The characters of the FX Networks television series The Bear, an American family dramedy television program launched in 2022, are predominantly people who work with the Berzattos at family businesses including a semi-seedy Italian beef sandwich shop, the Original Beef of Chicagoland. The Beef is later transformed into a high-end dinner destination (with a window on the side, for sandwiches) known as the Bear. The series is set in Chicago, Illinois, United States.
Chosen family is a major theme of the series since main character Carmy Berzatto returned to Chicago generally disgusted by the alcoholism (mom) and abandonment (dad) that forged their "dysfunctional nightmare" of a family.[1] Over time Carmy began connecting with the employees of the Beef and the Bear in a way that replicated healthy familial attachments.[1] It is a truism of the series that "someone doesn't necessarily have to be a Berzatto to be a Bear."[2] Still, the Berzattos and their seemingly irresistible swag are the show's center of gravity: "The Berzattos are a difficult clan to belong to but magnetic nonetheless. Lifelong friends and ex-in-laws alike linger in their orbit, forming an amorphous, unofficial family that mystifies outsiders."[3]
As a Vulture writer put it in 2025, "If The Bear is about only one thing, it's family. Sure, it's about food and jokes and arguing and money and past trauma, but all of those things can be wrapped up into one big familial package. Carmy came back to take over his late brother's restaurant because of family. Richie and the Faks aren't technically related to Carmy and Nat, but they’re family all the same. Tina's motherly and Ebra's a bit of a kooky uncle. Remember: The reason the shiny new Bear exists at all is because of Mikey's 'family dinner' recipe that urged Carmy to open up the smaller cans of tomatoes. Everyone working—or even dining—at the Bear is family, whether they like it or not."[4] Carmy initially resisted Mikey's family-meal spaghetti, deeming it an underseasoned, oversauced mess, but later relented, which an anthropological examination of Italian-American food rituals suggested may be critical to the formation of the family: "Enjoying the 'taste' of the authentic sacred dishes is, therefore, a sign of cultural competence—of becoming fully integrated as an authentic group member."[5]
The known family members include a clutch of cousins who are roughly the same "generation" as siblings Carmy, Nat, and Mikey; a set of uncles who are the roughly the same generation as their mom and dad; some grandparent-tier matriarchs known only from references in dialogue; two restaurant families, now partially integrated; and a miscellaneous assortment of other family friends, neighbors, and colleagues. Broadly speaking, the family is composed of "a lot of people with very specific and unique personalities that feel things very strongly and experience life intensely."[6]
Berzatto family tree (speculative relationships marked with *)
The core Berzatto family consists of the unnamed long-absent father "Pop," mom Donna, the kids Mikey, Sugar, and Bear (presumed to be full biological siblings), and Cousin Richie, a biologically unrelated neighborhood kid who grew up in the family as Mikey's best friend and a de facto foster sibling. The pilot script suggests that Richie has a decade or two on Carmy.[7]
The youngest sibling by birth order, Carmen Anthony Berzatto moved back to Chicago following the death of his brother Mikey.[8] Carmy is "a chain-smoking baddie, but he's also a grieving brother, a prodigal son, a self-lacerating overachiever, and a bewildered product of chaos and dysfunction."[9] He left Chicago fairly young to train and work as a chef; he transformed himself from an "insecure, friendless slacker from a troubled home"[10] into a white-hot name on the American culinary scene, cooking at the best restaurants in America and collecting racks of awards. Since returning home, he has reluctantly, incrementally moved into Mikey's place as the acknowledged leader of the family.[11] Carmy is played by Jeremy Allen White.[8]
Natalie Berzatto (b. 1988) is the middle sibling by birth order. She is close with her surviving brother, Carmy. Originally opposed to Carmy's attempts to rehabilitate the Beef, she left her job at a bank when she was recruited by Carmy's partner Chef Sydney to serve as business manager for the forthcoming Bear restaurant. Nat is played by Abby Elliott.[8]
