It turns out that when you play a chef on TV, the people in your real life are quick to come at you with cooking requests. 

“My mom is a really, really incredible cook,” says Ayo Edebiri, who plays eager young sous chef Sydney on The Bear. “Previous holidays or whatever, I’ve always been like, ‘Let me in, I want to cook, I want to make something,’ and she’s been like, ‘No.’ And now she’s like, ‘Ayo, when are you making something? What are you bringing? When are you going to cook for me?’ I’m like, ‘OK, so this is what it took.’ ” 

And as the FX/Hulu series — which follows a top fine-dining chef (played by Jeremy Allen White) who comes home to run his family’s Chicago sandwich shop after the death of his brother — became the smash hit of the summer, the culinary hints are dropping beyond just family dinner parties, Edebiri says. 

“The number one question that I feel like people have is, ‘Can you cook?’ and I’m like, ‘Do you want me to cook for you? Because I’m not going to,’ ” she jokes. “People will come up to me at restaurants and be like, ‘Can you cook?’ And [I’m like] ‘I’m not helping, I’m off duty right now.’ ” 

Edebiri, 27, first came onto the scene as a stand-up comedian and writer, starring in the 2020 Comedy Central digital series Ayo and Rachel Are Single alongside Shiva Baby and Bodies Bodies Bodies star Rachel Sennott. She’s since written on What We Do in the Shadows, Dickinson (on which she had an onscreen role) and Big Mouth (on which she replaced Jenny Slate as the voice of Missy, a biracial teenager). Edebiri worked with The Bear creator Christopher Storer when he directed two episodes of Dickinson, later auditioning for him and landing the role, though the FX/Hulu series is heavier than projects she’s typically known for. 

“I don’t really think about genres, anything that’s like a dictator of what I do or what I can do,” Edebiri says. “And so, yeah, it’s been cool to have people see that I can do more things.” She and Allen, who play the only two classically trained chefs at Italian beef sandwich shop The Beef, went through culinary school training and worked in real restaurants as line cooks to “have a comfort and an ease in the kitchen space. The biggest thing was, ‘OK, how natural do we look and feel?’ ” 

Being a part of the action changed both of their perceptions of the food industry forever, she adds, noting that White says “every time he goes into a restaurant, he looks at it like it’s a miracle. And that is exactly how I feel — it’s really crazy the amount of skill and talent and dedication and hard work that goes into every single day at a restaurant.” 

Season two of The Bear is currently being written, and Edebiri says she has no suggestions for where she hopes Sydney and The Beef go in upcoming episodes: “I’m just as excited to find out as people who watch the show.” 

For her next project, she’s getting out of the kitchen to star alongside Ben Platt, Molly Gordon, Noah Galvin, Amy Sedaris and Patti Harrison in the musical comedy Theater Camp, following the eccentric staff of a rundown drama camp in upstate New York who band together to keep it afloat. Teasing that her character “just sort of hangs out and vibes out” rather than getting in on the film’s musical numbers, Edebiri adds, “I didn’t go to a theater camp as a kid or anything, so it was very cool to get to pretend that I was experiencing that.” 

And beyond her currently full plate, Edebiri has the simple aspiration to keep it that way.

“I like my job. I feel like it’s a real privilege to like what I do and feel challenged by what I do and just want to keep working, keep learning,” she says. “That’s kind of the main goal right now.” 

This story first appeared in a December stand-alone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.