Ayo Edebiri, a Dorchester native, recently won the Emmy for Best Performance by an Actress in a Comedy Series in addition to a Golden Globe for her role as Sydney on The Bear. Well, the Boston Latin graduate will be hosting Saturday Night Live on Saturday, February 4th, with musical guest JLo!
Edebiri’s parents were immigrants – her mother is from Barbados, and her father is Nigerian – who settled in Dorchester. The 27-year-old actress told the Globe she attended St. Margaret School and sang in the choir of her church. In seventh grade, she went on to attend the prestigious Boston Latin School. From there, Edebiri went to the New York University’s Tisch School of the Art where she graduated with a writing degree. While at NYU, she was also part of an improv group and started performing stand-up.
After college, Edebiri continued with stand-up and put her writing degree to good use. She worked on the FX vampire comedy “What We Do in the Shadows,” Netflix’s animated sitcom “Big Mouth,” and the Apple TV+ comedy-drama “Dickinson.”
From there, the director of “Dickinson,” Christopher Storer, was casting his new show called “The Bear” about a young chef from the fine dining world who comes home to Chicago to run his family’s struggling sandwich shop after the tragic death of his brother. Edebiri auditioned for the role of Sydney and got it.
“The Bear” debuted in June of 2021 and became wildly popular. The third season is in production and will stream on Hulu in the summer!
Saturday Night Live airs Saturday at 11:30pm on NBC.
Image via SNL on Instagram.
Maureen Dahill is the editor of Caught in Southie and a lifelong resident of South Boston sometimes mistaken for a yuppie. Co-host of Caught Up, storyteller, lover of red wine and binge watching TV series. Mrs. Peter G. Follow her @MaureenCaught.