Pete Katinsky is Natalie's kind and loving husband and baby Sophie's dad. When Pete was first introduced, he appeared to be "universally disliked by the family, [but] he turns out to be just a big softie—perhaps naive to the others' hardened ways, but charming because of his kind manner and willingness to look for the best in everyone."[12] Pete works as a lawyer and helps the family with contracts for the restaurant.[13] Pete is played by Chris Witaske.[8]
Sophie Katinsky
Sophie is an infant, Natalie and Pete's first child, born the first week of August 2023. She was born in the episode "Ice Chips," and her name was revealed in the episode "Replicants" when she was introduced to the restaurant-dwelling Bears.[8] Generally speaking, Berzattos smell like onions, but baby Sophie smells like "raspberries that are chewed up."[4]
Michael Berzatto (1979–2022) shot himself in the head on the State Street Bridge four months before the opening of the series.[14] The loud, lionized, charismatic, and larger-than-life oldest brother of the family, Mikey was first described by Uncle Jimmy in the second episode of the series: "No disrespect...your brother, he was an animal, surrounded by dickheads, and then he lost his mind, and now he put you in a real tough spot."[14]
Donna Berzatto
Donna, also known as Aunt DD, is the alcoholic, mentally ill mother of Carmy, Natalie, and Mikey. Donna is, for the most part, "an oppressive presence, spoken about in hushed tones, the Babadook of the Berzattos."[15] She is considered to be a "bringer of chaos."[16] She was a terrible mother, but her convivial spirit seems to have assured her a central role within the larger community.[13] In her partying days she enjoyed a type of whiskey cocktail called a 7-7.[17] She got sober following Mikey's death and is in recovery.[18] Donna worked at the restaurant when Pop first bought it and seems to have later become a real estate agent.[19]
According to assistant costume designer Lariana Santiago, "One note from Christopher Storer that stuck with us was about dressing Donna like she had been rich for one year...The set design played into this, too, with the velvet bedspread and that leopard statue."[20] Her house is decorated in 1980s style, with big wooden hutches and plastic-covered department-store-rococo couches; recurring motifs include black lacquer, Italiana, and felines.[21] There is an oil painting of a nude woman over the mantel in her bedroom, and in the living room a portrait in pencil of her son Mikey and a family pet.[21] Her leisure reading taste is revealed in piles of Jackie Collins and Danielle Steel novels.[21] In the kitchen she keeps a collection of American mass-market cookbooks, including The Pillsbury Cookbook, The Betty Crocker Cookbook, and Everyday Italian.[21]
Donna is played by Jamie Lee Curtis.[8] When asked about Donna's hair design and nails, show runner Christopher Storer sent Curtis photos of Monica Vitti and the "desperate housewives of New York."[22] Curtis won a guest star Emmy Award for her debut appearance on the show in the Christmas episode "Fishes."[23] In her Emmy acceptance speech, Curtis said, "You know there's a saying, 'Hurt people hurt people,' but I also think you can add to that and say, 'Helped people help people,' and I think that's the story of The Bear."[24] In 2025 The New Republic's Phillip Maciak described Curtis' character work as "gargantuan," and argued:[25]
"Her debut performance in 'Fishes' is a genuine spectacle, a dark aria that’s hard to forget. But, despite bringing her back on a redemption tour for an episode each of these past two seasons, the camera is oddly ungenerous to her. Storer continues to shoot her in a way that almost fetishizes her wrinkles, her pancake makeup, her scarifying physicality. Bob Odenkirk doesn't look like that, nor Oliver Platt, nor even Rob Reiner. The show is so insistent on exploring the crevasses of Curtis' face, it makes you think it's searching for an insight. I'm not sure it has one."[25]
"Pop" Berzatto
The father of the Berzatto children has been absent from the family for many years, probably since the 1990s.[26] He has been referenced in dialogue but not appeared onscreen outside of a photograph of him in company with Uncle Jimmy, as seen in the episode "Dogs."[27] The Berzatto dad's fate is ambiguous and fans speculate about whether or not he is alive or dead.[13][11]
