The Awarded Hollywood It List Crush 

With Shana Lindaman from Crime Rewind and Literature Reapers coming through with a Hollywood It List crush that is probably one of the most talked about men on Earth right now, I wanted to go with one of the most celebrated and awarded from the past year; Ayo Edebiri. She took over a role on Netflix’s ‘Big Mouth,’ helped lead FX’s ‘The Bear,’ and starred in my favorite movie of 2023, ‘Bottoms.’ There is nothing Ayo Edebiri can’t do, and if there is – we’ve yet to discover it. She is the moment, and a crush I have because man, she’s the person I needed to see on my TV growing up. 

So the world, especially Hollywood, isn’t the greatest place. We still have wars, sexism, homophobia, and all the other atrocities mankind has tossed into reality since their existence, but there are moments when you see the urge to try and be better. You know, more diversity in casting, stories that aren’t just the same straight (and I mean straight as a hetero can be), and narrow stories, and that’s great. Do we have a long way to go? Yes, but Ayo Edebiri is proof that at least we are taking baby steps towards bettering the world of entertainment, and it lowkey upsets me because man – to be a weird Black girl today and see her on both big and small screens? The kids today don’t know how lucky they are to have that facet of representation.

All I had growing up was Synclaire James-Jones on ‘Living Single.’ A Black girl who wasn’t cool by any means, danced to an offbeat drum, and collected Trolls? I felt seen, and I talked about it on The Sip List recently. Today, there’s an abundance of characters who modern-day youths can see themselves in from Issa on ‘Insecure’ to Janine on ‘Abbott Elementary.’ However, Ayo Edebiri has become the queen of the Awkward Black Girl realm because that’s where her biggest roles to date have landed, resonating with the cascade of girls out there who have never quite felt like they fit into the mold society has placed upon them. 

Jenny Slate was the initial voice of Missy on ‘Big Mouth,’ but when the world thought it was a little off for a white woman to be voicing the character, Ayo Edebiri seamlessly stepped in. The replacement also helped shift the character’s arc in a way that Slate perhaps would’ve felt out of place; Missy’s hair journey for example. Missy is another character I’ve always felt represented by, and there Ayo goes being the voice of her. Also, as someone in love with food and being in the kitchen, how could I not love Ayo’s Sydney on ‘The Bear?’ That sort of squeamishly shy cook who has to really put everything she’s got into speaking up for herself. I haven’t gotten to the speaking up part, but Ayo has given me a goal. Then there’s ‘Bottoms.’ In that she’s the nerd with a crush on the coolest person in school; probably her most relatable role, no matter how you identify because any geek has been in that situation. 

There was no way for Ayo Edebiri to be around when I was growing up because she was born several years after me, but I’m crushing on her now – along with the rest of the world – and although I’m jealous of kids today who have her, I’m grateful they do because it’s rough feeling like a lone weirdo. With that, she’s not just my Hollywood It List crush because she’s done so much I love in recent years, she’s also that because she’s so representative of the kind of person I want to see in media, and plays the characters I love dearly.