A Downton Abbey Impression Got Ayo Edebiri Her Role In Bottoms

Ayo Edebiri is having quite the 2023. She started off the year winning the Independent Spirit Award for her performance on "The Bear" — aka the best show on television — and subsequently received her first Emmy nomination for it as well (results pending). She has a recurring role on "Abbott Elementary," the rare network sitcom to achieve broad popularity in many years. On the big screen, she gives vocal performances in two highly acclaimed animated films with "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" and "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem," and she delivers a standout supporting turn in the mockumentary "Theater Camp." Capping it all off is her lead role in Emma Seligman's "Bottoms" opposite Rachel Sennott, which just so happens to be the funniest comedy in years. When I came upon her podcast "Iconography" back in 2019, I hoped for this kind of success for her, but it's rare when that manifestation becomes reality.

While most of these things happened as a result of steadily proving herself in the industry to be one of the funniest and most honest up-and-coming voices of the last few years, her role as Josie in "Bottoms" had been lurking for many years before it actually happened. Ayo Edebiri and co-writer/director Emma Seligman first came into contact with one another back in 2018 when the two both attended New York University, along with "Bottoms" co-star and co-writer Rachel Sennott. When their senior year rolled around, Seligman and Sennott were kicking around the idea of "Bottoms," and while Sennott and Edebiri knew each other, Seligman wasn't acquainted with Edebiri at that time. You'd think it would be Sennott who connected the two, but it was actually a chance encounter and an overheard Maggie Smith impression that brought the two together.

Sometimes it just takes the smallest of things to help you find a kindred spirit out in the world. New York University — specifically the Tisch School of the Arts — has a particular vibe. These are the artists who come to New York City to live that idealized bohemian lifestyle that has become rather mythical by this point. If you're there to learn but don't exactly gel with that way of life, you'll gravitate towards anyone who pushes back on it as well.

In a profile in Vulture, Emma Seligman, Ayo Edebiri, and Rachel Sennott recall how the trio came together for "Bottoms," and for Seligman and Edebiri's first encounter, it was a moment of finding that off-beat kindred spirit. Both were at an apartment-based salon above a Whole Foods, and out of nowhere, Edebiri starts doing an impression of the Dowager Countess Violet Crawley from "Downton Abbey," played by Maggie Smith. Seligman was the only one who laughed. As someone who has spent many hours watching and listening to Ayo Edebiri on various shows and podcasts, her launching into a character unprompted is part of what makes her such a charming figure. Obviously, Seligman agreed, saying to Vulture, "She was so bubbly and herself [...] so awkward and sweet and kind."

As fate would have it, they had a mutual connection in Rachel Sennott. "Wait, you know Ayo? That would be the girl I would want for Josie," Seligman recalls saying to her co-writer. Naturally, it took some time for "Bottoms" to come to fruition, which included Seligman and Sennott's first feature "Shiva Baby" and the delightful miniseries "Ayo and Rachel Are Single," but the wait paid off. Not only was Ayo Edebiri perfect for Josie. Now, she's a star.