Dominic Sessa Has No Reservations About His Rise to Fame

“I just liked doing the work.”

Photography: Lenne Chai | Photo Assistan t: Chris Tse | Styling : Warren Alfie Baker For related coverage, explore our detailed analysis on Technology and Digital Systems.

Key Analysis and Detailed Timeline

There’s no getting around it: Dominic Sessa looks like Anthony Bourdain . Even over Zoom, a year after wrapping the filming of Tony , his new dramedy about Bourdain’s much-mythologized youth, Sessa’s loose brown curls fall around a long face with a strong chin in a way that can’t help but evoke photos of the young chef back in the ‘70s (don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about — you had them saved to your Pinterest board in 2016, just like everyone else).

But while Sessa is as close to a young Bourdain doppelganger as you’re liable to find in modern Hollywood (he might also be the first male film star allowed to rock a headful of bouncy dark brown ringlets since… Elliott Gould ?), that physical likeness is the end of Tony ’s resemblance to a traditional celebrity biopic. Yes, Tony is a movie about Anthony Bourdain , but it's also a movie about Dominic Sessa.

Like Bourdain, unexpected circumstances pushed Sessa towards the career path that would come to define his life. Also like Bourdain, once he was on that path, he sought the mentorship of wise, experienced elders who knew what the hell they were doing when he didn’t, who could help him figure out what the rest of his life might look like.

The film intertwines both their experiences into a moving portrait of what it means to be young, confused, and in search of the person you’ll eventually become — and leaves the viewer reconsidering the true value of an origin story.

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Broader Impact and Sector Outlook

I’m not being cute and editorializing here; Sessa is saying just as much himself from a hotel room in Los Angeles, where the New Jersey native is currently on the promotion circuit for Tony . “Every single movie I've done, my biggest concern was making sure I surrounded myself with just incredible actors,” he says.

“It's the best school you can have.” While, in the past, that schooling had only extended as far as co-stars like Jesse Eisenberg giving him advice, with Tony , Sessa’s education takes place on the big screen. It’s clear that the film isn’t just a story about young Bourdain blooming under the mentorship of a motley crew of Provincetown, Massachusetts chefs that includes Antonio Banderas , Leo Woodall and Stavros Halkias ; it’s also aboutSessa himself blooming under the mentorship of the same group of people.

“As much as they are influencing Tony in the film,” Sessa says, “that's how I looked at these people in real life. When Leo came to set, I was like, ‘Holy shit! This guy is a real deal actor.’ I didn't want to embarrass myself in front of him.

I wanted to make sure that I was earning his trust and he was okay with what I was doing, and I feel like that reads when we’re on camera. Same thing with Antonio: I didn't want to piss him off; I didn't want him to be angry at me.

That's just how I viewed these people genuinely, and it's a testament to Matt putting the cast together in that way, and also their being willing to do that, to be in this movie with me.” As much as they are influencing Tony in the film, that's how I looked at these people in real life.