Ayo Edebiri 'Absolutely Freaked Out' Over Meeting Reba McEntire at the 2024 Emmys
Even celebrities have their fangirl moment.
For Ayo Edebiri, that instance came on the red carpet at the 2024 Emmy Awards where she was nominated for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series.
"I absolutely freaked out!" the 28-year-old actress recalled when she ran into Reba McEntire, 69, before the awards ceremony.
"I really, really am proud of myself for not singing the entire theme song," Edebiri said, referring to McEntire's famous song "I'm A Survivor," which was the theme song for her self-titled sitcom that aired for six seasons.
Edebiri had a fantastic night, as several of her costars picked up Emmy awards, including Jeremy Allen White and Ebon Moss-Bachrach.
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Prior to the 2024 Emmys, Edebiri won for Outstanding Supporting Actress in January.
"I’m so incredibly grateful for this for so many reasons. But the main one, this is a show about family and found family and real family,” Edebiri said in her acceptance speech. “My parents are here tonight. I’m making them sit kind of far away from me because I’m a bad kid. But I love you guys so much.”
The A-lister also thanked her parents for letting her "feel beautiful and Black and proud of all that.“
"It’s a dream to emigrate to this country and have your child be like, ‘I want to do improv.’ Thank you so much. This means the world,” she continued.
In the hit series that won her an acting award, Edebiri plays Sydney, an ambitious young chef who comes to work at The Original Beef and is tasked to create order in the chaotic kitchen.
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While talking to Vanity Fair, Edebiri previously discussed her experience with working at a restaurant.
“I was 17 when I went to college [and] I was really poor. I was always working. Working at a call center asking NYU alums for money; as a babysitter for NYC families; at a student café in the math building," she previously said.
“I barista’d at this random coffee shop for three weeks, and then our boss was skimming money so I left, and then I did some baristing at ABC Kitchen. I loved being a barista because I like order. There’s something kind of satisfying about getting it right," she continued.