It has been an incredible year for Ayo Edebiri. Not only did The Bear release its statement for the final season, but she was also just declared a new brand ambassador for Chanel. She is about to step onto a Broadway stage for her very first time. She will be starring in Proof starting March 31 at The Booth Theatre in New York City.
Ayo Edebiri was recently interviewed by PAPER Magazine about The Bear, the relationships she has formed with other cast members and crew members throughout the duration of filming The Bear, and how being a part of The Bear will influence her debut performance on Broadway. There was a lot that was discussed during this interview with Ayo Edebiri, but one of the most significant portions of her conversation with PAPER Magazine was the discussion about the people that she worked with on the show over the last five years.
Ayo Edebiri was asked her opinion of the end of the show; she gives an answer that is different from how most actors will generally answer questions when they are out promoting their television shows. In her case, her answer was very authentic. Ayo went on to reveal more about her relationships with the other cast members by calling them her family. She told PAPER:
“It weirdly feels like this family that I always was supposed to have. They’re now in my life.”
This statement is enough to describe what the show meant to her over five years, besides winning all those prestigious awards and receiving critical acclaim.
Also, Ayo Edebiri mentioned that the show’s end doesn’t signify her goodbye because she continues to meet these people often. For instance, during the launch of Project Hail Mary in NYC, she came across Lionel Boyce, who plays Marcus in the show. She said Jeremy Allen White is always in New York. Liza Colon-Zayas, who plays Tina on the show, is coming to see her in Proof.
And Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Jon Bernthal, who play Richie and Jimmy on The Bear, are themselves currently on Broadway doing Dog Day Afternoon at the same time as her run in Proof, which she found both wonderful and slightly overwhelming to think about. She went to see their show one night and brought Tessa Thompson along, since Thompson and Bernthal had recently worked together on the Netflix series His and Hers. Ayo Edebiri described the whole night as a coworker trip that ended with all of them going backstage together.
A final season and a new stage for Ayo Edebiri
The Bear‘s final season has already wrapped filming, and Ayo Edebiri has been pretty open about the fact that she has not fully processed what that means yet. She told PAPER that she will probably not really know how she feels about it until next year, around this time, which is normally when she would be back in Chicago for production. She said,
“I really won’t know how I feel until next year around this time, because that’s usually when I’m in Chicago. So I think partly that will be weird.”
Ayo Edebiri’s understanding of the show is that it is doing more than just representing the work she does; it also provided her with an experience that extends beyond working on a TV show. The Bear came out in 2022 and right away was one of the most talked-about TV shows that year. The Bear received a total of 13 Emmy Nominations with 10 Wins. Ayo Edebiri received the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress during season 1 of the show and was also nominated for Lead Actress during both seasons 2 and 3.
She directed her first episode of the show in season three, for which she received a Directors Guild nomination. She also wrote an episode in season four, for which she received a Writers Guild nomination on top of everything else.
What comes next for Ayo Edebiri?
Right now, Ayo Edebiri’s focus is on Proof, the 2001 Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning play written by David Auburn. She is playing Catherine, the daughter of a troubled mathematics genius played by Don Cheadle, and this is the Broadway debut for both of them.
The production is directed by Thomas Kail, who won a Tony for Hamilton, and runs through July 19, 2026, at the Booth Theatre. Edebiri has spoken about how much the role means to her, saying that Catherine “feels all the corners of her heart very deeply,” and drawing a line between the kind of restless, high-strung energy that Catherine carries and the character of Sydney that she has been playing on The Bear for the past five seasons.
Ayo Edebiri is also still writing. When asked whether she and Lionel Boyce are working on something together, she said yes, simply and without much detail, adding,
“I’m always writing. Always tinkering. That’s my way.”
That is probably the most personal thing she shared in the whole interview, and it tracks with someone who studied playwriting and TV writing at NYU and has never really stopped doing both, even as the acting work took over.
Edited by Sroban Ghosh