According to Jimmy, he drank, did drugs, gambled, could not pick a career, and launched the Original Beef of Chicagoland restaurant on a whim after a visit to Ed Debevic's, a heavily marketed family-oriented diner that opened in River North in 1984.[27] The dad was mentioned in the pilot episode "System" when Carmy proposed a video game tournament to bring in customers, saying "Nerds come in from Rockford to play," to which Richie replied, "Yeah, like in 1987. You know, when you were still in that deadbeat's balls.[28] In "Napkins," Mikey told Tina, "My old man, he opened it. He also ran it into the ground. He had a giant stack of unpaid bills. He took one look and he split, you know? He hightailed it. Ran for the hills, never came back."[29] Mikey called him "Pop," and told Carmy that their dad was an unavailable asshole.[30] According to Donna, she and her husband argued frequently.[31][18] He asked for a sedative to relieve his anxiety while Donna was in labor with Carmy.[31]
The last time Jimmy talked to Mr. Berzatto was "about 20 years ago" (from 2022).[27] Carmy remembers that his dad always unhappy, and does not remember the last time he talked to him.[30] Carmy told Marcus (Lionel Boyce), who was also raised by a single mom, that he "used to" wonder about his dad but not anymore.[32]
Extended family: Cousins
In the absence of other context clues, Richie is the cousin of The Bear, as Carmy and Richie spent the better part of season one calling each other cousin at top volume, which became a central part of popular awareness of the show, and yelling "cousin!" remains a common reaction to seeing Ebon Moss-Bachrach on screen or in person.[33] He would not mind if people stopped yelling it at him on the street.[34]
Richard Lawrence Jerimovich (b. c.1978) is a de facto Berzatto sibling but not biological kin.[35] He was Mikey's best friend, and told Chef Terry, "My best friend's ma was like my ma."[36] He ran the Original Beef with Mikey and works front of house at the Bear. He has a competitive, often-hostile relationship with Carmy, but when prompted, he told a friend of a friend, "I am indeed his cousin...I love him very much...but please don't tell him."[37] Richie "cosplays Italian," and beautifully, too, but he is probably of Polish-American (or Ukrainian) heritage.[38][39] Richie has a daughter named Evie (Annabelle Toomey) with his ex-wife, Tiff. At the time of "Groundhogs," Evie is said to be seven years old.[30] Richie is played by Ebon Moss-Bachrach.[8]
Tiffany is Richie's ex-wife and the mother of Evie. Tiff's job involves working with children; as of the season-three episode "Apologies" she reported that "[the] kids are still kind of fucked up from COVID."[40] Tiffany and Richie divorced sometime prior to the beginning of the series. Gillian Jacobs, who plays Tiff, told The Hollywood Reporter in 2024, "I do feel like she ended it, but I don't know what her breaking point was."[41] Richie was still paying divorce-related bills in season one. Tiffany told Richie in season two that she was engaged to be married to another man.[42] Tiff got remarried in the season-four episode "Bears," which caused her to reveal her fears of being cut loose from the clan but at the wedding she and Carmy agreed that they remain "cousins," and Uncle Jimmy reassured her that she is a Bear forever. Tiff's biological family is just as messy as the Berzattos and she has little contact with them.[26] At the time of her wedding her biological mom was in Boulder, Colorado, with "a guy."[43]
Frank
Frank is Tiff's second husband, and stepfather to Richie's daughter Evie. Frank's parents were schoolteachers. His parents got divorced. Frank has a tech company, F-Tap, that markets a keyless entry product.[44] He is wealthy.[43]GQ described him as "the ultimate tech bro, complete with a curated art collection he knows nothing about."[45] He wears a Movado Verso Chronograph watch.[45] Evie decided to refer to Frank, now her stepfather, as Waldo.[46] Frank is played by Josh Hartnett.[46]
Harnett has received positive reviews for his performance.[46] Critics cited his ability to integrate effectively with the existing style of the series and felt that Harnett's Frank "slid right in unnoticed."[47]
Michelle Berzatto
Believed to be a biological cousin to the Berzatto kids, Michelle Berzatto is an actress. As seen in "Bears," she has star tattoos on the back of her neck. Michelle is played by Sarah Paulson.[48]
Cousin Stevie
Michelle's husband/long-term partner is Stevie.[8][48] Michelle and Stevie let Carmy crash on their couch when he worked in New York.[49] Stevie is played by John Mulaney.[2] Mulaney is a Chicago native.[50] Critics praised Mulaney of bringing his intelligent, humanistic observational comedy style to character of Stevie, who says grace over the dinner table at "Fishes," honoring the values embodied in such a family gathering while still finding a opportunity to ask the powers that be to "please give Michael the strength to not throw that fork."[51]
