Sarah Ramos has been keeping a secret.

Last year, she shot back-to-back seasons of The Bear—a grueling, exhilarating experience that came with one spoiler she couldn’t share: her character eventually lands a role at the restaurant itself. For months, Ramos carried that hidden twist around like contraband.

“I’ve been sitting on it forever,” she laughs. “Jess finally working at The Bear was such a fun reveal.”

For Ramos, Jess is a character she slips into with ease but also studies with care. “We’re alike in that we both take our jobs seriously and want things to run smoothly. I definitely have high standards,” she says. “But where Jess differs—and where I admire her—is that she never lets the chaos get to her. She stays calm, always smiling, like, ‘This is no big deal. I’ve seen worse.’ That’s something I wish I had more of.”

Researching Hospitality

To embody Jess, Ramos immersed herself in the philosophy behind great restaurants. She read Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara, a book that emphasizes not only treating guests with warmth but extending that same generosity to employees.

“One idea that stuck with me was promoting someone who doesn’t have the experience but has shown promise,” Ramos explains. “You take a chance, invest in them, and they’ll go above and beyond because they know you believed in them. That resonated because Jess was literally written for me. Chris Storer [The Bear’s creator] and I met a decade ago, and suddenly this role just appeared. I thought, Okay, I have to show up and kill it.”

That belief in giving people a shot is something she carries beyond acting. “The show keeps asking: how do you avoid routine? How do you make the same work feel new every day?” For Jess—and Ramos—the answer is to surround yourself with people who challenge you, people who push you to be better.

Wrestling With Beauty

Away from set, Ramos is candid about her complicated relationship with beauty. She even wrote an Audible Original, Zaddy, exploring the intersections of ambition, plastic surgery, and our cultural obsession with perfection.

“It’s dangerous, but it’s also magnetic,” she admits. “You see a photo and think, How do I look like that? But then you wonder: if you have to change everything to succeed, is that really success? What even is beauty? What is success?”

Her own beauty routine reflects that push and pull. She manages melasma, which limits the stronger lasers she can try, but swears by gentler treatments like Clear & Brilliant and microneedling a few times a year. “It’s kind of wild—we literally injure ourselves for better skin. But it works, and it’s addictive.”

Of course, treatments come with sales pitches. “You’re red-faced and vulnerable, and suddenly you believe every product will save you,” she jokes. That’s how she ended up with pricey serums like Alastin’s Restorative Skin Complex and Skinceuticals’ C E Ferulic. “Both worked, but I can’t justify rebuying them. Also, the Skinceuticals one smells like hot dog water. I kept apologizing to guests when I first wore it.”

She’s equally enthusiastic about Korean skincare, thanks to a friend who gifted her Dr. G sheet masks that left her skin so radiant even her makeup artist noticed. While she hasn’t tracked those exact masks down stateside, snail mucin products from Cosrx and lightweight moisturizers from La Roche-Posay and Embryolisse have become staples. And because she’s “pale as paper,” sunscreen—currently Supergoop!’s Play SPF 50—is non-negotiable.

Makeup, Hair, and Everyday Rituals

All that skincare allows Ramos to go light on makeup most days. “That’s the point—I want to feel comfortable barefaced,” she says, citing Elle Fanning’s fresh-faced style as an inspiration. When she does reach for products, she leans minimalist: concealer, Benefit’s Gimme Brow, Maybelline’s Falsies mascara (“nothing beats the purple tube”), and a trusty Wet n Wild eyelash curler that makeup artists can’t believe isn’t high-end.

Her everyday glam centers on soft smoky eyes with Chanel’s Les Beiges palette and blush from either Nars or Merit. On her lips, Charlotte Tilbury’s Wedding Belles is her go-to, partly because it’s one of the few lipsticks she can use without triggering her lanolin allergy.

Hair has been more of an adventure. After a dramatic post-college Amélie-style chop and ill-advised blonde dye job, Ramos found a savior in stylist Eddie Cook, who has guided her hair transformations for over a decade. “He’s a magician. The danger is I can text him today and be pink tomorrow,” she says. Lately, she’s been loyal to Rōz’s shampoo and conditioner, plus a Revlon hot air brush that gives her a blowout in 15 minutes.

Scents, Nails, and Signatures

Fragrance, for Ramos, is both identity and vulnerability. She once wore Bvlgari’s Splendida Black Jasmine religiously—until she discovered her now-husband’s mother wore it too. “That was the end of that era,” she laughs. “Now I’m waiting to be swept off my feet by a new scent, like the Vera Wang Princess ads I obsessed over as a kid.”

Nails have taken a simpler route. She quit gels a year ago for a role on Chicago Med and hasn’t looked back. “My nails were breaking constantly. Now they’re stronger. But when I do indulge, Japanese manicures are my favorite—the detail is unreal.” A swipe of OPI cuticle oil, she adds, makes even bare nails look polished.

The Balance of Seriousness and Ease

Whether she’s talking hospitality, beauty, or acting, Ramos keeps circling back to the same tension: ambition versus ease, control versus letting go. Jess, her character on The Bear, embodies the latter—calm in chaos, smiling when others panic. Ramos may not fully share that trait, but she’s learning from it.

“Honestly, I admire her,” she says. “I’m serious about my work, sometimes to a fault. But Jess reminds me it’s okay to exhale. It doesn’t all have to be a crisis.”

And maybe that’s the secret she’s not sitting on anymore—the idea that beauty, work, and even chaos can feel new again if you approach them with a little more grace.