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Staying in Chicago.
Abby Elliott, who currently plays Jeremy Allen White’s fictional sister on “The Bear,” has found a new onscreen sibling in Sarah Snook. The actors now star together in Peacock’s “All Her Fault,” which premieres Thursday.
“She’s a younger sister,” Elliott, 38, told The Post about her character, Lia.
“I’m an older sister in real life, but I really loved playing her. She’s kind of a loose cannon. She has this history of being a drug addict. That was really interesting for me, because I thought of the younger siblings in my life and how they’re kind of trying to prove something, and make their voices known.”
Now streaming, “All Her Fault” is a thriller about Marissa Irvine (Snook, “Succession”), a mother frantically searching for her missing 5-year-old son, Milo (Duke McCloud), along with her husband, Peter (Jake Lacy, “The White Lotus”). Lia is Jake’s sister who comes to offer the couple support as they endure a parent’s worst nightmare. Dakota Fanning co-stars as a mom who may be involved in the child’s disappearance.
The show is another drama role for Elliott, as she’s also on the intense “The Bear” — even though she began her career in comedy. (Both shows are set in the Windy City.)
The actress was on “Saturday Night Live” from 2008 to 2012.
“‘SNL’ is kind of like all of show business, in one studio,” she explained.
“You deal with heartbreak every week. You deal with trying to get air time. You deal with working with writers. At the core of ‘SNL,’ even though it is sketch comedy, you really have to be a really good, grounded kind of actor, and also play serious at the same time, so that you can play off of a crazy character.”
She added, “I learned so much on ‘SNL,’ it was like my college for all of the business.”
Elliott called the role of Lia a “gift,” to “be able to do both [comedy and drama] and play a character that is funny and flawed, but also in this very serious situation.”
“All Her Fault” keeps the audience guessing with twists.
“Before I signed on, our showrunner, Megan Gallagher, called me and gave me the rundown of all the twists and turns and what happened. But, I was in a terrible reception zone.”
The phone call happened when she was driving in a rural part of Maine. “I had to pull over at the side of the road, and say ‘what?’ Like, I could not hear her. So I missed so much, including the ending, really.”
Even though she’d been briefed on where the story was going, Elliott said, “it felt like a surprise.”
“When I finally did get the script, I was like, ‘oh my gosh, wow, that’s what happened!’” she recalled.
Up next, Elliott will return to the Emmy-winning “The Bear” for Season 5, where she plays Natalie “Sugar” Berzatto, the sister of Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) and the late Mikey (Jon Bernthal).
“I think we start [filming Season 5] pretty soon. I’m very excited,” she said.
However, plot details haven’t been revealed to her just yet.
“Those are under lock and key always, until [right] before we start,” she told The Post. “But, it really does feel like a family now. And every time we get back to the soundstage in Chicago and we’re with that group of people, we get right back into the swing of things and head right back to work at the restaurant.”
Her father, Chris Elliott, is also an actor and comedian, known for roles in “There’s Something About Mary” and “Everybody Loves Raymond.”
He’s given some key advice over the years.
“Early in my career, I was having a really hard time navigating the path to go down, and I was being very hard on myself,” she recalled. “And he was like, ‘this should be fun. You’re not going to get through it or be become successful if it feels hard for you. Because it’s a really hard job. And if you’re not having fun, then it’s not worth it.’”
English (US)