The Bearzatto

Carmy in the back officd talking to another employee out of frame

The dedication that some actors have in preparing for, and committing to, their role is a huge part of what makes a movie or TV show so successful. Jeremy Allen White’s show-stopping performance in FX’s “The Bear” as Chef Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto comes from a great deal of discipline and external research. He took a “two-week crash course at Pasadena’s Institute of Culinary Education” (Rice, 2022). White spent most of his time at Pasjoli, a restaurant in Santa Monica, under the guidance of chef Dave Beran, who also started in Chicago. To ensure White felt prepared, he went back to Pasjoli to get hands-on experience with preparing the food. White also said he would carry around the long monologue that Carmy gives during therapy in the first season on set, and read it every morning to fully embrace himself in the mindset of this deeply troubled character.

“The Bear” brings a scary, yet relatable side of the culinary world to viewers. When asked about his thoughts on the character Carmy, White said, “My heart broke for him. You’re meeting him at this incredibly traumatic period in his life, and he’s also a young man whose identity is so wrapped up in being a chef and being a successful one at that, where everything seems really so life and death all the time” (Jensen, 2022). White, later in the interview, recalls stories from his acting career where he has felt the same instability that is portrayed in Carmy’s life. Carmy has spent much of his early adolescence begging his late brother Mikey to let him work in his restaurant: The Original Beef. When he is rejected by his brother, Carmy takes the initiative to prove his worth by studying abroad and becoming one of the world’s most renowned chefs.