Who is Ayo Edebiri? 7 facts to know about the SNL host

After last week's SNL episode with actress Dakota Johnson returning to host for a second time and Justin Timberlake as musical guest, a brand new episode is slated to air on Feb. 3, with amazingly talented actress Ayo Edebiri taking over hosting duties in her Saturday Night Live hosting debut. Additionally, Grammy-nominated singer Jennifer Lopez joins Ayo as musical guest.

If you don't already know who Ayo Edebiri is, you must be living under a rock. Her name has been buzzing all around Hollywood in the last couple of years, especially in 2024, when she secured two prestigious awards for her incredible acting skills.

In such a short period of time, Ayo has made a name for herself, and it's amazing to see how far she's come. This is only the beginning of her success, and she has so much more to show the world. We can already see her rising to the top and becoming the A-list actress she's meant to be. But first, let's watch her take the SNL stage for the first time. There's nothing Ayo can't do, so I'm confident she'll pull off a great show.

Here are some fun facts about Ayo that you may not know!

How old is Ayo Edebiri?

Where are all the Bostonians? Ayo was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on Oct. 3, 1995, making her 28 years old and her astrological sign Libra. More specifically, she was raised in the Bostonian neighborhood of Dorchester. She is of Barbadian and Nigerian descent with her mother being Barbadian and her father Nigerian. So, no, she is not Irish!

Growing up was different for Ayo seeing as though she was the only child. When it comes to her religious beliefs, she was raised in a Pentecostal household. While her mother was deeply religious, her father wasn't as much. Ayo would often attend church services with her family and even praises the church for giving her a purpose. She also sang in the church choir and performed in plays put on by her church.

Ayo initially intended to study teaching in college

This is true! Ayo moved to New York after high school to attend NYU aka New York University and was initially studying teaching, but after two and half years into her time at NYU, she decided to switch majors. Her initial career path was to be an English teacher, but after going through a horrible student-teaching experience, it pushed her to want to switch majors to dramatic writing. Through this program at the school, she met fellow comedian and actress Rachel Sennott who encouraged her to perform stand-up comedy. She later graduated from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts in 2017.

In an interview with Trevor Noah on The Daily Show, Ayo shares the student teaching experience that pushed her to change career paths.

Ayo is not only an actress but also a comedian

Ayo became interested in the comedy world when she was in the eighth grade, but she didn't realize she could have a career in comedy until she moved to New York. During her junior year at NYU, she began interning for the sketch comedy group Upright Citizens Brigade. She would also do stand-up comedy at night while juggling her schoolwork and various jobs.

She continued to do stand-up after college, performing at clubs across Manhattan and Brooklyn. She would later appear on Comedy Central's stand-up showcase Up Next and create a Comedy Central web series called Ayo and Rachel Are Single with her close friend Rachel Sennott. Her sets would eventually lead to her securing a job as a production assistant on the television sitcom Broad City. Then, she began to take on writing gigs for shows like Netflix's Big Mouth, Dickinson, What We Do in the Shadows and Sunnyside.

Ayo is close friends with many well-known actors

As mentioned above, one of Ayo's closest friends is Rachel Sennott. They met while attending NYU together. Besides co-creating and starring in the miniseries Ayo and Rachel Are Single together, Ayo and Rachel most recently starred together in the teen comedy film Bottoms. Rachel also co-wrote the movie's script with Emma Seligman. Some of her other industry friends include The Bear creator Christopher Storer, whom Ayo has known since she was in her early twenties, and actresses Molly Gordon and Quinta Brunson. She's also really good friends with her The Bear co-star Jeremy Allen White.

What has Ayo Edebiri starred in?

Ayo is best known for starring as ambitious sous-chef Sydney Adamu in the Hulu comedy-drama series The Bear. For her role, she won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy and the Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. Both awards were won in 2024.

Since 2020, she has also voiced the role of Missy Foreman-Greenwald in the adult-animated series Big Mouth. Her other voice roles include Glory Grant in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, April O'Neil in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, General Scarpaccio/Jayson Moody in Mulligan and Harriet Tubman in the Clone High reboot.

While she did write for the comedy-drama series Dickinson, she also had a recurring role as Hattie in the show. She also collaborated with close friend Quinta Brunson on Quinta's Golden Globe Award-winning series Abbott Elementary. She played the recurring role of Ayesha Teagues, Quinta's character's sister. You might've even watched her in an episode of Black Mirror. She portrayed the character Sandy in Black Mirror season 6 episode 1 titled "Joan Is Awful."

In addition, her acting work in films include roles in Netflix's Hello, Goodbye, and Everything in Between, Theater Camp, Bottoms and The Sweet East. We'll see Ayo next in an upcoming A24 horror flick called Opus. She stars as the lead character in the film, Ariel Ecton.

Ayo is a pet parent

She has a Chihuahua mix named Gromit that she takes with her everywhere. She told People Magazine in a June 2023 interview that "getting a dog is simultaneously one of the best and worst things that's ever happened to her." He comes with her to work on different sets like for The Bear and the movie Bottoms. She shares that The Bear creator Christopher Storer has even grown a bond with Gromit, and while filming Bottoms, Gromit and co-star Kaia Gerber's dog would play around on set.

Is Ayo Edebiri dating anyone?

It's not totally clear who Ayo is dating, but she has been rumored to be in a relationship with actor and writer Colin Burgess for several years now. He's best known for starring as Jim in the comedy film Dad & Step-Dad. While Ayo prefers to keep her dating life away from the public eye, Colin, on the other hand, has shared a sweet picture of them together on his Instagram in the past.

On Valentine's Day in 2021, Colin posted a picture of him and Ayo wearing face masks on Instagram with a caption saying, "after much consideration I have decided that this year my valentine is my girlfriend Ayo. this is a photo of us together doing Dr. Jart+ Water Jet Vital Hydra Solution™ sheet mask." Are they still dating in 2024? It's unknown, but he's the last person that Ayo was rumored to be dating. Another fun fact about Ayo is that she identifies as queer.

You can watch The Bear star Ayo Edebiri host Saturday Night Live on the Feb. 3 episode, airing on NBC at 11:30ET/10:30CT/9:30MT/8:30PT!