Is Ayo Edebiri actually Irish?

Ayo Edebiri has been referred to as “Ireland’s own” multiple times recently, but is the rising star actually Irish?

It’s officially awards season, and one of the industry’s biggest rising stars is Ayo Edebiri. The 28 year old actor has been busy all year, from The Bear Season 2, to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, Theatre Camp, Bottoms, and more.

Last week Edebiri won a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Comedy Series for her work in The Bear, and fans took to X (formerly Twitter) to congratulate the “Irish” actress.

But the revelation that Edebiri, who clearly has an American accent, is Irish, may be confusing to some people. So is Edebiri actually Irish?

Is Ayo Edebiri Irish?

No, Ayo Edebiri is not actually from Ireland. She’s from Boston, USA, and this whole Irish thing is an elaborate comedic meme, which the internet seems to be playing along with.

So where did this joke first stem from? Well, from Edebiri herself.

The actor did an interview with Letterboxd last year, where she spoke in an Irish accent about her performance in Irish-set movie The Banshees of Inisherin – which is also a joke, she doesn’t appear in that film – as “Jenny the Donkey,” claiming that she lived in Ireland “on all fours” for four months to prepare for the role.

Edebiri is well-known amongst her fans for publicly joking about different movies – check out her own Letterboxd account for reference – and of course, this particular joke spread across social media, with those actually from Ireland claiming her as one of their own.

This includes Twitter account Film in Dublin, who, at the announcement of Edebiri being nominated for the 2024 BAFTA Rising Star Award, posted “Congratulations to Ireland’s own Ayo Edebiri for her nomination”.

They later posted a photoshopped image of the actor in 1996 movie Michael Collins alongside a link to a joke article, captioning it all with “From Jenny the Donkey to the van in The Van, Ayo Edebiri has a long, and legitimate, string of credits in Irish cinema. Here are the best Irish films starring Ireland’s Ayo Edebiri, who is Irish.”

The photoshopping continued, with Edebiri suddenly appearing in historical Irish photographs. As one account jokes, “Ayo’s work as a women’s self-defence trainer and volunteer chef providing food to Irish republicans inspired Constance [Markievicz] to become an revolutionary in the Irish war of independence.”

Of course, the meme really took flight during Edebiri’s win at the Golden Globes, with fans congratulating her alongside fellow awarded actor Cillian Murphy, who is actually Irish.

But what does the newfound Irish Princess think of the running gag? Well, according to her TikTok account, she’s fully accepted her heritage:

TikTok @ayoedebiri

So, with Ireland more than happy to accept Edebiri as their own, perhaps we may see a movie collaboration with fellow Irish acting stars in the future, such as Cillian Murphy, Paul Mescal, Andrew Scott, or Saoirse Ronan. Fingers crossed!