Mulaney, here in the rare outing as an actual character and not his own stage presence or heightened persona, ends up grounding the episode remarkably with Stevie's dissonantly calm energy and a moving statement of grace: "It's a chance to be together, and to take care of each other, and to eat together. Spending that time and using that time on the people that we love is how we show them that we love them. Maybe we eat too much, and we definitely drink too much, and we say too much without listening…but we have to take extra time to do it, and we have to chew more and we have to listen more and we only get to do this tonight one time."[52]
Cousin Spooky
There have been several mentions of Cousin Spooky in dialogue but the character has not been introduced onscreen.[8] According to Stevie, "Spooky's their cousin the way Michelle's their cousin," which implies paternal first cousins but the details are entirely hazy.[2]
Spooky lives in food-delivery-robot traveling distance from the restaurant.[53] He was recently subpoenaed.[53] He owes Ted and/or everybody money.[53] Spooky is currently doing something with motorcycles, either selling them or repairing them. Maybe.[17]
Extended family: Uncles and aunts
The series is littered with uncles. With the exception of Lee Lane, it is unclear if any of them have a biological or a past or present legal relationship to anybody or what that relationship might be. Most seem to simply be avuncular patriarchs; others may have been granted the honorary title of "uncle" in haste.[49]
James "Cicero" Kalinowski was once best friends with the father of the Berzatto children and cared for the kids the best that he could after their dad abandoned the family. He loves Mikey, Sugar, and Carmy (and Richie, but very much less so) but also thinks "the Berzatto department has a brain issue."[54] Jimmy has been married at least twice. His first wife was Aunt Gail, and he has a teenager with his current wife, Carol (Maura Kidwell). Unc is played by Oliver Platt.[8]
Aunt Gail was Jimmy's first wife. Auntie Gail was with Donna while she gave birth to Natalie, but the kids only really know her from stories and photos.[31][18] The picture of Aunt Gail from "Tonnato" depicts Platt with his real-life wife Camilla Campbell in 1992.[55]
Uncle Lee
Not biologically related, Lee Lane was in business with "Pop" Berzatto and Uncle Jimmy. They had a company called KBL Electric (Kalinowski–Berzatto–Lane). Lee later became Donna's on-again, off-again boyfriend. On separate occasions, when someone mentioned "Uncle Lee," both Mikey and Carmy immediately said, "That's not our uncle."[49] Cousin Stevie described Lee to Syd as "a man I've met nine times, and I still don't know who he is."[56] Lee has attempted to ingratiate himself with the clan but has "failed miserably."[11] Lee is played by Bob Odenkirk.[8] Bob Odenkirk is a Chicago native.[50]
In the episode "Fishes," Lee reacts to a mention of bears by listing "85? 41? 63?" (which were championship seasons for the Chicago Bears).[57] When redirected with the comment "animal," he replies "Oh, Mongo," meaning Steve McMichael, an American football player who was a defensive tackle for the Chicago Bears in 191 games from 1981–1993.[58] Michelle replied that she doesn't know what baseball player he's talking about, at which remark Lee scoffs and sighs in aggravation, and mutters, "Oh, God. These holidays are exhausting."[57] Odenkirk co-created, with Robert Smigel, the series of Saturday Night Livesketches that popularized the catchphrase "Da Bears!" in a specific rendering of the Chicago accent.[59] Vulture recapper Marah Eakin wrote, "I like to imagine Uncle Lee existing in the same universe as Bill Swerski's Super Fans."[60]
Uncle Computer
The Computer, government name Nicholas Marshall, is called "Uncle Computer" by both Richie and Chuckie (Paulie James).[18] Marshall is a "math wizard who literally 'computes' where the restaurant is overspending."[61] Computer dresses in Las Vegas Raiders gear.[62] Sugar has known him her whole life. He coached Mikey's Little League team. He is nice to Pete. The Computer is played by Brian Koppelman.[26] BuzzFeed commented in 2025, that Computer is often "perfectly aggravating...[and] kind of makes you want to throw your phone at the screen, which means Koppelman did his job."[63]
The "Tonnato" jagoffs
In the season-four episode "Tonnato," Carmy visited his mother's house for the first time in years, and they looked at old pictures together. She pointed out Uncle Dan and Uncle John, but Carmy had no memory of them, and DD declared that they were "jagoffs."[18] There was also an Aunt Carrie ("also a jagoff"), who Carmy did vaguely recall, when prompted with a photo.[18]
Matriarchs (?)
