Dominic Sessa, born in Cherry Hill in 2002, is playing Anthony Bourdain on the big screen. The 23-year-old actor leads the cast of Tony, an A24 biopic that opened in theaters nationwide on Friday, Aug. 21.

The film follows Bourdain at 19, a restless Vassar student who lands a dishwashing job at a Provincetown, Massachusetts, seafood restaurant in the summer of 1975 and discovers his calling in the kitchen. It draws from the opening chapters of Bourdain's 2000 memoir Kitchen Confidential and a 2014 episode of his CNN series Parts Unknown, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Sessa grew up in Egg Harbor Township and Ocean City after being born in Cherry Hill. He arrived at Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts on a scholarship with plans to play hockey, but a broken femur before his first season ended that path. He joined the drama program instead.

That detour paid off. A casting call brought Alexander Payne's The Holdovers (2023) to Deerfield, and Sessa won the role of Angus Tully opposite Paul Giamatti. The performance earned him the Critics' Choice Award for Best Young Performer, an Independent Spirit Award for Best Breakthrough Performance and a BAFTA nomination.

For Tony, Sessa told W Magazine he didn't know much about Bourdain before being cast: "He didn't hold a big place in my life. He's a household name, but aside from watching a few videos on YouTube, I didn't know much." He said he connected with Bourdain's late-blooming fame and openness about his struggles.

Director Matt Johnson has said the collaboration shaped the screenplay, calling the film a partnership with Sessa unlike any other project he's directed.

The Inquirer's Michael Klein wrote that Sessa "wisely avoids a Bourdain impersonation," instead giving audiences "a young man who has not yet earned the persona he is trying on." Variety's Owen Gleiberman, reviewing the film after a July 15 screening, called it the moment Sessa becomes a movie star.

The numbers back up the buzz. In a limited run at six theaters in New York and Los Angeles before the nationwide expansion, Tony grossed $349,000 with a $58,000 per-screen average and sold-out shows all weekend, Deadline reported. The film holds a 95% Certified Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Antonio Banderas co-stars as Ciro, a composite chef-mentor character. Emilia Jones plays Nancy Putkoski, Bourdain's girlfriend and eventual first wife. The film is rated R and runs 106 minutes.

Both Bourdain and the actor playing him are New Jersey natives. Bourdain grew up in Leonia before his career took him around the world. He died by suicide in 2018 at age 61.

Tony is now playing in theaters nationwide, including locations in the Philadelphia area. Sessa's next project is a crime drama he shot in Spain.

If you are having suicidal thoughts, call or text 988 to reach the National Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.