Ritu Arya
Ritu Arya is an actor, born 1988.
The soap is still the fastest apprenticeship in British television, and Ritu Arya went through it. She played Megan Sharma in Doctors in 2017 and took a British Soap Award nomination out of it, having already appeared as Flash in the science fiction series Humans between 2016 and 2018.
The role that changed the scale of things was Lila Pitts in Netflix's The Umbrella Academy, which she played from 2020 to 2024. The part only works if the actor commits to someone who is visibly enjoying herself while everyone around her panics, and Arya plays it with an unbothered comic timing the show came to lean on. She has a habit of underplaying the exact moment a scene expects her to escalate, which is why she reads as the dangerous one in an ensemble full of shouting.
Around that she has taken supporting work in big films: Inspector Urvashi Das in Red Notice, one of the Barbies in Barbie, Jenna in Last Christmas. The single genuine lead is Polite Society, the British action comedy where she plays Lena. Recent work has moved back to television with Paris Has Fallen and the 2026 series Bait, which suggests she is being built as someone who can carry a show rather than decorate one.
Movies (5)
TV (4)
Where to start with Ritu Arya
Polite Society first, no contest. It is the only thing here built around her, and its sibling comedy depends entirely on her playing an adult who has stopped explaining herself to anyone.
The Umbrella Academy is the long haul and the best evidence that she can hold a large, weird ensemble without raising her voice. Humans is worth a look if you want the same restraint applied to something colder.
For the big-budget appearances, Red Notice and Barbie are exactly what they sound like, and Last Christmas is warmer than its reviews allowed. Paris Has Fallen is the straightforward action option if you simply want more of her.