Amrita Acharia

**Real world**This page is about a non-fictional subject that exists in the real world.

## Amrita Acharia

### Aliases

Амрита Ачария (Cyrillic)
अमृता आचार्य (Nepali)
Surname: Acaria / Acharya

### Born

31 July 1987
Kathmandu, Nepal

## Production details

### Appears in

Episode 1.01–present

**Amrita Acharia** is a London-based Norwegian actress of mixed Nepalese and Ukrainian descent. She is not to be confused with the Bollywood actress who has a similar name. Due to various moves for her parents' work, she speaks Ukrainian-Russian, English, Norwegian, and the fictional Dothraki, but not Nepali. However, she intends to learn. She performs in English and Norwegian. In her Twitter blurb, she describes herself as "ambiguously foreign". She is a 2009 graduate of Academy of Live and Recorded Arts (ALRA).

She portrays Dr Ruby Walker in *The Good Karma Hospital*, one of the main characters of the series.

## Background

### Family

Her father is a doctor working as a university professor of gynaecology and obstetrics in Scandinavia and her mother is an architect. They met while he was training in Kyiv, Ukraine. Amrita spent her early childhood in her mother's city. The family then moved to England (specifically Bristol and Harlow, Essex) when she was about 8, and ultimately to Tromsø in northern Norway as a teenager, where 'home' remains. When filming started, her dad would have spotted if any of the props were wrong! She has at least one sister who is studying for a PhD and one brother training in the film industry.

### Other Activities

Amrita is keen on fitness. In 2016, she completed the London Marathon with a time of 03:46:07, although admits that she hates running. She also exercises using yoga, boxing, weightlifting and hula hoop, often seen on her Instagram feed. Apart from acting, Amrita is a certified personal trainer and yoga instructor which she uses to keep busy between roles and has begun training in counselling. Some of these activities have been written into the character too. Ruby is seen practicing yoga to an advanced level on "Barco" beach when she is bent backwards and stretches up one leg [EP1.04], boxing at her new apartment [EP2.01] and jogging through the plantation [EP3.01].

She does not have a driving licence but learned to ride a motorbike for the show. However, it is stated that Ruby can drive "sensible cars with pedals, a stereo and climate control" [EP1.02]. That is why 'Gabriel' does it all on screen for the road portions [EP2.03, EP2.04]. But she is seen at the wheel of a truck in the hospital entrance [EP3.01].

Amrita became the official ambassador for UK-based charity Pipal Tree (formerly ChoraChori) in 2018. The organisation operates in Nepal to keep girls in education, return trafficked children to their families and provide them with trauma support as well as community and environmental goals. Her colleagues and family have been known to assist her in supporting the cause.

In 2020, she launched with her fiancé Sagar Radia the podcast series Rule Not the Exception as a passion project to be an inclusive platform to celebrate, inspire and ignite honest conversations with under-represented creatives within the entertainment industry and beyond. Their first two guests were James Krishna Floyd and Mandip Gill.

## Other Works

Amrita started on screen with guest parts in *Casualty* and *Doctors* before being cast as handmaiden Irri in HBO's epic fantasy *Game of Thrones* where she came to prominence. She had professional contact with Series 2 guest star Sue Johnston with a small part in *Lapland*, the Christmas pilot episode for what became *Being Eileen*. She has appeared in a variety of crowdfunded and independent film, in both lead and supporting roles many of which are available on Amazon.

Just before starting on *The Good Karma Hospital*, Amrita had a major role in Norwegian legal drama *Frikjent/Acquitted*. This was shown on Channel 4 as part of their Walter Presents slot, selecting the best non-English language productions. She was co-lead for ITV's headline supernatural drama *The Sister* based on the novel *Burial* by Neil Cross which she was excited about in interviews[2]. There was a mixed audience reaction to the story, however.

Her comedy credentials include an episode of Red Dwarf (12.3 *Timewave*) as the exuberant Waitress Greta and for web miniseries *Pen & Paper & Laser Guns* and *Sibi & Dan*. She has also lent her voice to Laika studios animation *Missing Link* and radio drama *Takeover*.

Amrita has directed theatre for drama schools in Norway and at London fringe theatres enabling her to direct her first short film *The Carer* (2021). The story highlights the plight of these forgotten workers during the pandemic. It has been submitted for inclusions at various international festivals. She can occasionally be seen on stage herself, most recently in 2020 for the Soho Theatre production of *The Special Relationship*. Its run was cut short by national lockdown restrictions but was made available on demand.

See her next in historical drama *The Serpent Queen* coming to streaming services 2022 (due on StarzPlay in UK).

## Nominations

### 2014 for Jeg er Din (I Am Yours) in Norwegian

* Best Actress - Amanda Awards.
* Academy Awards (Oscars) submission for Best Foreign Language film.

### For *The Good Karma Hospital*

* National Television Awards for Best Drama Performance as Ruby Walker (2019 ceremony).

## External links

### Social networking

* Comedy
* Instagram
* Twitter
* Amrita Acharia at Wikipedia

### Agents

* Conway van Gelder Grant (CvGG)
* Bespoke Voice Agency (BVA)

## Sources

1. ↑ The Famous People biography.
2. ↑ Amrita Acharya-Dunne at the London Marathon 2016.
3. ↑ On The Good Karma Hospital and Norwegian comfort for *Balance* #92 (23 Mar 2020).
4. ↑ "Good news! We've been long-listed for three National Television Awards!" on series Facebook account (17 Oct 2018).