The Bear has done so much for so many. It’s been a boon for the fine city of Chicago, and for one of its better delicacies: the Italian Beef. It’s made even bigger stars out of Shameless’ Jeremy Allen White and Girls’ Ebon Moss-Bachrach. It did the same to up-and-coming actress and stand-up Ayo Edbiri, who plays young, ambitious chef Sydney. She’s already co-starring in popular movies, like the exceedingly funny Bottoms. But where else can you see her? Here are some ways:
Big Mouth
Back in 2020, two years before The Bear, Edbiri took over as Missy, the biracial, nerdy, Nathan Fillion-loving girl on Netflix’s popular cartoon about preteens going through the pangs of puberty. The character was originally voiced by Jenny Slate. “Black characters on an animated show should be played by Black people,” Slate wrote as she handed the reins to Edebiri. “I acknowledge how my original reasoning was flawed, that it existed as an example of white privilege and unjust allowances made within a system of societal white supremacy, and that in me playing ‘Missy,’ I was engaging in an act of erasure of Black people.”
At the time Edebiri noted on how perfect she was to take over as Missy. “I was definitely a very uncomfortable child, so I think the show speaks to that and a lot of those feelings, which still resonate with me as an adult,” she said then. “I was a true dork. So I don’t think I have to go too far to connect with Missy,” as seen on Twitter.
Big Mouth streams on Netflix.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Action
Over the summer, Edebiri could be heard in two big animated blockbuster with outside-the-box styles of animation. She had but a small role in the second Miles Morales Spider-Man outing, voicing Glory, one of the bandmates of Hailee Steinfeld’s Gwen Stacy. Her role in the Seth Rogen-co-written revival of TMNT was quite a bit larger: She voiced April O’Neil, the intrepid reporter who befriends the oversized, pizza-loving reptiles.
Spider-Man streams on Netflix starting Oct. 31 and TMNT:MA streams on Paramount+.
Theater Camp
Released around the same time as Bottoms — which, in case you don’t know it, stars her and Rachel Sennott as high school besties who form a fight club so they can hook up with cheerleaders — this comedy concerns a dilapidated theater summer camp in Upstate New York whose residents fight to keep it alive. Edebiri is sixth billed, and it reunites her with a fellow Bear cast member, Molly Gordon, who both co-stars and co-directs.
Theater Camp streams on Hulu.
The Sweet East
Edebiri has six films out this year, including this eccentric indie satire directed by acclaimed cinematographer Sean Price Williams (a regular of the Safdie brothers, including Good Time) and written by film critic Nick Pinkerton. Talia Ryder, of the abortion drama Never Rarely Sometimes Always, plays a high schooler led astray during a class trip, whose picaresque adventures lead her to run-ins with all manner of characters, played by all manner of name actors. Among them are New York filmmakers played by Edebiri and Jeremy O. Harris. Also appearing are Simon Rex (hot off his comeback Red Rocket), Euphoria’s Jacob Elordi, and The Butthole Surfers’ Gibby Haynes.
The Sweet East begins its limited theatrical release on December 1.
One-off TV show appearances
Since breaking through with The Bear, Edebiri has scored lots of work on TV. She played a runaway slave in the Hulu sequel to Mel Brooks’ classic parody film History of the World: Part I. She’s done Abbott Elementary and a sketch in the second season of I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson. These are comedies. Black Mirror is decidedly not, and she appeared in its sixth season debut, in the episode where a woman learns her life has been turned into a popular prestige drama in which she’s played by Salma Hayek. She also had a recurring role as a ghostwriting maid on Apple TV+’s Dickinson.
Stand-up comedy
Edebiri’s career began nearly a decade, when she kicked things off as a stand-up. Before her breakthrough, she was featured on Comedy Central. In this 2020 set, she talks about the distress of learning that real life really isn’t much like The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.
Podcasts
The last episode aired in 2020, but Edebiri used to co-host the podcast Iconography with Olivia Craighead, in which they — and sometimes guests — would discuss their favorite legends. In one episode Edebiri chose Robert Townsend, the actor and filmmaker behind the groundbreaking 1987 satire Hollywood Shuffle. As it happens, Townsend would go on to play her dad on The Bear.
Forthcoming: Thunderbolts
Edebiri’s star has risen so quickly that she’s already doing Marvel movies. It’s not clear what her role will be in the Thunderbolts movie, which is due on December 20 of next year, but it will team her with a bunch of returning MCU vets, including Sebastian Stan, Florence Pugh, David Harbour, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Wyatt Russell, and Olga Kurylenko. So that’s cool, but is it as cool as her returning at some point for The Bear Season 3?