Nonna
In episode nine of season two, "Omelette," a scene in the restaurant office shows that a recipe for "Giardiniera by Nonna" has been written on several index cards taped to the bookshelf.[64]Giardiniera, from the Italian for "gardener," is a dish topped with chopped veg,[65] such as a "pickled condiment" often made with cauliflower, carrots, celery, and vinegar that tops Italian beef sandwiches.[66]Nonna means grandmother.[67]
Gina
Donna mentioned a character named Gina when telling Mikey's birth story in the episode "Ice Chips": "Was I excited? You bet. I couldn't...I wanted a baby so bad. You know? I wanted someone to love me the way I had seen. You know, all those smug mothers down at the Jewel, blocking the aisle with their strollers. Do you know what Gina said to me. Gina fucking said to me...she looked down at my stomach...she says to me, 'You know, Donna, there are lots of good Chinese babies, honey.' I mean, can you imagine? Can you imagine she said that to me? The joke was on her, God rest her soul. I was two months gone with Michael at the time. Fucking bitch."[31]
Donna's mom
In "Ice Chips," Sugar said she did not remember her maternal grandmother, Donna's mother. Donna replied, "You don't want to."[31]
Sleeping lady at Seven Fishes
In the Feast of the Seven Fishes flashback episode in season two, an older woman was shown briefly, asleep on a couch. The yellow draft version of the "Fishes" teleplay mentioned "two sleeping grandparents [non-speaking character]" on the character list.[68]
Restaurant families
The restaurant as a source of various types of sustenance for blue-collar families is central to the value of The Bear as a piece of media, wrote chef Daniel Patterson after season one premiered in 2022.[69]
Restaurants hold a special place in our culture. For a lot of people in this country they are a path to a better life. Restaurants are kind of like the strainers with little holes that catch everything, except for humans. They take everyone. The really good jobs, the lawyers and bankers and doctors, those career paths are closed to many. Those who don’t have a college education, or who come from poor neighborhoods and don’t have the connections or who have learning disabilities or are new to the country, not to mention kids getting a first job or a second or third, or creatives supporting themselves while they wait for their big break, they often end up in restaurants. As fucked up as they are, restaurants have historically been a place where people from every background can support themselves and even own their own business. My first-gen Greek roommate when I was twenty was able to attend college because his parents opened a diner when they arrived here, worked hard, and used their savings to make sure their kids had a better life. Over fifty years later that diner's still in business. The country is full of those kinds of stories.[69]
One such case may be when, at the end of season one, Tina dragged her misbehaving teenage son Louie into the restaurant by the scruff of his neck and dropped him at Carmy and Sydney's feet, insisting that they do something with him: "You taught me, you can teach him."[70] According to the Cato Institute in 2023, "the U.S. food service industry has long been both a major entry point for non-college workers and [is] among the industries in which 'people gain the skills that enable them to climb the ladder in those sectors.' The industry also features a disproportionate share of minorities, women, immigrants, and ex-cons—many of whom also work their way up to leadership roles."[10]
When Mikey bequeathed the Beef to his brother, Carmy effectively inherited seven mouths to feed, all virtual strangers except for Richie. Richie, Sydney, Marcus, Tina (Liza Colón-Zayas), Ebra (Edwin Lee Gibson), Sweeps (Corey Hendrix), Manny (Richard Esteras), Angel (José Cervantes), Chuckie, Chi-Chi (Christopher Zucchero), Neil Fak (Matty Matheson), and Ted Fak (Ricky Staffieri) all work at the Beef and/or the Bear at various times.[26] Liza Colón-Zayas and Edwin Lee Gibson have both spoken about how their characters are motivated by their love of the Berzattos and their workplace family.[71][72]
Manny and Angel are the dishwashers at the Beef and later the Bear. Angel, like the actor who plays him, always wears a Chicago White Sox baseball cap.[73] Manny commutes by bus and would like the staff to remove the green tape from containers before they arrive in the dish room.[74] During a 2024 panel discussion on socio-economic class representation on The Bear, Chicago Tribune TV critic Nina Metz and food reporter Ahmed Ali Akbar agreed they wanted more insight into Manny and Angel, with Metz saying: "I was curious about the dishwashers at The Bear. Who are they? What are their stories?...What do they make of all the shouting in the kitchen?...Do dishwashers ever socialize with kitchen staff, or is there a pretty clear class line dividing them?"[75]
