At just 23 years old, actor Dominic Sessa is developing a unique reputation for embodying the spirit of the 1970s. Following his critically acclaimed debut in the 2023 Oscar-winning comedy-drama The Holdovers, the New Jersey-born actor has returned to the decade for his latest film, Tony. In the biopic, Sessa portrays a 19-year-old Anthony Bourdain during a formative summer in 1975, long before he became a celebrity chef, bestselling author of Kitchen Confidential, and television host.
The film focuses on a single summer in the coastal resort of Provincetown, Massachusetts, where Bourdain spent his time scrubbing pans in a seafood restaurant, falling in love, and discovering his passion for cooking. Sessa, with his distinctive features—a crown of dark curls, wide, narrowed eyes, and an upside-down triangular face—perfectly captures the retro aesthetic. His performance conveys the inner conflict of a young man who is defensive and insecure, yet harboring a deeper vulnerability beneath an arrogant exterior.
Sessa admits he knew very little about Bourdain before taking on the role. Speaking from a Manhattan hotel room, he explained that he preferred to approach the character without a strong preconceived opinion. Since immersing himself in Bourdain's life, Sessa has come to appreciate the chef's rebellious spirit and integrity, noting that Bourdain inspired a massive global movement of food creators and travelers.
To capture the raw energy of the kitchen, Tony director Matt Johnson pointed Sessa toward chapters in Kitchen Confidential that detail Bourdain's early mentors. These real-life figures became a trio of kitchen guides in the film: a wise head chef played by Antonio Banderas, a coke-snorting colleague played by Leo Woodall, and a vulgar instigator played by Stavros Halkias. Filming took place in a fully operational kitchen that had closed only days prior. While Halkias learned to make lobster rolls and Woodall practiced shucking oysters, Sessa was assigned to wash dishes. Sessa recalled feeling genuinely intimidated by his co-stars, who embraced the opportunity to playfully bully him in character to keep the dynamic realistic.
The role of a young menace on the coast resonated with Sessa's own upbringing on the Jersey Shore. Raised in Ocean City, Sessa lost his father, a payroll clerk, at age 14, and credits his mother, a teacher, for his opinionated nature. Following his father's death, Sessa attended Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts on a sports scholarship. During summer breaks, he worked in a bakery and spent his free time partying on beaches, escaping local police, and occasionally damaging empty houses with friends. Reading Bourdain's accounts of his wild youth in Provincetown made Sessa feel an immediate connection to the material.
Playing the young Bourdain also forced Sessa to confront his own insecurities. He noted that young men often adopt a defensive posture to protect their egos and appear mature when they still feel underdeveloped. His remedy for this is seeking out "wilful hardships," explaining that true personal growth comes from doing difficult things rather than seeking comfort. Sessa agreed with the perspective in Kitchen Confidential that his character was "badly in need of a good ass-kicking," viewing the verbal abuse and intense initiation of the kitchen as a rite of passage that ultimately led to mutual respect and love.
The film maintains a highly romanticized view of kitchen culture, diverging from recent real-world conversations about toxic restaurant environments, such as those that led to René Redzepi's departure from Noma. Tony is so committed to preserving its energetic, youthful tone that the end credits do not mention Bourdain's death or his suicide in 2018. Instead, the emotional weight of the film relies entirely on Sessa's performance.
Sessa admits to having a personal affinity for the 1970s, describing a desire to escape the digital distractions of the modern era. He prefers the face-to-face communication of 70s bars, contrasting it with the social anxiety and isolation felt by his own generation, particularly after the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted their formative years. During the pandemic, Sessa was kept in a bubble at Deerfield Academy, where sick students were isolated in an abandoned health center.
His acting career began almost by accident. Sessa originally went to Deerfield to play hockey, but a broken femur during his freshman year ended his athletic ambitions. He turned to theater as a way to cope with feeling out of place as a financial aid student. In 2022, casting directors visited the school to scout locations and cast the lead role of Angus Tully in The Holdovers. Sessa's performance in that film went on to earn 21 award nominations, including a Bafta nod, and eight wins.
Following his breakout success, Sessa chose to study drama at Carnegie Mellon University for a year and a half while taking on select supporting roles. He played Michelle Pfeiffer's sullen son in the comedy Oh. What. Fun., a young non-profit lawyer opposite Rose Byrne in Tow, and an upstart magician targeting crypto billionaires in Now You See Me: Now You Don’t.
Ultimately, Sessa credits Tony with changing his outlook on life and career. Inspired by Bourdain's philosophy that "good food and good eating are all about risk," Sessa says he is now more willing to trust his gut and take chances. This new mindset led him to accept a role in Shades of Paradise, a Euro-crime film shot in Barcelona, where he plays his very first villain after a career of portraying well-meaning but troubled young men.
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