Not just anyone can earn the title “People’s Princess.” I mean, the moniker was first used to describe Princess Diana, so the bar is high. It describes someone who isn’t just iconic but feels relatable. But this is a tough balance to reach — especially for celebrities who are, by definition, not relatable. And many a female celeb — think Jennifer Lawrence and Anne Hathaway every 5 business years — has earned this title just to have the world turn on her and suddenly hate her for no reason. It’s called being
woman’d, and it’s the flip side to being the people’s princess.
So, this title doesn’t come without its risks. But my god, the rewards are worth it. Everyone loves you. You book job after job. No one can get enough of you.
In the music world, the people’s princess is currently Sabrina Carpenter. You can’t go anywhere without hearing either “Espresso” or “
Please, Please, Please” — and surprisingly, you don’t want to. If I don’t get my daily dose of “Espresso,” my mental health suffers. She’s also dominating the festival circuit and just wrapped up an opening spot for Taylor Swift’s Eras tour. And her album Short and Sweet is on the way and I’ve already pre-saved it to Spotify and am mentally preparing for the Ticketmaster queue for her solo tour.
Somehow even more ubiquitous than our Pop Princess is the preeminent Ayo Edebiri. Across demographics, fan bases, and generations, everybody loves her. She seemingly arrived out of nowhere with a refreshingly relatable persona backed with earnestness and raw talent. She has the wide-eyed charm of
Call Me By Your Name-era Timothee Chalamet. The viral interview acumen of early-career Jennifer Lawrence. And the infectious grin of a young Julia Roberts. How could she not be the people’s princess?
Over the last two years, she went from being a niche comedian [Popdust named her as one of the best
comedians to watch in 2019] to a household name. And while it might seem like she’s everywhere now, she’s been working for years behind the scenes as a writer, basement comedian, and voice actor before finally getting the recognition she deserves. It doesn’t hurt that she’s a master of press tours. Combined with her It-girl style (lots of Loewe, naturally), her witty answers to interview questions often go viral and become memes and ongoing jokes. Making us feel like we’re in on the joke with her is a classic people’s princess move.
If you’re still wondering where she came from and where she’s going, we’ve got the full scoop.
What has Ayo Edebiri written for?
Before she was one of Hollywood’s most in-demand actors, Edebiri was making a name for herself behind the scenes as a writer. Or versatile queen, she did it all. She was also a comedy writer on one-season (not) wonders like
The Rundown with Robin Thede and Sunnyside on NBC. She also joined the writing staff of Big Mouth for the show’s fourth season, where she eventually became the voice of Missy in 2020 — replacing Jenny Slate amidst the Black Lives Matter Movement.
After a few uncredited acting roles and small roles from 2014 -2020, she started with comedy sets on Comedy Central which eventually led to a show with frequent collaborator Rachel Sennott. Their scripted digital series
Ayo and Rachel Are Single aired on Comedy Central in May 2020. Amongst people in the industry, this was her breakthrough. But her major breakout role came two years later in The Bear.
What is Ayo Edebiri in?
When everything happens, it all happens at once. In 2020, though she’d had scripts floating around development offices and stints in writers’ rooms before, Ayo started booking jobs, both as a writer and as an actress. And those jobs often ended in more jobs — and even awards.
It started with the show
Dickinson. This underrated AppleTV+ dramedy stars Hailee Steinfeld as a young Emily Dickinson in an anachronistic rendition of the writer’s young life. And in the second season, a surprise: a guest appearance by Ayo Edebiri herself. Edebiri was a writer on the show when she appeared as an actress. There, she first worked with director Christopher Storer, who is best known for creating The Bear.
Storer, a Chicago native, based
The Bear on a sandwich shop called Mr. Beef and its owner Chris Zucchero. The Bear was already cooking by the time he met Edebiri, so to speak. So when he imagined the casting for Sydney, he imagined Ayo. She submitted a self-tape for the role and the fit was just right. Audiences thought so, too. The Bear was an instant hit, and Ayo its breakout star.
