Ayo Edebiri and Liza Colón-Zayas' friendship is 'rooted in respect'

The Bear co-stars Ayo Edebiri and Liza Colón-Zayas have "mad respect" for each other.

The actress and playwright, who is best known for playing Tina in the hit show, has opened up about her friendship with her co-star.

"I think our relationship is rooted in respect," Liza told Elle in a recent interview. "I mean, my girl has been writing and doing comedy since she was 20 years old."

She added, "I have mad respect for what she does, because it takes courage."

Liza, 52, then told the publication that Ayo, 28, had seen her perform in several plays before they worked together.

"I also didn't realise until a little later, that she had seen me in a bunch of New York plays before The Bear, so she had that respect for me," she explained.

The IF actress continued, "I also just love that we get to show that when you have brown women working together, amazing, powerful things can happen. Let's keep going in that direction."

Elsewhere in the interview, Liza reflected on being directed by Ayo for the episode Napkins, which appears in The Bear's third season.

"We just wanted to pay attention to that authenticity," she said of working with the Bottoms actress on the episode, which focused on Tina's backstory. "But also, we had two years of trust built together, and the respect that women of colour have for each other, even with our age difference, we see each other and hold each other up."

She added, "So collaborating together in this way, it was so smooth. I just love her. She's outstanding."