THE SECRET SAUCE

As Marcus on THE BEAR, LIONEL BOYCE is the guy everyone wants to be around. He's having that effect on Hollywood too.

- LAWRENCE BURNEY

WHEN WE GO to eat something, people will now look to me like, 'What should we get?'" Lionel Boyce tells me over cheeseburgers and fries at the packed S&P luncheonette in Flatiron this spring. S&P has his favorite burger in the city, originally recommended by a friend during one of the actor's trips to New York. Because he has starred for the past two years as pastry chef Marcus Brooks on one of television's most popular dramas, FX's The Bear, about the inner workings of a Chicago restaurant, his dining choices now carry an air of authority. "And then I pick something and everyone's like, 'I don't like this,'" he says, laughing. "I'm like, 'Well, I don't know. It's still me. It's not like I'm a seasoned chef."

At around six-foot-three, Boyce is perched higher than most at the old-time diner table. He's in a gray short-sleeved tee, green cargos, Dunks, and a navy cap that reads TOKYO across the front in orange felt. The 33-year-old speaks in hushed tones, sometimes at a nervous speed. Much like his character, the mild-mannered Marcus, Boyce is usually the calmest person in a crowd. Marcus is a man of few words; when he does speak, it's sincere and with purpose. He's quick to help co-workers navigate tumultuous relationships with one another, and in his off time, he helps care for his mother, who's in what appears to be a coma.