Carmy, Luca (Will Poulter), Rene (Rene Gube), Garrett (Andrew Lopez), and Jess (Sarah Ramos) all worked for Andrea Terry (Olivia Colman) at one time or another at a Michelin-starred restaurant called Ever. Carmy and Luca's tattoos were designed by the same tattoo artist, Benny Shields.[76] BuzzFeed described Jessica in 2025 as a "wise and experienced kitchen staff member at Ever. Throughout the seasons, she has a great dynamic with Richie, and her composure perfectly balances out his wild side. Honestly, I kinda...ship it?"[63] After Chef Terry retired and closed her restaurant, Richie hired Rene, Garrett, and Chef Jess to work front of house, and Carmy brought in Chef Luca to stage and help pastry chef Marcus, whom he had helped train at Noma in Denmark.[26] These characters were introduced in season two but by season four, "if Luca and Jess felt like ancillary figures before, they're full-fledged cousins now."[4]
Chef Jess
Jess' dad was involved in IndyCar racing and she has brothers. Some fans see burgeoning romantic chemistry between Jess and Richie,[77] who is both her boss and "head of HR" for the Berzatto family restaurants, such as they are.[78] Sarah Ramos, who plays Jess, costarred with The Bear producer-actors Rene Gube and Ricky Staffieri in a 2024 long-form Bear-inspired Coca-Cola commercial directed by Christopher Storer.[79][80]
Jeremy Allen White told the Daily Beast in 2024 that there was a "real platonic intimacy to [Carmy and Sydney's] relationship. They're incredibly reliant on one another. That's a beautiful thing...I feel like Syd's voice can get through to him because he sees her potential...He has a lot of respect for her abilities. In a lot of ways, she is so many things that Carmy is not."[81]
Sydney has been described as Carmy's "best friend and kindred spirit."[82] Whatever the nature of their relationship, by season four, Carmy and Syd are broadly acknowledged as "the two main characters," and "we see...that Carmy trusts and cares for [Syd] like he does his own sister. Like Tiffany, she's a Bear forever if she wants to be."[44] Syd was Richie's date to his ex-wife's wedding, and he introduced her to his daughter as "Auntie Sydney."[17]
Sydney is an only child, little else about her upbringing has been revealed.[83] Her mother died of lupus when she was four or five years old; she was raised by her dad Emmanuel Adamu (Robert Townsend).[84] Edebiri wanted "multi-hyphenate" Townsend to play the role of her onscreen dad, joking that he had already raised her as the TV dad of The Parent 'Hood, a 1990s WB Network family sitcom, of which Townsend was also an executive producer.[85][86]
Her mom was "like a Black southern belle,"[87] and was an actress, mostly in community theater productions.[88] In season two, Syd and her dad celebrated her late mom's birthday with dinner and cake.[89] Syd's maternal grandfather was an automobile mechanic.[87]
Syd typically wears her hair in two-tone box braids, styled by her cousin Chantel (Danielle Deadwyler), who lives on the South Side of Chicago.[90] Critical response to Deadwyler's Chantel was overwhelmingly positive, with her performance called "extraordinary"[91] and "excellent".[92]Rolling Stone TV critic Alan Sepinwall praised the "chameleonic" Deadwyler for her performance in the "relaxed, confident, funny role."[93]
Chantel's husband/long-term partner is Christian, and their kid together is T.J. (Arion King).[90] Sydney also has a cousin Monty who works at Boeing,[87] and an Auntie Marsha, whose house is "energetically musty." Sydney missed Auntie Marsha's most recent birthday party.[94] Syd's extended family is otherwise undescribed in-universe, and the show tends to focus closely on the Berzatto clan, who work and live on the north side.[95]
Miscellaneous
David Fields
David Fields was executive chef at "the best restaurant in America," Empire in New York City. Carmy Berzatto was his chef de cuisine, and Fields made his life hell with a cascade of verbal abuse and emotional manipulation. A Food & Wine writer commented about Fields in 2024, that while the actor did a "fantastic job," the character "is a complete cartoon. Fields is everything awful about working in the restaurant industry, thrown together into one character. He whispers demoralizing insults to Carmy as he plates precise dishes, puts down his ingredient and techniques ideas, repeatedly tells him that he will never be successful, and does it all in a menacing whisper. There are mean, horrible, toxic chefs out there, but even they are human."[96] Fields has some past association with Ever, as he attended the restaurant's funeral. Joel McHale told Seth Meyers he was playing Fields as a dramatized amalgam of a young Thomas Keller and former Eleven Madison Park chef Daniel Humm, but FX publicists deny Fields is based on Keller.[97][98][99][100] McHale told interviewers that he has never met either chef and was given no other background information on Fields so he simply performed the role as he saw fit, based on the script as written.[98]
