Ayo Edebiri poses with Paul Mescal to celebrate St Patrick's Day
The Bear actress Ayo Edebiri has wished Kildare actor Paul Mescal a happy St Patrick’s Day, posing with the Normal People star to celebrate.
Edebiri has been embraced as one of Ireland’s own since proving her dedication to a running joke about her ‘role’ in acclaimed film The Banshees of Inisherin.
Smiling for a photo with Maynooth man Paul Mescal, Edebiri has wished her followers a “happy St Paddy’s” as celebrations got underway around the world.
Since then, fans have labelled Edebiri as ‘Ireland’s princess’ as well as a ‘national treasure’ as she continues to play along with the joke.
Paul Mescal and Ayo Edebiri.
The actress forged her bond with Ireland during a red carpet interview which saw her share her experience working on the set of the movie as Jenny the donkey.
The role of Jenny was played by an actual donkey, but it did not stop the internet from taking the joke and running with it.
"Preparing for that? I lived in Ireland – ‘Ireland’ – for about four months,” she told an interviewer on the red carpet last year, imitating an Irish accent.
"And I got really into character and I was on all fours for four months and it was really painful but beautiful as well and it was probably the most fulfilling part of my career.
"And I’m so happy for everybody going to the Oscars even though I deserved the nomination more than anybody else because I was obviously a donkey for four months.
"Oh my god, sorry,” she added, swapping back to her American accent. “I literally – I was there, you know what I mean? I slipped back into it. Yeah. But it was very fulfilling.
"It was very fulfilling and I want little girls out there everywhere to know that they, too, can be a donkey one day.”
Edebiri thanked the critics, her family, fellow castmates and crew and relatives abroad in an acceptance speech for her role as Sydney in The Bear earlier this year.
Her acceptance speech saw her thank both Barbados and Nigeria – where her parents are from – as well as Ireland.
"To everybody in Boston, Barbados, Nigeria – Ireland, in many ways – thank you so much, I love you,” she said.
The actress gave another nod to Ireland while hosting Saturday Night Live last month, donning a four-leafed clover as she announced musical guest Jennifer Lopez.
Last year, Edebiri tweeted about the release of her film Bottoms, writing, “Bottoms is out rn in the UK & my home nation of Ireland.”
During the Emmy Awards, which saw her win Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, she jokingly said to a reporter: “Shout out to my people, shout out to Derry, shout out to Cork, shout out to Killarney, shout out to Dublin.”
