meets Carmy, the new owner of The Beef, who has inherited it after the sudden death of his brother. My first thought when I saw her: That’s me.
A white and red scarf holds her black and blonde box braids back. She says she called in about the sous chef position. Carmy looks at her resume and asks her why she wants to work there. She’s overqualified and sentimental. Sydney is tasked with making the “family” meal, a test she needs to pass to be accepted by her new colleagues. For the duration of the episode, she stays out of the way, moving with purpose and precision while chaos develops around her. When she’s asked if she chose a meal that is “delicious or impressive” to pass the family test, she responds, “Delicious is impressive.” Naturally, I’m obsessed.
I, like everyone else, binged the entirety of Season 1 of The Bear in two days. It’s a beautifully shot, fast-paced show with writing that made me laugh and cry. The cast is the beating heart of the series, bringing warmth to the otherwise cold and concrete landscape. Season 2 was even better, which explains why The Bear took home six Emmys just a few weeks ago. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, go do yourself a favor and watch the show before coming back.
But the one reason I stayed glued to the screen for all eight episodes of the first season wasn’t for these reasons alone. I was hooked, because for the first time in my life, I felt truly represented on screen, and I have Ayo Edebiri to thank.
Edebiri, aka a Letterboxd connoisseur and the people’s princess of Ireland, was born on Oct. 3, 1995 to a Pentecostal Barbadian mother and Nigerian father in Boston, Massachusetts. She grew up with an interest in comedy, but her shy and serious nature fused with an inclination for practicality prevented her from truly pursuing it as a career until college. At NYU, Edebiri joined an improv group and started performing standup, where she met the talented Rachel Sennott and Molly Gordon, her Bottoms co-collaborators and long-time friends.
She originally studied teaching but decided to switch to dramatic writing and start pursuing a comedy career when she was a junior in college. Edebiri was initially apprehensive, scared that pursuing a career in comedy and entertainment wasn’t viable. That was until she saw other black women, like her, who made it in the business. If they were financially stable enough to afford health insurance, that was enough for her to hit the ground running.
Edebiri spent years hustling. During college, she worked as a nanny, a barista, and in restaurants. Upon graduating with the goal of an entertainment career, she constructed a plan. She gave herself three to four years to get a writer’s assistant job and then another four years to get staffed. She spent the years after NYU jumping from writer’s rooms to punch-up gigs and performing at stand-up shows. Eventually, all that work started to pay off.
To date, Edebiri has written for Sunnyside, Dickinson, and Big Mouth, with a voice acting appearance in Big Mouth as Missy, and an on-screen role as Hattie on Dickinson. It wasn’t until she got the part for The Bear that she skyrocketed into fame. Since her casting for The Bear, Ayo has acted in Bottoms, Theater Camp, The Sweet East, and Abbott Elementary. She became a frequent collaborator with the fashion designer, Thom Browne. She has also stolen the hearts of the people of Ireland, with them claiming her as their princess, a running joke she took with her straight to the Emmys. That night, at 28 years old, she became the third Black woman to receive an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. Edebiri’s success is well-earned and long overdue.
After finishing The Bear, I spent hours reading up on all of Edebiri’s profile pieces trying to figure out what she was in so I could go watch it. I watched interviews and read feature articles. I quickly realized it was the characters she created, but also Edebiri herself, who I felt represented by. Her visibility in Hollywood has truly revolutionized my hopes and dreams.
Edebiri is my reminder that there is space for intelligent, funny, beautiful young black women. There is space for our ideas and creativity. There is space for me.
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