The Berzatto and Fak families are related "through friendship."[101] There are nine Fak siblings in the current generation, including Neil and Ted (who work at the restaurant), Avery, Sammy (John Cena), and Francie (Brie Larson), with whom Sugar was once close.[102][103][104] Other Faks mentioned in dialogue include Kenny Fak, Susan Fak, Frank Fak, Doug Fak, and Big Neil, who once got other Faks skateboards.[105] In the telling of the New York Times, many of the childhood neighborhood friends of Carmy, Natalie, and Richie are "knuckleheads by nature and are frequently used for comic relief. This is the case particularly with the bickering, bantering Fak brothers...whom some Bear fans love and some find exhausting."[106] One character rundown concluded its description of the Fak brothers with "These guys, smh."[16] Natalie Berzatto is often takes a warmly maternal tone with Neil Fak, addressing him with affectionate endearments such as "sweetheart" and "my love."[107]
A limited-edition line of Fakwear was sold through J. Crew in 2024.[108] Matter of Fak Supply company gear offered at J. Crew locations in Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York advertised their services: electrical, appliance installation and repair, plumbing, HVAC, drywall, and painting.[108] In season three, Neil was "promoted," and Ted took over "as the fix-it Fak."[108] Once upon a time, according to Neil and Ted, "Uncle Gary" Fak and the Fak dad (Big Neil?) were once involved creating 1500 fake LLCs (shell companies?) over six years, and also in creating what (Little) Neil described as "fake adoption papers.[109]
Based on Dr. Dunlap's comments to Ted Fak in "Apologies," Ted Fak may have genital warts, genital herpes lesions, or syphilitic chancres.[110][b] When Neil tried to touch baby Sophie in season four, Sugar threatened to cut off his ponytail if he tried again. Neil asked when he could touch the baby, and Sugar countered, "When was the last time you washed your hands?" Neil's answer, delivered with confidence, was, "A couple days ago."[53]
Neil Fak's neckties are The Bear costume designer Courtney Wheeler's "pride and joy."[111] Wheeler told another interviewer that Neil and Ted have made matching outfits one of their annual Christmas traditions.[20]
Neil Fak is played by Matty Matheson. Ted Fak is played by Ricky Staffieri. Both are credited producers of The Bear.[112]
Chester
Chester is Marcus' roommate; he may have a crush on Marcus. Chester is played by Carmen Christopher.[113]
Claire Bear, an emergency room physician and childhood neighbor of the Berzattos, had a sexual relationship with Carmy in season two. Claire Bear is played by Molly Gordon.[114]
Kelly
Introduced in the episode "Pop" as having been recently dumped by her boyfriend of five years, Claire's friend and roommate Kelly met Ted Fak at the restaurant's Friends & Family night, and Ted and Kelly started dating. Ted introduced Kelly around as his girlfriend at the "Bears" wedding, and he told her he loved her and she reciprocated. Kelly is played by Mitra Jouhari.[61]
Adam Shapiro
Technically an Ever, Adam Shapiro seems to be a curious and perhaps unclassifiable outlier from the main restaurant family. In the season-two episode "Forks," while staging front of house at Ever, Richie witnessed Shapiro erupt "into a torrent of verbal abuse aimed at Garrett...Chef Adam's behavior [was] excessive and vicious."[115] In the season-three premiere "Forever," he appeared fleetingly in a flashback to the Ever kitchen, where younger Adam, Luca, and Carmy were doing prep for Andrea Terry, during which "Shapiro enviously peered over" at Carmy and Luca. At the time, all three were shelling peas, Luca twice as fast as Adam, and Carmy three or four times faster than Luca.[116]
After losing his job as chef de cuisine at Ever due to chef Terry's retirement, Shapiro attempted to poach Syd from Carmy for his own place,[117] a practice that was established in season two as being bad form in the Chicago restaurant world—when Syd pitched some cooks taking a smoke break in a back alley, she was "rightfully shut down and cursed out by their chef, who [caught] her red-handed".[118] Shapiro has a habit of "talking some smack on Carmy."[119]
