The Bear’s Jeremy Allen White is ‘still embarrassed’ by all that thirst

The last thing he expected to his little TV show was that kind of sexually charged internet attention.

Jeremy Allen White in The Bear. Picture: Frank Ockenfels/FX

If you want to see an actor squirm, ask them how it feels to be the object of the internet’s thirstiness.

When The Bear premiered in the US in June, Jeremy Allen White was immediately hailed as the sex god de jour, stirring an online frenzy with his portrayal of Carmy, an awarded young chef who inherited his family’s Italian hot beef sandwich restaurant when his brother died.

The fabulously intense and intensely fabulous series, which hits Disney+ in Australia this week, was an instant hit, and so was White. He had spent 10 years in the ensemble cast of Shameless but it was as if everyone was discovering him for the first time.

White, 33, wasn’t expecting that kind of sexually charged attention, and two months on from the height of the mania, he’s “still embarrassed”.

His cheeks flushed – visibly so even over the grainy video image of Zoom – when the words “sex god” are uttered, confronted with this concocted image he felt was removed from his conception of himself – especially for a show and a character that didn’t have any romantic subplots.

“It was really unexpected, as I’m sure you could tell,” White told news.com.au. “Carmy has no sexual drive, I don’t think he has time for it. I don’t think that’s something that’s ever on his mind.

“I was really surprised that people found any of us attractive in any way because it just wasn’t part of our process. It wasn’t something we talked about. It’s bizarre, but it gets people to watch the show, then so be it.”

White with co-stars Lionel Boyce Ebon Moss-Bachrach. Picture: FX

White will stomach some awkwardness in the service of The Bear, and he has a grounded perspective about it, not letting himself believe it’s about him. It also helps that he’s rarely online, only finding out about the swirling attention from a group chat with his fellow thespians.

“They’d send me articles or tweets or memes but, yeah, I was embarrassed.

“I’m still embarrassed but I guess I’ve adjusted. I don’t go online much and my life is pretty small, in a nice way. I have my family and friends and I feel like we live a sheltered and quiet life.

“While it’s all appreciated and flattering, we also have a healthy distance from it all.”

Created by Christopher Storer, The Bear is one of those streaming shows that was nowhere near a guaranteed success. A dramedy (but much more drama than comedy) set in a Chicago kitchen with both beef steaks and emotional stakes, it could very well have debuted in a crowded streaming space and found some love with a niche audience.

That’s what White thought would happen. He just hoped enough people saw it that it would get a second season (they did and it did). Instead, it became a phenomenon. Not bad for a little show which started off with the ambition to tell an “authentic” story about the service industry.

Jeremy Allen White became the object of online thirst after the premiere of The Bear Picture: Amy Sussman/Getty Images

No doubt an enormous part of that success is White’s Carmy, a complex character who has worked as a chef in some of the world’s most famous fine dining establishments returning home in the aftermath of a bruising family event.

Despite his professional achievements, Carmy doesn’t have it together – and that’s why White was drawn to him.

“I felt I understood him really quickly,” he explained. “My heart really broke for the guy. I found him to be a very lonely character in that his life revolves around being a chef or a cook and a very good one at that.

“Then he’s dealing with the loss of his brother and I believe he loves him more than he’s willing to share with the people around him.”

The loneliness he saw in Carmy was something White could relate to in his own past experiences.

“It’s something that felt familiar. As an actor, especially as a younger actor, I was really caught up in the success, or lack thereof, of my career,” he shared. “And that’s a lonely place to be.

“My favourite films and television are about family, whether that’s blood family or found family, and a lonely person finding his or her group. That’s familiar to all people, no matter their background or upbringing. The feeling of wanting to be accepted and a part of something.”

Since those lonely days in LA in his early twenties, White has become a family man, married with two kids.

“My life has gotten bigger. I have a family now and there are things that seem more important than that. But there was a time when [my career] was the most important thing to me. To reflect upon that time was interesting.

“[That] attitude wasn’t sustainable. If you’re that wrapped up in what you’re doing and if you don’t have much outside of that, that’s a recipe for disaster, no matter what your career.”

The Bear is streaming on Disney+. Picture: FX

Which is not to say that White didn’t take prepping for The Bear seriously. To play a professional chef, he knew he had to learn to be one.

Before his two-week crash course at a culinary school in Los Angeles, he was “really useless” in the kitchen.

He and co-star Ayo Edebiri had to start at the beginning, including learning how to hold a knife and how to open an oven. Then White went to many renowned restaurants including the self-described “elevated French bistro” Pasjoli in Santa Monica.

There, he spent weeks watching, prepping and eventually being thrown on the line. Food he worked on was actually served to guests, an experience he found terrifying.

“It was a short rib dish,” he recalled. “I think they sous vide the short rib and then seared it and served it. I did the searing and then plated it. And I was so nervous. That was my first dish and I still needed a lot of hand-holding but by the end, I was much more independent.”

It was the push in the Pasjoli kitchen that taught him the anxiety he would eventually infuse into Carmy. “That’s where I learnt the most because it was so scary.”

The pay-off on the screen is obvious – his on-camera knife skills are impressive. Perhaps the less obvious pay-off is at home, where White can now whip up a roster of meals in the kitchen.

“What I like to cook is a hardier short rib dish or a Sunday roast dish, like roasted vegetables, some sort of potato, and a red meat. That’s my favourite thing to cook.

“I’m still very much handcuffed to a cookbook most of the time. I can follow through, I know what I’m doing but I still need that guidance.”

The Bear is streaming now Disney+ from Wednesday, August 31