It’s hard to eclipse the attention of a
White Boy of the Month. So, while the internet was infatuated with Jeremy Allen White and his chef-boy tattoos (this was before the now-infamous Calvin Klein ad), it’s a wonder they had room to fawn over anyone else. Yet, Ayo’s charm cut through the noise, and she became one of the most talked about young actors — in and outside of Hollywood casting rooms and voting rooms.
For her first season of
The Bear, Edebiri was nominated for a bevy of awards, including the Gotham Independent Film Award for Outstanding Performance in a New Series, the Critics’ Choice Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series. She also won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Performance in a New Scripted Series.
After that, she was everywhere. You might have seen her in a recurring role in the beloved
Abbott Elementary, a too-small role in niche Indie comedy Theater Camp alongside Molly Gordon, who would go on to be in The Bear, and in an episode of Black Mirror.
2023 was a giant year for Ayo in movies. She was in the
definitive queer movie of the year, Bottoms (also the best dressed menswear film of the year), alongside Rachel Sennott. But that wasn’t enough. She starred in The Sweet East — a bizarre indie drama alongside Talia Ryder, Jacob Elordi, and Jeremy O’Harris — and lent her voice in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem.
She’ll be making another turn as a voice actor alongside Maya Hawke in this summer’s
Inside Out 2 and premiered her latest movie role in Omni Loop at SXSW this year in Austin, Texas.
But one movie she wasn’t in?
Banshees of Inisherin, the 2022 Martin McDonagh film starring Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson that earned Barry Keoghan an Oscar nomination (pre-Saltburn). Yet, it’s the reason behind the running joke that she’s Irish (she is). Let’s get into it.
Why do people say Ayo Edebiri is Irish?
It all started, as many things do, on a red carpet. Before
Bottoms finally made it the cinemas worldwide to raucous, roaring, lesbian applause, it was a strange indie film premiering at SXSW 2023. This was the beginning of Ayo’s rise to People’s Princess-dom, and co-stars Rachel Sennott and Nicholas Galitzine were beginning to get some attention, too.
But instead of talking about
Bottoms on the red carpet, Ayo took that time to talk about something nearer and dearer to her heart: the proud and gorgeous nation of Ireland. In an Irish accent and straight face, she joked that she had played the role of Jenny the donkey in Banshees. Thus, an Irish queen was born.
“I lived in Ireland for about four months, and I got really in character, and I was on all fours for four months, and it was really painful — but beautiful as well,” she said.
Since then, she — and the proud and gorgeous nation of Ireland — have run with the bit. She thanked Ireland in an award acceptance speech. She celebrated St. Paddy’s with Paul Mescal. She’s been embraced by Irish publications. God bless the Irish. I just need her to do an Actors to Actors Series conversation with
Bridgerton’s Nicola Coughlan.
Is Ayo Edebiri dating Jeremy Allen White?
Alongside the speculation around her Irishness, Ayo, like every famous woman, has received a lot of interest in her dating life. Rumors abounded that she had a short fling with fellow Irish icon Paul Mescal, and if it’s not true, don’t tell me. But lately, fans are hoping real life imitates fiction and that Ayo Edebiri is dating Jeremy Allen White.
The rumor began in Chicago. While on location for
The Bear, the cast has become a Chicago tourist attraction. You don’t pay rent in Chicago if you haven’t seen White in his Nike Cortez sneakers or Matty Matheson enjoying some local fare. So it’s no surprise a video went viral of the cast hanging out at a Chigaco baseball game. But a curious moment in the footage sparked some attention. For a second, White seems to rub Edebiri’s back. That’s it. That’s the proof. But fans are convinced it was more than friendly.
Who knows? Maybe they are dating, or maybe they’re just playing the press tour game like all movie stars playing love interests do these days. Their characters also have a will-they-won’t-they dynamic, and I’ll be sitting waiting for
Season 3 to reveal their fates.
When is The Bear Season 3 coming out?
The Bear Season 3 will be released on June 27, 2024. If you’re anything like me, you’re counting down the days to get your fix of Ayo Edebiri at her best. The People’s Princess surely can do no wrong in my eyes. I can’t wait for a new season of her as Sydney — including her directorial debut in one of the episodes. Stay tuned for our full review on the Season!