Entertainment

Ayo Edebiri to host ‘Saturday Night Live’ next month

Dorchester native Ayo Edebiri will host "Saturday Night Live" alongside musical guest Jennifer Lopez on February 3.

By Kevin Slane

January 24, 2024

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Ayo Edebiri’s star continues to rise.

The actress and Dorchester native, who recently won Golden Globe and Emmy awards for her role as ambitious chef Sydney Adamu on FX’s “The Bear,” will host the February 3 episode of “Saturday Night Live” alongside musical guest Jennifer Lopez.

The long-running NBC sketch show announced the news with a bit of wordplay Wednesday afternoon, posting “AYO AND @JLO!!! NEXT WEEK!!!!” on various social media platforms.

Edebiri’s role on “The Bear” tends to be more dramatic than comedic, but the Boston Latin School grad is well-prepared to make the live audience at Rockefeller Center’s Studio 8H laugh next Saturday.

In 2023 alone, Edebiri appeared in the lesbian fight club movie “Bottoms,” the drama nerd showcase “Theater Camp,” the hit ABC sitcom “Abbott Elementary,” and provided voice work for the Netflix animated series “Big Mouth,” the Oscar-nominated “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” and the underrated “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem.”

At the Golden Globes, Edebiri’s acceptance speech won her new fans when she thanked the assistants of her agents and managers for answering her “crazy, crazy emails.” A week later at the Emmys, Edebiri went the more conventional route in thanking her immigrant parents (her mother is from Barbados and her father is Nigerian) for having faith in her abilities.

“Thank you so much for loving me and letting me feel beautiful and Black and proud of all that,” Edebiri said. “It’s probably not, like, a dream to immigrate to this country and have your child be like, ‘I want to do improv!,’ but you’re real ones.”