Jeremy Allen White Has Everyone Stressed

To the star of The Bear, Carmy's ruinous appeal is simple: "Chefs are hot."

- Roxana Hadadi

YOU'VE LIKELY SEEN the image floating around your feeds: Jeremy Allen White, hair rakishly disheveled, raising a tattooed forearm in brooding frustration. This still, from The Bear, has quickly sent an admirably loud faction of Twitter tumbling down a rabbit hole of tortured lust for White's character-a fine-dining chef named Carmy who returns to Chicago to take over the family sandwich shop after his brother's suicide-despite all better judgment. His face is kryptonite, vacillating between composed stillness and rapid emotional outbursts, eyes perpetually slightly wide regardless of who's on the receiving end of his gaze. Carmy's got a smile like an apology and a smirk like an inside joke. White, in his first lead TV role since Shameless, guides the series' thrilling first season through turns both comedic and dramatic, imbuing Carmy with a deep, at times conflicting, interiority. Carmy is bruised and bruising-The Bear beats to his rhythm.

What was it about The Bear that hooked you?

I knew immediately how much I cared for Carmy and how much my heart hurt for him, and I don't think I knew exactly why yet. In retrospect, it's because I saw this lonely man whose identity was so wrapped up in being an incredibly successful chef, and if he didn't get there, he really felt like he was going to die. That was something accessible to me. I'm older now, and my life's gotten bigger and better. But there was a time as a young actor that I felt very wrapped up in my profession. If I wasn't succeeding or I wasn't getting everything I wanted, it was like the end of the world. That's a sad existence if you can't find joy outside of your profession.

Were you able to suggest any qualities or details for Carmy?