INTERVIEW

Simoné Esterhuizen | 06/04/2026

There is something immediately disarming about Ritu Arya. Within minutes of our call connecting, she greets with a self-deprecating laugh; she is already somewhere between candid and confessional, and it feels completely natural.

Most recently, she can be seen in Bait - the ambitious, Sundance-lauded series starring Riz Ahmed - that has critics raving about their onscreen chemistry and her grounded performance amid the protagonist's chaotic energy. It is not difficult to see why she was drawn to the role. “I was a big fan of Riz, so I was very excited to work with him. And then when I read it, the writing felt fresh and honest and unpredictable.” Her character is an ex-lover, a lone wolf, someone celebrating Eid alone when we find her in episode four. She is, above all, the person who tells the truth. "She's the one who calls him out," Arya says. "She's ambitious, honest, and perceptive. I think that's why we love her - someone who can just bring out the truth.” Arya tells me, with sincerity, that she thinks we’re living in a world where we're fed so much information behind social media masks, and that perhaps we are drawn to this character because we’re all craving authenticity.

She speaks about the provocative nature of Bait and how a change in genre can be good. "Change can be scary," she says, "but it's inevitable, and so it's important to embrace it” Arya admits that the reception of Bait was a welcome surprise. As a show that blends genres and has diverse representation, for her, “it shows that there's a keen audience for that, and hopefully it leads to us seeing more of this going forward.”

Throughout her career, she’s played a diverse roster of characters. From the physicality of her Umbrella Academy role as Lila to the sharp comic register of Barbie, she has never settled into a single mode. "I love the idea of playing a variety of characters and to keep people guessing,” she says. "I do like to put myself in uncomfortable situations. It's important for us to do things that scare us. That's how we build courage.” The stunt work that came with The Umbrella Academy is still something she speaks about with a particular kind of delight. It was her first time at a martial arts boot camp, and she discovered something she did not expect. "I didn't know I would love it as much as I did," she laughs. From there, action became a recurring thread in her career - not by design exactly, but by the logic of one thing leading to the next.

We start talking about pivotal moments in her career, and she tells me that "Every part has been pivotal.” On the grand scale, it is Lila in The Umbrella Academy that she points to - the role that took her to Canada for an extended shoot, her first real foothold in the US market, and an experience she describes simply as living a dream. "I'm just so grateful. I've got to live that dream truly." But she is just as quick to push back against the idea that the biggest moments are always the most defining ones.

It is the quieter turning points, she says, the ones only her nearest and dearest know about, that have been equally seismic internally. A small part in Last Christmas. The call that came through for Lady Parts left her in tears. "These parts meant so much to me when I got them," she says. "It's just the best feeling in the world when you get that call." What she hopes, more than anything, is that the feeling never becomes ordinary. "I don't want it to be that one thing," she says. "I hope that never stops.”

She speaks about imposter syndrome with the frankness of someone who has genuinely reckoned with it rather than simply acknowledged it as a concept. She gets nervous. She overthinks. She has felt embarrassed. But something always overrides it - the bigger picture, the conversation she wants to be part of, the representation she believes matters. “It's more important to find confidence, because it's more important for me to try and create the change in conversation around things like hierarchy and sexism and South Asian representation.” She feels strongly about uplifting others in the industry and joyfully shares that “sometimes the best way to help others is by standing in your light. It gives people permission to do the same.” Arya doesn’t believe in faking it till you make it, as she shares that “I find that impossible, because I don't feel like I'm faking confidence,” but rather that she “feels the fear and does it anyway.”

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Jacket, Eva Stammers.

Tulle Top and Tulle Skirt, A-JANE.