Your Ultimate Guide To Every Guest Star On 'The Bear'

Joel McHale of Community fame joined the cast of The Bear early on in Season 1 with a shocking, stress-inducing portrayal of a head chef at the upscale New York City restaurant where Carmy formerly worked. McHale's character appears in Carmy's dreams—or hallucinations?—as an uptight, pretentious, and verbally abusive former boss—a role that he excels in, despite what his performance in Community may indicate. 

Known for his work in Marvel media projects as well as The Walking Dead, Jon Bernthal joined the cast of The Bear as Michael "Mikey" Berzatto, Carmy and Sugar's older brother. Mikey was the former owner and head chef of The Beef and passed it along to Carmy after his tragic suicide. Bernthal first portrayed Mikey in Season 1, but returned to Season 2 on several occasions including "Fishes," the tense, emotional flashback episode. 

Iconic actress Molly Ringwald makes a minor appearance in Season 1 as an Al-Anon moderator. At the meeting Carmy reluctantly attends, Ringwald's character delivers a powerfully emotional speech about the impacts of alcohol on her life, citing her abusive husband and toxic home environment, which hits home for Carmy, causing him to really consider the direction he wants to take his life in. 

After Carmy asks Marcus to go to Copenhagen to sharpen his dessert skills, the budding pastry chef ends up under the tutelage of Carmy's former colleague, Chef Luca—a well-intentioned but strict dessert genius played by Will Poulter. Throughout their time together, which Episode 4 of Season 2 covered, Luca teaches Marcus how to work dough with ease, complimentary flavor profiles, and several super complex dessert recipes perfect for the new and improved restaurant awaiting his return in Chicago. 

Jamie Lee Curtis made her debut in Season 2 of The Bear as Donna Berzatto—mother of Carmy, Michael, and Sugar. Although the siblings' mother is referred to numerous times throughout the show, the only time that she's seen on screen is during Episode 6 of Season 2, titled "The Fishes." The episode, structured as a flashback interlude, follows a family dinner—a scene that features several other celebrity guest stars—in which the viewer is offered a peek behind the curtain at the Berzatto family. Throughout the episode, Donna is seen cooking dinner in the kitchen, simultaneously refusing any help while also demanding that the family pitch in. A series of outbursts and sly comments reveal that Donna is an alcoholic suffering from an unnamed form of mental illness. 

In just one hour, Episode 6 packs in as much anxiety, tension, and strife as possible, which culminates in Donna's emotional breakdown at the end of the episode, where she drives a car through the family home's living room. 

Sarah Paulson also made her debut at the contentious family dinner in Episode 6 of Season 2, where she is introduced as the siblings' cousin Michelle.  Easygoing with a sense of humor, Michelle provides levity to the intense dinnertime scene and ropes her partner Stevie, who is played by John Mulaney, into jokes and conversations. Wildly entertained by the wild Berzatto family, Stevie humors the Fak brothers and the get-rich-quick baseball card scheme that they try to involve him in purely to see how the situation unfolds.

Later in the episode once the family sits down for dinner, Stevie makes an awkward, but good-natured speech in an attempt to cool down the hot-headed, emotional family. After Donna's mental collapse, Michelle extends a generous offer to Carmy, telling him to come to live with her in New York, allowing him to both further his career and take some space away from his family. 

Bob Odenkirk plays the mysterious Uncle Lee—the passive-aggressive, dubiously-related older man who also shows up to the ill-fated Berzatto family dinner in Episode 6 of Season 2. Some speculate that Uncle Lee is a past partner of Donna's, while Business Insider suggests that he may be a friend of the family, and Entertainment Weekly, taking a leap of faith, suggests that he really could be a distant uncle. After a series of provocative remarks, Uncle Lee and Michael Berzatto get into a massive argument, which leads to the series' infamous fork-throwing scene. 

Community alum Gillian Jacobs also joined the "Fishes" episode of The Bear as Richie's then-wife Tiffany, who was pregnant with their child at the time of the flashback. The presence of Jacobs' character invites viewers to see Richie in a different light and provides plenty of context for their relationship and why their marriage ultimately failed, despite the obvious love the former couple shared for one another. 

As the restaurant is gearing up to open towards the end of Season 2, Carmy shunts Richie off to a three-star restaurant to study under seasoned professionals. Although he complains incessantly—in classic Richie fashion—after being asked to polish hundreds of forks, Richie quickly comes to appreciate the passion for perfection that the staff of Ever, the upscale restaurant, works.

Richie connects with Terry, played by Olivia Colman, who works as the head chef at Ever. Terry and Richie bond over shared experiences, and once Terry explains her life story and the journey she went on to end up satisfied with her lot in life, Richie is able to return to The Bear with a new perspective on life. 

Sarah Ramos also appears during "Forks," making her debut in the series as Jessica, the back-of-house at Ever. As a strict and composed, yet kind figure of authority, Jessica and Richie do not get along at first, especially due to Richie's irreverent attitude and disregard for leadership.

After experiencing how passionate the staff is towards committing to uphold nearly impossible standards, Richie becomes inspired, thanks to Jessica, who holds the same role he is expected to fulfill once The Bear finally opens. 

Iconic Chicago-born actor and director Robert Townsend guest starred in Season 2 of The Bear as Emmanuel Adamu, Sydney's father. Although he expressly loves and supports his daughter very much, Townsend's character is notorious throughout the series for the high expectations he has for Sydney. Sydney goes to great lengths throughout the show to impress her father and show him that although working in the culinary world can be a risky career move, her expertise and creativity will carry her to the top. Emmanuel Adamu appears in Episode 9, "Omelette," in a heartfelt, emotional scene between father and daughter that fans have remembered long after the season ended. 

Season 3 of The Bear brought some big names that were even more unexpected than Season 2's cameos, but no less enjoyable. John Cena made a surprise appearance in episode five, "Children," as Sammy Fak, a member of the illusively large Fak family. He briefly stops by the restaurant to joke around and help everyone prepare for a photoshoot by the Chicago Tribune.

After playing Ernest Lawrence in the Oscar-winning film Oppenheimer, Josh Hartnett took on a more light-hearted role with his guest appearance in The Bear. He plays Frank, the new fiancé of Richie's ex-wife Tiffany. In episode four, there is a delightfully awkward conversation between Frank and Richie about what the dynamic of the family will be like after Frank marries Tiffany, all while "Long Live" by Taylor Swift is blasting inside of the house.

In a cameo so small that many people didn't realize it happened at all, Bradley Cooper's face makes the smallest of appearances in the finale of Season 3. Cooper played the fictional chef Adam Jones in the movie Burnt in 2015, and in the last episode of Season 3, we see Carmy looking at a board full of pictures of a restaurant's history. On it is a photo of Cooper as Adam Jones, which has fascinated fans of both the movie and the show alike, as it implies that the fictional world of Burnt exists in the same fictional world of The Bear.

Many of the most notable cameos in Season 3 are the real-life famous chefs that feature in flashbacks to Carmy's past. It's a touching move to prove that the show really cares about the industry it is portraying. In the first episode of Season 3, "Tomorrow," there are several memories of Carmy's past training and education from different chefs at real, well-known restaurants over the years, like Daniel in NYC. This restaurant is owned by Chef Daniel Boulud, who features in the episode teaching Carmy how to make his famous sea bass.

Other flashbacks in the season finale see even more famous chefs making appearances. Thomas Keller, the only American chef to have been awarded three-star Michelin ratings at two different restaurants, gives Carmy some life advice, and there are glimpses of Malcolm Livingston II (who the character Marcus was based on), Christina Tosi, Anna Posey, Grant Achatz and more.