Adam Shapiro first approached Sydney at the Bear's L-train stop on approximately July 7 ("Violet"). He first broached the job opportunity on or around August 1 ("Legacy"), reiterated it on August 7 at the Ever funeral ("Forever"), and encouraged Sydney to come visit his restaurant space on Sunday, September 17 ("Worms"). He repeatedly told Syd that there was a ticking clock attached to his job offer to her.[16]
Syd agreed to look at paperwork for the new job at the end of "Worms," but ultimately turned down Shapiro the first week of October. Decider columnist A. J. Daulerio wrote that, "Shapiro [took] the news poorly and pathetically, sulking and stewing...Shapiro's seams were destined to burst; better for Syd that it happened now than while she was working for him."[120] As Slate magazine writer Nadira Goffe wrote about the season-four episode "Worms," "There's no good way to describe Shapiro's whole deal. He talks at breakneck speed, like he's constantly coked out, and every notion, comment, or phrase he relays to Sydney has the air of a white man who wants to be cool and thinks that proximity to Black culture will get him there. Sydney is at the receiving end of his remarks, which range from annoying utterances to blithe microaggressions."[121]
Shapiro is played by Adam Shapiro.[63] Chris Storer invited him to play a chef on the show in part because he knew of Shapiro's business selling Philly-style soft pretzels.[122]
Albert Schnur
Albert Schnur is a business consultant, recommended by the South Side Business Academy, who helped Ebra with a business plan for the beef-sandwich window in season four. He appeared in three episodes: "Scallop," "Replicants," and "Tonnato." Initially he seemed too good to be true: As Collider put it, "At first, we're not sure what to make of Albert: can he be a true mentor, or is he just there to swindle Ebraheim in some way?"[123] But Schnur earned the viewer's trust after being introduced to the crew, including Chi-Chi and Paulie, examining the kitchen setup, and encountering the Computer outside the restaurant.[123] Schnur ultimately proposes two beef-sandwich windows, located in the north and south suburbs, served by a central commissary kitchen.[18] Schnur was played by Rob Reiner.[124]
Jamie Lee Curtis, who played Joan Day, Jessica Day's mom, on the Fox comedy New Girl opposite Reiner as her dad, Bob Day, encouraged Reiner to take the part, which he said he enjoyed doing because acting was low-stakes for him compared to the pressures of directing and producing.[24] One reviewer described Reiner as a "borderline overqualified" guest star.[125] Another reviewer said that Reiner and Edwin Lee Gibson as Ebra were a "comedy dream team."[126] In September 2025, Reiner told IndieWire, "I played a small part on The Bear, and this guy who created it and directs it [Christopher Storer] does it the same way I do...You come to work and there's no division between what you're doing in front of the camera and off. It's just this fluid thing, and I loved working on that because of him."[127] Brian Koppleman posted a tribute to Reiner on Instagram, recounting that in the one scene they shared, Reiner suggested a dialogue tweak that improved the scene.[128]
Collider noted, in light of the murder of Reiner and his wife in Los Angeles in December 2025, that it was unclear what would become of the Beef window business plan, and "it's likely that the series, especially Ebraheim's storyline, will now have a somber tinge that just reminds us of what could have been had Reiner's life not been cut short."[123]Hollywood Reporter TV critic Daniel Fienberg saw a throughline from Mike Stivic to Reiner's political work to his late-career TV guest-star characters: "We never really saw Meathead mature into a father or grandfather or mentor, but every piece of Reiner's professional and personal history came into play when he returned to acting, from his memorable run as Jess's dad on New Girl to politically infused roles on The Good Fight and When We Rise and Ryan Murphy's progressive industry fantasy, Hollywood. His last TV role will end up being an arc on The Bear as business consultant Albert Schnur, whose scenes encouraging Edwin Lee Gibson's Ebra were among the highlights of the series's fourth season."[129]
Unclassified
Shelly, Big Phil, Estelle, and adopting "the second set of kids" is somehow relevant to understanding the family tree.[2]
The other Frank
Not to be confused with Josh Hartnett's Frank, Chicago improv vet Mick Napier appears as a character named Frank, sometimes credited as Cousin Frank, who is a guest at Jimmy's party in "Dogs."[130] Frank recurs as a character in Carmy's panic attack at the "Bears" wedding in season four.
↑"No, no, you fucked enough of my friends. Also, get that checked." "What?" "What Kelly said. Just get that checked." "What did Kelly say?" "You know what I'm talking about."
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