‘The Bear’ Star Liza Colón-Zayas on Tina’s Authentic Culinary Evolution in Season 2

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Season 2 of FX’s The Bear.]

The Bear is back and already enrapturing audiences once again with its highly-anticipated Season 2, which paves the way for several heartfelt arcs, including one with Tina (Liza Colón-Zayas).

Having cooked at the Beef, where Carmy’s (Jeremy Allen White) brother Michael (Jon Bernthal) once ran the ship, Tina was resistant to the young chef’s new methods and approach during Season 1’s transition. Now, Tina is fully sold on the practice of fine cooking, continuing to push herself in the kitchen, both inside the restaurant Carmy and Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) work to open for most of the season and at culinary school, where she’s sent to further her training.

The motivation is there as Sydney asks her to serve as sous chef in the new restaurant and Carmy gifts her his own knife to train with. Along the way, viewers get to see Tina build her confidence in the cooking classroom, through karaoke performances, and in leading her own team of cooks in The Bear’s kitchen. Rising to the occasion, Tina’s story has an inspirational tone that helps lift viewers’ spirits amid the chaos unfolding everywhere else.

(Credit: Chuck Hodes/FX)

Below, Colón-Zayas opens up about Tina’s arc, honing her kitchen skills, working alongside big names, and hopes for an even more food-filled future on the show.

Tina has evolved a lot since the first time we met her in Season 1, with one of the most notable aspects being her relationship with Sydney, who asks her to be her sous chef. What does that mean to Tina?

Liza Colón-Zayas: Validation. I think that she’s had a rough way to go and being at a certain age without the accreditation in a world that is younger, faster, cooler, with more influencers… This is her family, and I think that her fears and her defensiveness were valid. And so I love that we are able to see and experience a person with all of that going on be able to surrender and trust and dream again.

We also get to see her fine-tune her kitchen skills this season when she’s sent to culinary school. How did you prepare for Tina’s culinary journey this time around? Especially with Carmy’s knife in hand.

I was able to get an intense week with chef David Waltuck, and that was amazing and terrifying. I didn’t have any knife skills. I mean, I’m an actor. So the first day, I came home with a lot of cuts on my hands because the knives are so amazing that I didn’t feel them actually slicing me. It was intense but basic stuff. And then I got to work a lot with Courtney Storer, so we would filet a lot of fish and slice and dice in my apartment. I love her to pieces. She’s just such a warrior and so beautiful and so generous, and I’m nowhere near Ayo and Jeremy in terms of their skills, but that’s where I think Tina’s at, so it works. Hopefully.

(Credit: Chuck Hodes/FX)

Much of Tina’s success is juxtaposed with Ebraheim’s (Edwin Lee Gibson) indifference to the process, and it seems as though it saddens her. How did you interpret their parallel arcs?

Yeah, we’re definitely two sides of the same coin. We’re both struggling with age and our body issues and gentrification, if you wanna look at the bigger picture, right? So we have to rely on each other. We’re our made family and so regardless of how we talk to each other, at the end of the day, we only have each other. We’re part of this restaurant, but it’s not just a job. We are here fighting for each other. And I think that Tina gets it in terms of being there for Ebraheim, as much as she’s getting it that Sydney is there for her.

Yes, and you feel Tina’s emotions come out in her big karaoke moment during a night out at the bar with her fellow culinary students. Was there any discussion about why she picked Freddy Fender’s “Before the Next Teardrop Falls“?

I don’t really know. I know I don’t sing, I don’t do karaoke. I think maybe somebody overheard me saying that I don’t do it and put it in the script. But it’s good because it’s about listening, paying attention, tailoring it to the actor, and it’s about growth. It’s about allowing ourselves to move outside of our comfort level and in circles that I would normally not be a part of at all. So Freddy Fender, how they came up with that one, I don’t know. I grew up listening to that song, it was on the radio a lot when I was a kid, but somehow, it’s perfect. There’s something about these writers — Chris [Storer], Joanna [Calo], the whole crew — they’re just genius in how to surprise us and how to help us not spoon-feed in a beautiful and funny way. I’m happy it happened. I’m happy I trusted.

(Credit: Chuck Hodes/FX)

Tina’s emotions during that song, does it have to do with building her confidence or is it about being sad that Ebraheim has seemingly given up on the process she’s leaned into?

I think all of those things that you mentioned are part of it. For every take, there’s something for me that comes up, front and center, if I’m allowing myself to go there. I think it’s all of those things. I’m not that different from Tina. I think that as an actor with 30 years in this struggle, I want validation, I wanna be embraced, so I didn’t have to go too deep to pull it up.

Toward the end of the season, Tina finally gets to embrace her new leadership role. What was it like getting to lead her team?

I just wanted to make everybody proud. I wanted to look like Tina is really stepping it up and walking the walk and that’s what I wanted. I was just hoping that it could be believable. It’s like, when in doubt, just try to look tough. If you bought it, then I’m good.

I did. I really did. And poor Tina doesn’t have it easy. I mean, they keep asking her where Josh (Alex Moffat) went, and she doesn’t know he’s doing meth in the alley.

You know, having people at their stations ready to go is still new [for Tina]. I mean, did we see what was going on at The Beef in Season 1? It was bananas. So, I don’t think this is the first time people have gone MIA and we’ve had to fly by the seat of our pants.

(Credit: Chuck Hodes/FX)

That’s true, and you all pulled it together at the end. You’ve mentioned a few times how this team is a family. If that’s the case, does Tina see herself as the mom? She certainly seems to take on that role for Carmy, who we now know doesn’t have a great relationship with his mother Donna (Jamie Lee Curtis).

I think so. Yeah, I think I take it on. It’s a tough balance because it’s this male-dominated space, as many are, and she’s a product of her environment, I suppose. Her way of loving and being there is gonna be hard.

This season, there were a lot of new faces introduced. I know Tina herself didn’t get to interact with as many of the guest stars, but is there anyone you’d like to see her cross paths with in a possible third season?

All of them. All of them. [Laughs] You know, they’re part of a different world. As you know, [they’re] one side of the family, I’m part of the other side of the family, but I did show up on set the day all the heavy hitters rolled up and I didn’t have work because I was like, “I just have to bear witness.” And every single one of them, Jon [Bernthal], Sarah [Paulson], Bob [Odenkirk], Jamie [Lee Curtis], and Oliver Platt, you know, got to be around a little bit more. All of them were just so generous. Joel McHale, too, every person. I just didn’t get to meet Olivia [Colman]. I’ll regret that for a long time, but yeah. Every single person was so sweet and generous. I’m still pinching myself actually, because usually it’s rare to find that level of talent and be on a set that embraces kindness on every level.

Things got pretty intense during that Christmas episode, but that’s also the case for the chefs at The Bear. Does having experience in theater help with the choreography and repetition required to nail these long-take scenes in the show?

Yeah, and it’s exhilarating. Chris and Joanna know theater actors, and so I just think it makes it that much more fulfilling when they know that life. They know that kitchen life, so it just makes it that much more fulfilling to have people behind the camera who understand what it’s like to walk in your shoes. So yeah, especially for the oners, and Chris just has an appreciation for authenticity.

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That authenticity is certainly there and especially reflected in the food. Do you have a favorite dish you got to try behind the scenes?

Risotto. The risotto with the braised short rib.

From Season 1?

Yes. There are a lot of things I just can’t taste because [it’s for the show]. So hopefully moving forward, we’ll have more scenes where the cooks get to taste on camera.

FX’s The Bear, Season 2, Streaming now, Hulu