{"id":187795,"date":"2025-08-19T15:28:31","date_gmt":"2025-08-19T15:28:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/19\/the-bear-made-ayo-edebiri-a-star-and-now-a-director\/"},"modified":"2025-08-19T15:28:31","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T15:28:31","slug":"the-bear-made-ayo-edebiri-a-star-and-now-a-director","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/19\/the-bear-made-ayo-edebiri-a-star-and-now-a-director\/","title":{"rendered":"‘The Bear’ Made Ayo Edebiri a Star\u2014and Now a Director"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Ayo Edebiri<\/strong><\/a>\u2019s career could have gone in a very different direction. Before The Bear,<\/em> she was a stand-up comedian and was pursuing a TV writing career, working on several hit shows, including Big Mouth, Dickinson,<\/em> and What We Do in The Shadows.<\/em><\/p>\n

But along came the FX kitchen dramedy, and Edebiri\u2019s acting career took off. She\u2019s played sous chef Sydney \u201cSyd\u201d Adamu on the hit series for four seasons now, and is having her biggest year yet with three films out this year: the A24 thriller Opus<\/em> that came out in March, Luca Guadagnino<\/strong>\u2019s After the Hunt,<\/em> which will premiere in Venice, and James L. Brooks<\/strong>\u2019s Ella McCay<\/em> out in December.<\/p>\n

Edebiri earned her third acting Emmy nomination for The Bear<\/em> this year (she won following the series\u2019 first season). She\u2019s also been nominated for directing \u201cNapkins,\u201d a flashback episode from its third season<\/a> following Tina (Liza Col\u00f3n-Zayas<\/strong>) as she struggles to find a new job.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs an actor and as a producer, I felt fairly confident about being able to manage speaking to actors and communicating with producers, but I realized that I just didn\u2019t have that much knowledge in working with crew,\u201d Edebiri tells Little Gold Men.<\/em> So during the \u201cFishes\u201d episode\u2014a flashback episode in season two in which she didn\u2019t have to act\u2014she came to set so she could meet with every department to learn about the process of working with a director.<\/p>\n

It paid off. \u201cNapkins\u201d solidified Edebiri\u2019s conviction to direct more in the future. She spoke with Little Gold Men<\/em> about what she learned from the experience, writing an episode in the fourth season, and what she thinks about fans shipping Syd and Carmy.<\/p>\n

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Vanityu Fair:<\/em> What made you feel like \u201cNapkins\u201d was the right episode for you to direct?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ayo Edebiri:<\/em> The writing was just so beautiful. I remember reading it and seeing it in my mind, like really clearly. There was a real advantage because it was not only a standalone episode of a character that we hadn’t really gotten to see, but it got to be outside of the restaurant.<\/p>\n

It got to be in the past, and then it also got to connect before the show had even started, but the feeling of the first season, I just felt like it was really gonna be fertile, visually. And that I was going to be able to do a little bit of my own thing.<\/p>\n

What did you learn about yourself from that experience directing that episode?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I really enjoy directing. I mean, more than like it, I really love it and I can’t wait to do it more. And it\u2019s nice to get to wake up like an hour later because you’re not in hair and makeup. I enjoy that as well.<\/p>\n

Have you thought about directing a feature?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I think I will eventually direct a feature. I know that I will, but I feel no real rush. I\u2019m writing right now as well and that’s its own process.<\/p>\n

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