# Ritu Arya

Ritu Arya is an English actress. She first became known for her role as Megan Sharma in the soap opera Doctors (2017), for which she was nominated for a British Soap Award. She gained further recognition for her roles as Flash in the sci-fi series Humans (2016–2018) and Lila Pitts in the Netflix series The Umbrella Academy (2020–2024). She also starred in the film Polite Society (2023) as Lena Khan.

## Early life and education

Ritu Arya's mother and father both work in real estate. She is of Indian descent and has two brothers, Romi and Rahul, the latter of whom is also an actor. Arya began acting as a teenager.
Arya obtained a BSc in astrophysics from the University of Southampton, where she performed as part of the Southampton University Theatre Group and Comedy Society, including several shows at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. She subsequently trained at the Oxford School of Drama.

## Career
### Acting

Arya first had acting roles in a series of roles in short films, and had a guest appearance in the series Sherlock in 2014.
She played the recurring role of Dr. Megan Sharma in the British soap opera Doctors, for which she was nominated for the British Soap Award for Best Newcomer in 2017. She also had a recurring role as the android Flash in the series Humans from 2016 to 2018.
In 2019, Arya appeared as Jenna in the film Last Christmas, which was a commercial success. The following year, she had a recurring role as Lava in the Netflix series Feel Good and guest starred in the series Doctor Who.
In 2020, Arya starred as Lila Pitts in the second season of the Netflix original series The Umbrella Academy, which earned her praise. She reprised the character in the series' third season, which was released in 2022. Bustle magazine described her performance in the series as "scene-stealing" and Uproxx called Arya the "wild-card" of the show. The series ended in 2024.
In 2021, Arya co-starred in the Netflix film Red Notice, and in 2023 appeared in Greta Gerwig's Barbie.
In 2024 she plays a lead role in the action series Paris Has Fallen as MI6 operative Zara Taylor, opposite French actor Tewfik Jallab.

### Music

Arya was a drummer and part of the band KIN, who released their debut single "Sharing Light" in April 2020. Their follow-up single "L.O.V.E." premiered on 6 August 2020. On 16 October 2022, KIN released a statement saying that Arya had left the band and her last live show with them was on 14 October 2022 in London.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2015 | My Beautiful White Skin | Parita | Short film |
| 2017 | Daphne | Rachida | |
| 2017 | Jessamine | Sonya | Short film |
| 2017 | The Super Recogniser | Agent Williams | Short film |
| 2018 | Lady Parts | Saira | Short film |
| 2019 | Last Christmas | Jenna | |
| 2021 | Red Notice | Inspector Urvashi Das | |
| 2023 | Polite Society | Lena Khan | |
| 2023 | Barbie | Journalist Barbie | |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2013 | Doctors | Sukhinder Nain | Episode: "Embarrassing Bodies" |
| 2013 | The Tunnel | Bureau Girl | Episode #1.6 |
| 2014 | Sherlock | Gail | Episode: "The Sign of Three" |
| 2016 | We The Jury | Kate | Episode: "Pilot" |
| 2016–2018 | Humans | Flash | Recurring role (series 2–3) |
| 2017 | Crackanory | Eleni / Beth | 2 episodes |
| 2017 | Doctors | Dr. Megan Sharma | Recurring role |
| 2018–2019 | The Good Karma Hospital | Barsha Nambeesan | Recurring role |
| 2019 | Sticks and Stones | Becky | Main role |
| 2020 | Doctor Who | Gat | Episode: "Fugitive of the Judoon" |
| 2020 | The Stranger | Michaela | Episode #1.3 |
| 2020 | Feel Good | Lava | Recurring role |
| 2020–2024 | The Umbrella Academy | Lila Pitts | Main cast (seasons 2–4) |
| 2024 | Paris Has Fallen | Zara Taylor | Main role |

### Theatre

| Year | Title | Role | Venue |
| 2013 | Carpe Diem | Aishah | Royal National Theatre, London |
| 2014 | The Fourth Wise Man | Samira | Unicorn Theatre, London |
| 2015 | Mermaid | Mermaid/Ensemble | UK Tour |
| 2015 | We Know Where You Live | Asma | Finborough Theatre, London |
| 2015 | Beauty and the Beast | Belle | Polka Theatre, London |
| 2016 | Noises Off | Poppy | Nottingham Playhouse, Nottingham |
| 2017 | Mother Christmas | Grace | Hampstead Theatre, London |
| 2018 | Genesis Inc. | Serena | Hampstead Theatre, London |