“You should always know what it is that you want to do, and why you want to do it.”
It’s been an extraordinarily eventful chapter for Ayo Edebiri. In the past 18 months, the 28-year-old rising star has taken home an Emmy, a Golden Globe, a Screen Actors Guild Award, an NAACP Image Award, and an Independent Spirit award for her captivating and heartfelt performance as chef Sydney in FX/Hulu’s The Bear. She has headlined big summer comedies like Bottoms and lent her hilarious and distinctive voice to major animated franchises such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Inside Out 2. Through it all, she kept a level head, whether joking about being Irish with red-carpet reporters or casually turning out a custom Loewe look at the Met Gala. Perhaps she continues to handle overnight success so gracefully because, to her, it doesn’t feel that way at all.
“It’s easy for people to say, ‘Oh, you’ve accomplished a lot in a short time,’” she says. “But I’m almost 29. I’ve been working since I was 21 and have been working in a lot of spaces. In the public eye, it feels very quick, but it’s because maybe they don’t know how I’ve come up.”
On a recent Sunday morning, we discussed her whirlwind awards season, her creative approach to personal style, and what’s left on her career bucket list.
You started out as an education major at NYU and eventually transitioned to writing and performing. I’m curious about what kind of life you imagined for yourself before you started performing, and what surprises you most about your life now?
I thought maybe I’d be teaching, and then I’d do improv at night or something. At that age, I don’t really think I had my life totally thought out. I was open to whatever. I think the fact that I took a chance and then was met with results has been the surprising part.
You totally swept the awards season this year. What was that like for you, and what is your relationship to achievement and awards in general?
I’m not really sure because it’s all still happening, but I definitely was surprised by all of it. And I’m very grateful. It’s a big achievement, and I’m very happy about it, but I’m also trying not to set any expectations for myself. I can’t help it if people do that for me. But just for myself: I’m proud of the work that I did; I’m proud of work that I get to do with other people. And I didn’t go into this with [awards] in mind. When we were filming, I wasn’t like, “Oh, yes for sure, it’s what’s going to happen.” I was just trying to do the work, and that’s my North Star.
You have your hands in a lot of different mediums like writing, acting, directing, producing, and stand up. Where do you feel most like yourself?
I feel like myself doing all of it—that’s why I do it. I’m a really curious person, and I like solving puzzles, and I feel like all those different mediums allow me to do that in different ways.
How do you pick your opportunities now? What draws you to certain characters?
I think that if I would want to watch it, that’s my first step. If I could imagine myself watching and enjoying it for whatever reason, that’s the first place that I can go.
You’re also at a point now in your career where fans are starting to get interested in your personal life. Has that changed how you go about your daily life at all?
It’s definitely made me be on social media less, which is good because I was frying my brain anyway. But I think I just try to draw boundaries where I can and where it makes sense for me to. I wouldn’t tell somebody something personal if I just met them off the street, so I don’t do it online.
That’s very straightforward. I love that.
I treat life rationally and hope that it treats me back that way.
On top of everything else, you have become a style star. As you find yourself in the public eye more and more, how has your approach to getting dressed changed?
With my stylist Danielle Goldberg, we’ve talked a lot about how red-carpet moments are a place where you can show another side of yourself. It’s almost like another character that’s an extension of the self—it’s still my style, obviously, but it’s a place where I get to try things that I wouldn’t necessarily do when I’m acting or when I’m just dressing in street style in my own regular clothes. And it’s really fun because I just love collaborating. I think that’s my favorite thing about performing and writing, too. When I work with designers or when getting our looks together for a carpet, an interview, or a photo shoot, it’s another way that I get to collaborate with people.
Is there a big goal that you have yet to accomplish?
Of course! I am a bit superstitious, and I like to show rather than tell, but I am definitely excited to get back into writing again, because that’s something people don’t necessarily know I started off doing.
One of Neiman Marcus’s core values is “the pursuit of the extraordinary.” How do you pursue the extraordinary in your own life?
I feel like one way to pursue the extraordinary is to always keep in touch with the ordinary and know that that’s not necessarily a bad thing. You don’t have to [overextend] yourself or stray away from your own principles just to achieve something for achievement’s sake. You should always know what it is that you want to do, and why you want to do it.
