Why The Bear star Ayo Edebiri is 'Ireland's own'
At a glance
The Bear star Ayo Edebiri, who has been sweeping awards season, has been taken into the hearts of Irish people due to her "Irish heritage"
Her winning speeches and red carpet interviews have featured multiple references to "her people" in Ireland
"Shout out to Derry, shout out to Cork, shout out to Killarney," she declared before her Emmy win on Monday
But just what is the Boston-born comedian's connection with Ireland and what does it have to do with the donkey from The Banshees of Inisherin?
- Published
The Bear star Ayo Edebiri is a Golden Globe winner, a Critics Choice award winner, an Emmy winner - and an unlikely "Irish" superstar?
The actor has been sweeping award season for her role as chef Sydney in the stress-taurant comedy-drama.
And along the way, as she did on the Emmy's red carpet, she's been thanking Ireland.
"Shout out to Derry, shout out to Cork, shout out to Killarney," she told Entertainment Weekly.
Later, she picked up an Emmy for for supporting actress in a comedy series - her second award in two days after her win at the Critics Choice Awards.
And in her speech she thanked her "real family".
"To everybody in Boston, Barbados, Nigeria, Ireland in many ways," Edebiri listed, to roars of laughter.
Edebiri shouted out her "real family" including those in "Ireland in many ways" after receiving her Critics Choice Award
These comments and others have potentially pushed the actor past Cillian Murphy, who starred in Oppenheimer, and Barry Keoghan, whose turn in Saltburn has fuelled a thousand social media discourses, as Ireland's number one screen award darling.
So is Ayo Edebiri Irish or is this the biggest case of national adoption since Jack Charlton?
The comedian was born in Boston, one of the epicentres of Irish-American life.
But her 'connection' to Ireland only really emerged in the lead up to awards' season last year when The Banshees of Inisherin - and one of the film's stars, Jenny the Donkey - was making headlines.
During a red carpet interview, the star of Bottoms and Theatre Camp told the press she played Jenny the Donkey - and described her method for getting into character for Martin McDonagh's film.
"I lived in Ireland for about four months - and I got really in character. I was on all fours for four months and it was really painful, but beautiful as well," she riffed.
The joke - throwaway as it was - took on a life of its own for Irish social media users, who flocked to claim Edebiri (or, at least, speculate that she may have as yet undiscovered Irish heritage).
And the actor, whose background is in comedy writing and improv, was happy to keep it going via references to her "home nation" in interviews since.
That could have been the end of it but, Edebiri's award success, along with her castmates in The Bear, has given her the chance to take the running joke to another level.
And her Irish brethren can't get enough.
"If this Ayo Edebiri fiasco has taught me one thing is that Ireland should just claim more people. Margot Robbie? Irish. Rihanna? Big Irish head on her we love our Queen," wrote one user on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter.
The Film in Dublin account took it one step further, simply congratulating "Ireland's own Ayo Edebiri for her nomination in the 2024 Bafta Rising Star award."
Edebiri reposted the remark on Instagram and even threw in a little bit of Irish: "Go díreach..." (meaning 'exactly').
Irish eyes will now turn to the likes of Murphy and Keoghan when it comes to the film-only Oscars - but do not be surprised if this rising star is shouting out her 'Irish family' while holding one of those gold statues in the future.