Ritu Arya

Ritu Arya is a British actress of Indian descent who has rapidly become a recognizable face in contemporary television and film. Born on 17 September 1988 in Guildford, England, she grew up in a family involved in real estate and shared her upbringing with two brothers, Romi and Rahul, the latter also pursuing acting. From a young age Arya displayed a passion for performance, joining the Southampton University Theatre Group and the Comedy Society while completing a BSc in astrophysics at the University of Southampton, where she also showcased several shows at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. After graduating she refined her craft at the Oxford School of Drama, earning a graduate diploma that prepared her for a versatile career across screen and stage. Arya’s on‑screen breakthrough arrived with a recurring role as Dr. Megan Sharma in the BBC soap Doctors (2017), earning a nomination for the British Soap Award for Best Newcomer, and she simultaneously captivated audiences as the synthetic character Flash in the sci‑fi series Humans (2016‑2018). Her profile elevated further when she portrayed Lila Pitts, the time‑traveling assassin, in seasons two and three of Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy (2020‑2024), a performance praised as “scene‑stealing” by Bustle and dubbed the show’s “wild‑card” by Uproxx. Beyond television, she appeared in the romantic comedy Last Christmas (2019), the high‑budget Netflix film Red Notice (2021), Greta Gerwig’s culturally iconic Barbie (2023), and headlined the action series Paris Has Fallen (2024) as MI6 operative Zara Taylor. Parallel to acting, Arya explored music as the drummer for the band KIN, contributing to singles such as “Sharing Light” (2020) before departing in 2022. Her diverse background in science, drama training, and musical talent continues to inform a dynamic and evolving career in the entertainment industry.