Yes, chef! Actor Jeremy Allen White, who set the world on fire last week with that Calvin Klein underwear campaign, has more than doubled his money to return as Carmen ‘Carmy’ Berzatto for a third season of acclaimed drama The Bear.
White, 32, will start filming in Chicago at the end of February. Rumours abound that he is in the kitchen already, brushing up on his knife skills at the Michelin-starred restaurant Pasjoli in Santa Monica, California, which he lives nearby.
Sources say that he and the rest of the cast have received substantial pay increases to reprise their roles in the hit show, with White’s pay rocketing from $350,000 per episode to $750,000. His publicists did not return requests for comment.
Jeremy Allen White showcased his incredibly toned body for an ad campaign for Calvin Klein
Now he has more than doubled his money to return as Carmen ‘Carmy’ Berzatto for a third season of acclaimed drama The Bear
Jeremy Allen White stars as Carmen ‘Carmy’ Berzatto in The Bear, which can be streamed on Disney+ in the UK. His look is based on Marco Pierre White’s from the book White Heat
The pay bump means that New Yorker — and trained dancer — White, who scooped a second Golden Globe for the role on Sunday, is now in the upper echelons of the TV industry’s best-paid stars, alongside the likes of Kevin Costner and Brie Larson.
The Bear was named best musical or comedy TV series at the awards ceremony — and White’s co-star Ayo Edebiri won the best actress in a musical or comedy TV series gong.
The programme follows tormented chef Carmy, who takes over his brother’s sandwich restaurant and reopens it as a fine-dining establishment. The creators have confirmed that Carmy’s look — the messy curls and just-so white T-shirt — is based on the iconic style of British chef Marco Pierre White as pictured in the 1990 book White Heat.
Last season ended with Carmy being freed from the walk-in fridge he was trapped in. But it was not a happy moment (spoiler alert!). While cooling his heels he missed the friends and family service for his restaurant’s relaunch and managed to accidentally insult and break up with his girlfriend.
The show was a surprise success for FX when it debuted on Hulu to great acclaim in 2022, and on Disney+ in the UK. Last season, Jamie Lee Curtis, Bob Odenkirk, Will Poulter and Olivia Colman were guest stars, and there is speculation that even bigger names will pop up in season three.
Nick Grad, the president of FX Entertainment, describes the show as a ‘cultural phenomenon’.
Last year White split from his wife Addison Timlin, 32, and it has been reported that he agreed to daily alcohol testing when his daughters Ezer, five, and Dolores, three, are under his care, as a part of a custody agreement, plus to attending two Alcoholics Anonymous meetings a week. He is now dating the Spanish singer Rosalia, 31.
Brooklyn-born actor White is also starring alongside Zac Efron in The Iron Claw, a film about the Von Erich wrestling family. He put on 40lbs of muscle to play the role of troubled wrestler Kerry Von Erich, by eating ‘almost constantly’ and working out for months.
The film’s director Sean Durkin says that of all the cast, White had the most genuine talent in the ring. ‘He could wrestle professionally!’ Durkin said. ‘He had this natural ability that our wrestling coaches said was just really, really rare.’
White added that appearing in The Bear is his toughest gig so far. ‘I don’t know how you compare the intensity of the kitchen versus the intensity of professional wrestling. It seemed like the kitchen wouldn’t be competitive, like it would be an obvious answer, but I find both industries to be incredibly competitive and anxiety-ridden,’ he said.
Harris Dickinson, Zac Efron, Stanley Simons and Jeremy Allen White play brothers in The Iron Claw
‘I had less anxiety on the set of The Iron Claw than I did, I think, on the set of The Bear.’
British actor Harris Dickinson — who played a model in the 2022 Cannes winner Triangle Of Sadness — is also in The Iron Claw, playing David Von Erich. He fondly remembers going to WWE wrestling as a boy. ‘Whenever WWE came to London, I used to go and see it with my mate. I was a bit of a fanboy. I wanted [American wrestler] Rey Mysterio to kick me in the head,’ he said.
The film, by super-indie studio A24, is released in UK cinemas on February 9.
