Ayo Edebiri, the 28-year-old breakout star of The Bear, continued her awards season success by securing her first Emmy trophy. Winning the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series category, Edebiri delivered a heartfelt acceptance speech expressing gratitude and love.
Edebiri competed against The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’s Alex Borstein, Abbott Elementary’s Janelle James and Sheryl Lee Ralph, Ted Lasso’s Juno Temple and Hannah Waddingham and Shrinking’s Jessica Williams.
After receiving her award from Christina Applegate, Edebiri acknowledged the central theme of The Bear, emphasizing family—both found and real. She playfully mentioned making her parents sit far away, adding humor to her acknowledgment of being a “bad kid.”
“!’m so incredibly grateful for this for so many reasons. But the main one, this is a show about family and found family and real family. My parents are here tonight. I’m making them sit kind of far away from me because I’m a bad kid. But I love you guys so much.”
Edebiri expressed profound love and thanked her parents for allowing her to feel beautiful, Black, and proud, “Thank you so much for loving me and letting me feel beautiful and Black and proud of all of that. I just love you so much. It’s a dream to emigrate to this country and have your child be like, ‘I want to do improv.’ Thank you so much. This means the world.” Watch below:
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Edebiri’s win follows her Golden Globe victory for Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy just a week earlier on January 7. During the Golden Globe acceptance speech, she expressed gratitude to her family, including her Bear family, and the artists who have inspired her.
Throughout the Emmy Awards night, Edebiri continued to endear herself to fans with humor, reacting to costar Jeremy Allen White’s Calvin Klein underwear ads and playfully addressing questions about the NSFW photos.
She joked her abs are meant for the “second quarter” of the year. “Quads [are] Q3. And then, back up to the arms, actually,” she said. “We’re leaving the rest of the leg, we’re leaving it alone.”
Ayo also revealed to Laverne Cox on E!’s Red Carpet that she now has dental insurance.
Edebiri’s recognition in the industry continues to grow, and her awards season success adds to the celebration of her talent and contributions to The Bear. Edebiri will soon be seen around Chicago in February as the cast comes home to film Season 3.
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