Ayo Edebiri

Edebiri grew up in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood as the only child of a mother who emigrated from Barbados and a father who emigrated from Nigeria. Her family attended a Pentecostal church, and she has credited both the Bible and church performances with encouraging her interest in storytelling and performance. She developed an interest in comedy in eighth-grade drama class before joining the Yellow Submarine Improv club at Boston Latin School.

She entered New York University intending to become a teacher, but changed her major to dramatic writing after performing stand-up comedy and reconsidering her career plans. She graduated from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 2017.

After graduating, Edebiri continued performing stand-up at open mics and other venues in New York City. Her set on Comedy Central's Up Next helped draw attention to her comedy, while her writing led to work on Sunnyside, Dickinson, Big Mouth, and What We Do in the Shadows. She also co-hosted the podcast Iconography with Olivia Craighead.

Edebiri co-wrote and co-starred with Rachel Sennott in the Comedy Central digital series Ayo and Rachel Are Single, which began airing in 2020. That year, she joined the writing staff of Big Mouth and began voicing Missy, taking over the role from Jenny Slate. Her work on Dickinson combined writing and acting, as she served as a writer and played Hattie in the series.

Edebiri's breakthrough came with The Bear, in which she plays Sydney Adamu, an ambitious sous chef working alongside Jeremy Allen White's Carmen Berzatto. She had previously worked with series creator Christopher Storer on Dickinson, and he later offered her the role of Sydney. To prepare, she trained with White at the Institute of Culinary Education and worked in the kitchens of Michelin-starred restaurants, drawing partly on her earlier experience working in New York restaurants.

Her performance brought Edebiri a Golden Globe Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, an Independent Spirit Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. She won the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series and the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Television Series, Musical or Comedy. She made her directing debut on the series with the third-season episode "Napkins" and later co-wrote the episode "Worms."

Following the success of The Bear, Edebiri took on a range of film and television roles. In 2023, she starred with Rachel Sennott in the teen comedy Bottoms and appeared in Theater Camp and The Sweet East. She also guest-starred on Abbott Elementary and appeared in the Black Mirror episode "Joan Is Awful."

Edebiri has become a prominent voice actor, playing April O'Neil in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, Glory Grant in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, and Envy in Pixar's Inside Out 2. Her later film work includes the psychological thriller Opus, Luca Guadagnino's After the Hunt, and the political comedy Ella McCay. She made her Broadway debut as Catherine in the revival of David Auburn's play Proof.

Edebiri identifies as queer. She is also a member of the Democratic Socialists of America and has canvassed for the organization.

A joke about having played "Jenny the Donkey" in The Banshees of Inisherin led to a sustained connection with Irish audiences. Edebiri played along with the joke in interviews and award speeches, eventually becoming known in Ireland as an honorary Irishwoman.