Jeremy Allen White understands why The Bear fans call him “chef” — but his kids aren’t as used to the attention or the reference.
“It’s confusing and strange. But they know about the show,” White, 33, told Entertainment Tonight at the season 3 premiere on Tuesday, June 25.
The actor, who plays Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto, shares Ezer, 5, and Dolores, 3, with ex-wife Addison Timlin. Despite The Bear’s rise to fame, White revealed his kids “haven’t seen the show” yet.
“Well my oldest, Ezzy, actually, she really enjoys the first like two minutes of the pilot episode, which is just me getting scared by a bear and then falling on my butt,” White joked about the introduction to the show. “She’ll ask to watch that a lot! But that’s all of the show she’s seen.”
White is proud of The Bear’s success but he doesn’t have plans to show his daughters all the episodes just yet, adding, “I don’t know if we’re even ready to have that conversation.”
The Bear, which debuted on Hulu in June 2022, introduced viewers to The Beef restaurant, which was taken over by Carmy following the death of his older brother, Mikey (Jon Bernthal). Carmy ultimately decided to close the sandwich shop in favor of opening up a more upscale spot called The Bear.
With help from sous-chef Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) and other employees, Carmy prepared to unveil the restaurant within a matter of weeks. Season 3 — set to premiere on Wednesday, June 26 — will reveal whether The Bear is sustainable as a business as everyone in the kitchen is under pressure to make it work.
Earlier this month, White’s costar Ebon Moss-Bachrach also reflected on the fan attention surrounding his character, Richard “Richie” Jerimovich. More specifically, Moss-Bachrach, 47, admitted he wasn’t always thrilled to be called “cousin” in public.
“I was on top of a little mountain outside Kyoto and a Korean couple came up to me and were saying how much they love the show,” he told the Guardian. “I get a lot of comments. People yell ‘cousin’ at me all day. Sometimes, you know, you’re just not having a great day. And it’s just like, ‘I’m sorry, man, I don’t have much for you.'”
Moss-Bachrach also discussed the pressure that came with filming new seasons after The Bear blew up.
“Because then we go back to make season 3 and we’ve won a bunch of awards, you start to feel like: ‘Oh, f–k.’ I mean, then you really don’t want to be discovered to be a fraud,” he explained. “And then there’s pressure.”
Moss-Bachrach concluded: “I’ve been an actor for, like, 25 years and there’s a reality that, for most actors and probably most people in the world, you’re doing a job because you need to feed your family. I feel very fortunate in a time where work is really tight in my business. I just feel very privileged.”
The Bear returns on June 26 with all episodes streaming on Hulu.
