# Ria Zmitrowicz

Ria Zmitrowicz is a British actress. She is known for her work in theatre, earning WhatOnStage and Manchester Theatre Award nominations, and her role in the BBC drama Three Girls (2017).

## Early life and education

Zmitrowicz was born in Spain and grew up in Berkshire, Surrey, and Hampshire. She attended the Sixth Form College, Farnborough.
She joined the National Youth Theatre (NYT) at sixteen and moved to London when she was eighteen.

## Career
### Theatre

Playwright and actor Luke Barnes, whom Zmitrowicz met through the NYT, cast her in his play Chapel Street, which premiered at The Old Red Lion, Islington before going on to play at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and the Bush Theatre. This helped Zmitrowicz secure an agent. She then landed a role in Arinzé Kene's God's Property alongside Kingsley Ben-Adir at Soho Theatre.
In 2015, she played Chloe Coverly in Arcadia with the English Touring Theatre and Mary Warren in The Crucible at the Royal Exchange, Manchester. The latter earned her a nomination at the Manchester Theatre Awards. She also appeared in Four Minutes Twelve Seconds.
In 2019 she starred in the plays Three Sisters with Pearl Chanda and Patsy Ferran and The Doctor with Juliet Stevenson at the Almeida Theatre, as well as The Welkin with Maxine Peake at the National Theatre in 2020. Her performance as Sami in The Doctor, a role she originated, earned Zmitrowicz a WhatsOnStage Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Play. She returned to the Royal Court in 2022, starring in The Glow.

### Film and television

In 2013, she played Wilma Grey in the two-part ITV crime drama Murder on the Home Front. She also had a recurring role as Jodie in the E4 comedy-drama series Youngers. The following year, she joined the cast of the sitcom The Midnight Beast as Hope for its second series, also on E4, and the ITV period drama Mr Selfridge as Sarah Ellis, a recurring role she would play for the latter three series.
Zmitrowicz made her feature film debut with a small role in the 2015 film Kill Your Friends.
She starred as Amber Bowen, one of the titular victims, in the BAFTA-winning three-part BBC One miniseries Three Girls, based on a true story with the names changed.
In 2018 Zmitrowicz was named a Breakthrough Brit in the BAFTA awards.
She plays Roxy Monke in the 2023 Amazon Prime adaptation of Naomi Alderman's science fiction novel The Power.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2010 | Tearaway | Gemma | Short films |
| 2011 | Hard to Say | Kayley | Short films |
| 2012 | Pants | Billy | Short films |
| 2014 | Pretty Bitch | Louise | Short films |
| 2014 | Two Seas | Lauren | Short films |
| 2014 | Some Candid Observation on the Eve of the End of the World | Karen | Short films |
| 2014 | The Longing | Elizabeth | Short films |
| 2014 | Mustard | Penelope | Short films |
| 2015 | Kill Your Friends | Songbird Chantelle | |
| 2017 | Bad Drawings | Grace | Short film |
| 2018 | Entebbe | Jan Almog | |
| 2018 | Jellyfish | Nightclub Girl | |
| 2018 | Teen Spirit | Hayley | |
| 2018 | Futures | Rosie | Short film |
| 2020 | Misbehaviour | Mair | |
| 2021 | The Booker Prizes 2021: Great Circle | Storyteller | Short film |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2012 | Whitechapel | Sasha Lowood | Episode #3.5 |
| 2013 | Murder on the Home Front | Wilma Grey | Television film |
| 2013–2014 | Youngers | Jodie | 10 episodes |
| 2014 | Casualty | Emily Gambol | Episode: "Brothers at Arms" |
| 2014 | The Midnight Beast | Hope | Main role; Series 2, 5 episodes |
| 2014 | Playhouse Presents | Hayley | Episode: "Nightshift" |
| 2014–2016 | Mr Selfridge | Miss Ellis | 9 episodes |
| 2017 | Three Girls | Amber Bowen | Mini-series; 3 episodes |
| 2018 | On the Edge | Aimee Thomas | Mini-series; 1 episode: "Through the Gates" |
| 2020 | The Third Day: Autumn | | Special 12-hour long live stream episode |
| 2021 | Foresight | Ava (voice) | Mini-series; 1 episode: "They Heard Him Shout Allahu Akbar" |
| 2023 | The Power | Roxy Monke | Main cast; 7 episodes |
| 2024 | Sherwood | Lisa Waters | Series 2, 6 episodes |

## Stage

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2012 | Skanky | Kate | Arcola Theatre, London |
| 2012 | Cortae | | Talawa Theatre Company |
| 2012 | Chapel Street | Kirsty | Underbelly, Edinburgh Fringe Festival / Bush Theatre, London |
| 2013 | God's Property | Holly | Soho Theatre, London |
| 2015 | Arcadia | Chloe Coverly | Theatre Royal, Brighton / UK tour |
| 2015 | The Crucible | Mary Warren | Royal Exchange, Manchester |
| 2015 | Four Minutes Twelve Seconds | Cara | Trafalgar Studios / Hampstead Theatre, London |
| 2016 | X | Mattie | Royal Court Theatre, London |
| 2017 | Plastic | Jessica | Ustinov Studio, Bath |
| 2017 | Bad Roads | Journalist | Royal Court Theatre, London |
| 2018 | Gundog | Becky | Royal Court Theatre, London |
| 2018 | Dance Nation | Zuzu | Almeida Theatre, London |
| 2019 | Three Sisters | Irnina Sergeyevna | Almeida Theatre, London |
| 2019 | The Doctor | Sami | Almeida Theatre, London |
| 2020 | The Welkin | Sally Poppy | Royal National Theatre, London |
| 2022 | The Glow | The Woman | Royal Court Theatre Downstairs, London |

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Award | Category | Work | Result | Ref. |
| 2015 | Manchester Theatre Awards | Actress In A Supporting Role | The Crucible | Nominated | |
| 2020 | WhatsOnStage Awards | Best Supporting Actress in a Play | The Doctor | Nominated | |