Ebon Moss-Bachrach Spent 20 Years as "That Guy." Then Came Cousin Richie.

For most of his career, Ebon Moss-Bachrach was the actor people recognised but couldn't name. He played the boyfriend in one show, the hacker in another and the brother of the leading man in a Keanu Reeves film. Then FX cast him as a cousin in a Chicago sandwich shop who would not stop talking, and people learned his name.

The Bear ended its run on FX this summer. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter before the finale, Moss-Bachrach said it was time for the show to end and that he loved the way it does. He played Richard "Richie" Jerimovich in 45 episodes, and the part won him two Emmys.

Early life: Amherst, Columbia and a long apprenticeship

Moss-Bachrach was born in New York City on 19 March 1977 and grew up in western Massachusetts, where his parents ran a music school. His middle name, Che, was his parents' nod to Che Guevara. He went to Amherst Regional High School and then to Columbia University, where he graduated in 1999 with a degree in English literature. He also apprenticed at the Williamstown Theatre Festival and trained at the William Esper Studio in Manhattan.

Ebon Moss-Bachrach's TV shows and films before The Bear

The twenty years before The Bear were full of good supporting work. He played Henry Wyler, brother to Keanu Reeves's character, in The Lake House (2006), and a young John Quincy Adams in HBO's John Adams (2008). In Lena Dunham's Girls he was Desi, a charming, self-absorbed musician, for 25 episodes. Netflix's The Punisher (2017) cast him as David "Micro" Lieberman, a hacker working beside Jon Bernthal's Frank Castle, the start of a partnership that would carry into The Bear.

After that came the AMC horror series NOS4A2, a turn as the Wall Street Journal reporter John Carreyrou in Hulu's Theranos drama The Dropout (2022), and three episodes of Andor as the mercenary Arvel Skeen. Over those years he became one of the most dependable character actors in New York.

Richie Jerimovich and two Emmys

When The Bear premiered in 2022, Richie looked like comic relief, a holdover from the old restaurant who fought every change Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) tried to make. Moss-Bachrach played him as something sadder: a man in his forties who had lost his best friend, his marriage and his sense of purpose, and who feared the kitchen was the last place that needed him.

Season two gave him "Forks." Richie is sent to work a week at a fine-dining restaurant, polishes forks at dawn, learns what it means to look after guests, and ends the episode singing along to Taylor Swift's "Love Story" in his car. Critics count it among the best episodes of the series.

Moss-Bachrach won the Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for each of the first two seasons. He also picked up two Golden Globe nominations.

"Gary": the episode he wrote with Jon Bernthal

In May 2026 FX dropped a surprise standalone episode called "Gary." Moss-Bachrach co-wrote it with Bernthal, who plays Carmy's late brother Mikey, and series creator Christopher Storer directed it. The episode follows Richie and Mikey on a work trip to Gary, Indiana, where they get stuck at a crossing waiting for a freight train. The two actors had talked for years about a flashback for the pair, and Storer pushed them to write it themselves.

Broadway debut in Dog Day Afternoon

The pair had already spent the spring sharing a stage. In March 2026 Moss-Bachrach made his Broadway debut opposite Bernthal in Dog Day Afternoon, a new play based on the 1975 bank-heist film, at the August Wilson Theatre. The run lasted until July. Reviews of the play were mixed, but most critics liked the two leads. TheWrap called the show hugely entertaining and said the pair stepped into roles made famous by Al Pacino and John Cazale without copying them.

Ebon Moss-Bachrach as The Thing in Fantastic Four

His biggest audience came from Marvel. In The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025) he played Ben Grimm, the pilot whose body turns to orange rock, alongside Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby and Joseph Quinn. Most of the character is built by visual effects, yet Ben's warmth and loneliness come through his voice and face. He returns as Ben in Avengers: Doomsday, out on 18 December 2026, and is set to play him again in Avengers: Secret Wars in 2027.

Smaller films continue alongside the franchise work. He has roles in The Man I Love and A Long Winter, both 2026 titles.

Family life in Brooklyn

Moss-Bachrach lives in Brooklyn Heights with his wife, the Ukrainian photographer and artist Yelena Yemchuk, and their two daughters.

He is 49. In one year he has finished the show that made his name, written an episode of it, made his Broadway debut and booked two more Avengers films. Richie spent four seasons learning that ordinary work done with care is worth something, and Moss-Bachrach spent twenty years doing exactly that before most viewers knew who he was.