Ayo Edebiri Covers Vanity Fair Magazine & Talks “The Bear,” Acting Career and Owning Her Style

You can call Ayo Edebiri the “award girl” and you wouldn’t be wrong. Since the beginning of this year, the American-Nigerian actress has been has been racking up awards. Her role as chef Sydney Adamu in the comedy drama, “The Bear” earned her a Golden Globe, Critics Choice Award, Emmy Award and a SAG Award.

“The Bear” itself has been a critical darling, with its first season garnering seven Golden Globe nominations (winning four) and 13 Emmy nominations (winning 10). With season two on the horizon, expect Edebiri’s name to be called again when nominations are announced in July.

“I was grocery shopping yesterday, and I was like, ‘Oh my God, my life’s about to shift and I don’t know in which direction” she says about the sudden fame. “I feel very fortunate and still I don’t really totally believe it or understand it.”

Born in Boston to a Barbadian mother and Nigerian father, Ayo discovered her passion for the arts at a public school, Boston Latin. She initially planned to become a teacher but switched to dramatic writing in her junior year, graduating in 2017.

Ayo honed her comedic skills through stand-up gigs in New York City basements. These experiences, along with friendships with fellow comedians like Emma Seligman and Molly Gordon, led to early writing, voice acting, and acting opportunities on shows like “Big Mouth” and “Dickinson.” In 2020, she co-starred with college friend Rachel Sennott in the Comedy Central series “Ayo and Rachel Are Single,” based on their (hilarious) dating misadventures in New York.

Credit: Ayo Edebiri/Instagram

The audition for “The Bear” stood out for her. “I was in comedy land—hard, hard comedy land,” she explains. Landing the role opposite Jeremy Allen White led her to take cooking classes with the cast in Pasadena before trading New York for Chicago, where the show is filmed.

In this issue of Vanity Fair, Ayo opens up about acting with Jeremy Allen White, the unforgettable Emmy night with her friends, her experiences growing up, what really happened behind the scenes at SNL, and much more.

Read excerpts from the interview below:

On working at a young age

“I was 17 when I went to college [and] I was really poor. I was always working. Working at a call center asking NYU alums for money; as a babysitter for NYC families; at a student café in the math building.”

“I barista’d at this random coffee shop for three weeks, and then our boss was skimming money so I left, and then I did some baristing at ABC Kitchen. I loved being a barista because I like order. There’s something kind of satisfying about getting it right.” It wasn’t long before Boston started to feel like small-town USA. “When I went back I was like, ‘What is this? Am I in the sticks? We’re closing businesses at 10 p.m.? I’m embarrassed.’ ”

Credit: Ayo Edebiri/Instagram

Last year, Ayo lost one of her closest friends to Cancer and she reflects on making the most out of life

“If I’m not living my life to the fullest and just trying to be positive and enjoy it and leave things better than they found it, then it’s kind of useless.”

On her hobbies and interests

“I have a lot of tastes. I don’t know if I have good taste or bad taste, but I have a lot.” Slowing down “is not a negative thing to me. When I think of people whose careers I admire, there are ebbs and flows.”

Read the full article here.