Jamie Lee Curtis may have won an Oscar, but she’s not finished breaking ground just yet. The Everything Everywhere all at Once star just announced a major career move—and fans are so excited.
The star made a booming return to TV in The Bear, an acclaimed series that released its second season on June 22. And fans have nothing but great things to say about Curtis’ role.
Curtis opened up about it all under an in-character selfie as Donna Berzatto, mother of the show’s main character Carmen Berzatto (played by Jeremy Allen White) and his sister Sugar (played by Abby Elliot). If you haven’t watched or heard about The Bear’s chaotic, impassioned plot, it follows Carmen, a renowned chef, who returns home to Chicago to run the family restaurant after his brother’s tragic death.
Season 2 introduces viewers to Curtis’ Donna—a raw character she had a gut feeling about playing after watching the series’ first episode. “Sugar asks Carmen if he had spoken to their mother, in that second I knew that I would play her,” Curtis wrote. “Don’t ask me how. I just knew. A year later, after the wild success of the brilliant first season, [series creator] Chris Storer offered me the role of a lifetime.”
Curtis went on to share a peek into Donna’s complicated persona. “There’s not a person alive who won’t relate to what it feels like to be around someone like [her],” she wrote. “I certainly have my own experiences. That’s what makes the show so magnificent. We can relate and commiserate and celebrate all of our communal survival in this thing called.... life.”
Fans who have already breezed through the new episodes flocked to Curtis’ comments to praise her performance. “Start polishing your Emmy speech,” one person commented. “Me: The Bear cannot get any better. Jamie Lee Curtis: Hold my beer,” another joked. “One of the greatest performances by anyone that I have ever seen,” another raved.
And Curtis’ devoted followers aren’t alone. Her debut episode, “Fishes,” which flashes back to a dysfunctional Berzatto family Christmas, is garnering glowing reviews from TV critics as “an early standout” and the potential “best episode of the year.”
In response to all the buzz, Curtis, like usual, seems to be riding the wave. After introducing Donna, she shared a behind-the-scenes snap of the character on set, appearing distressed and holding a cigarette. “Who’s afraid of Donna Berzatto? Everyone,” Curtis wrote. “A beautiful script of brutal truth and shocking consequences.”
The Bear is streaming on Hulu now.
