Dominic Sessa Says He ‘Didn’t Have to Work Too Hard’ Playing Young, Angry Anthony Bourdain (Exclusive)

Tommy McArdleFri, August 7, 2026 at 11:02 AM UTC

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Dominic Sessa in 2026’s ‘Tony’; Anthony Bourdain circa 2000Credit: Seacia Pavao; Shutterstock -

Dominic Sessa tells PEOPLE he found playing Anthony Bourdain at 19 similar to his own persona, which he describes as “a bit intense sometimes”

Sessa, 23, stars in Tony, which depicts Bourdain’s first experience working in a restaurant between college semesters

The biopic is in limited theaters Aug. 7 and begins playing everywhere Aug. 21

Dominic Sessa is playing Anthony Bourdain in his latest movie, and as it turns out, the actor didn’t have to reach too far to embody the angry, young man stumbling into his future career in restaurants.

Sessa, 23, tells PEOPLE in a recent interview alongside Tony director Matt Johnson that he was not overly familiar with Bourdain’s life and work prior to signing on to the movie. Bourdain, who died at 61 in 2018, found fame in 2000 when he published his memoir Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly.

“I found it pretty accessible,” the actor says of portraying the famed chef. “I didn’t really have to put myself in too many different shoes, you know?”

Dominic Sessa and Emilia Jones in ‘Tony’Credit: Seacia Pavao/A24

Tony is based on Kitchen Confidential‘s first few chapters, which cover Bourdain’s experience working in a restaurant for the first time during his summers in Provincetown, Mass., at the tip of Cape Cod in the ‘70s. The film’s poster even bears a famous quote from Bourdain’s book, which defines his 19-year-old persona as “a spoiled, miserable, narcissistic, self-destructive and thoughtless young lout, and badly in need of a good ass-kicking.”

Sessa made his on-screen debut as a teenager with a troubled home life in 2023’s The Holdovers. Those skills are put to similar use in Tony, in which Bourdain travels to Provincetown on a whim in hopes of impressing a girl (Emilia Jones) by lying about receiving a fellowship to write a novel. When he finds himself penniless and alone, he begrudgingly accepts an offer to wash dishes at a local seafood restaurant operated by a no-nonsense chef (Antonio Banderas).

The character’s occasional negative personality traits take center stage in the biopic, and Sessa found those emotions were already in his toolbox. “I think I naturally maybe come off a bit intense sometimes, and I think I have to work hard to seem cheerful and happy. People always think I’m upset about something or I’m frustrated about something, but I think it’s just the way I look. So, in that respect, I didn’t have to work too hard,” he says with a laugh.

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Johnson, who comes to the project after directing 2023’s Blackberry and this winter’s cult comedy hit Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie, agrees with Sessa’s assessment.

“It’s become written in stone that what I said right after meeting [Sessa] was ‘Let’s start shooting the movie tomorrow, you’re ready.’ He didn’t listen to me,” Johnson recalls. “He did wind up going and doing a lot of research, but I wanted him to literally do no preparation whatsoever. I wanted him to just show up in Provincetown so we could start, because he just had it.”

Tony contains details directly pulled from Kitchen Confidential, including a memorable moment in which one of the cooks (Leo Woodall) hooks up with a bride who visits the restaurant immediately following her own wedding. (Bourdain cites this moment in the book as one that solidified his desire to become a cook.)

The famed chef and travel host’s personality at 19, though, is a far cry from the public persona that made him so well-loved decades later, which Johnson and Sessa made sure to note.

Dominic Sessa and Leo Woodall in ‘Tony’Credit: Seacia Pavao/A24

“There’s the attitude question, which is: How much of the adult Anthony Bourdain personality were we trying to showcase?” Johnson says. “The answer is we were looking at his adult persona almost as an antidote to his young identity. It was easier for us to understand that the place that he gets to must come from an almost inverted relationship with hyper honesty, always being on time, super dedicated focus.”

Tony is in limited theaters Aug. 7 and begins playing everywhere Aug. 21.

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