‘The Bear’ Star Ebon Moss-Bachrach Says Fans Calling Him “Cousin” Is Sometimes Overwhelming

Ebon Moss-Bachrach

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Ebon Moss-Bachrach is still getting used to his newfound fame. Though The Bear star has been acting for over two decades years, the popularity of FX’s beloved Chicago-based show now means Moss-Bachrach gets recognized around the globe.

“I was on top of a little mountain outside Kyoto and a Korean couple came up to me and were saying how much they love the show,” he told The Guardian.

Moss-Bachrach said sometimes, the attention comes on days when he doesn’t know how to handle it.

“I get a lot of comments,” he added. “People yell ‘Cousin!’ at me all day. Sometimes, you know, you’re just not having a great day. And it’s just like: I’m sorry, man, I don’t have much for you.”

Moss-Bachrach plays Richie, a hardened Chicagoan turned passionate fine dining host who often goes by “Cousin,” in The Bear, which debuts its third season on June 27. Ahead of the new installment, the actor offered his own thoughts on how the show’s hugely popular first two seasons have warped audiences perception of his career.

“There’s a convenient narrative I find myself trying to resist that people often like to imprint, that’s like, I’ve been waiting in the wings or something,” Moss-Bachrach said. “And that’s just kind of romantic and stupid and oversimplified. I mean, I’ve been, in my mind, pretty successful. I don’t know what percentage of my union works, but it’s very small. And yeah, I’ve never had anything connect like The Bear, but I’ve been fine.”

Elsewhere in the profile, the actor also spoke about how his character differs from himself.

“I think he’s a really good dad. I think being a father is very important to him in the same way for me, it’s kind of one of the main definitions of my life, one of my main identifiers. I think one of [Richie’s] greatest strengths is how fully expressed he is, you know? When he feels something, he says it for the most part; he doesn’t really self-censor. He’s working on it. Maybe because I’m from New England or because I work in a very collaborative medium and I’m always around people, I feel overly socialised. I would like to be maybe a little bit less self-censoring and polite, you know.”