Aysha Kala

Kala made her television debut in 2011 as Sita Desai in eight episodes of Shameless. She made her professional stage debut in 2012, playing Maid in the Royal Shakespeare Company production of Much Ado About Nothing at the Courtyard Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon and Khadija in Khadija is 18 at the Finborough Theatre in London. Her performance in Much Ado About Nothing received an Ian Charleson Award nomination, while her performance in Khadija is 18 received an Offie nomination for Female Performance.

In 2013, Kala made her feature film debut in Jadoo as Seema Chandana. She also played Emma in an episode of Vicious and appeared on stage as Molly in Farragut North at Southwark Playhouse and Ashrafi in Djinns Of Eidgah at the Royal Court Theatre. In 2014, she played Waitress in Second Coming. In 2015, she appeared as Ice Queen in the short film Exmas and began her main role as Sooni Dalal in Indian Summers, which continued through 2016. She also voiced Tenar in the BBC Radio 4 production of Earthsea and narrated The City of Woven Streets in 2015. She was named a BAFTA Breakthrough Brit in 2015.

Kala's 2016 stage credits included various roles in PunkPlay at Southwark Playhouse, while she also narrated Radio Silence. In 2017, she played Anita in Obsession at the Barbican Theatre. She appeared as Fiona in Frogman and Sonal/Joy in An Adventure in 2018, and narrated I Was Born for This that year. In 2019, she played Myra in the short film Osama Bin Hiding, Roya in the short film Home Girl and Sona in the short film The Deranged Marriage. She also appeared as Nina in Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike at Theatre Royal, Bath.

In 2020, Kala played Peg Carter in The Welkin at the National Theatre. She returned to television in 2021 as Sarita Gupta in an episode of Call the Midwife and as Reshmi in an episode of Master of None. Her stage credits that year included Under the Mask at the Rose Theatre, Kingston. In 2022, she played Detective in two episodes of Man vs. Bee and Amina in three episodes of The Undeclared War. She also played Hannah in Scandaltown at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith.

In 2023, Kala played Ananya in three episodes of The Doll Factory. She also originated the role of Jessica Levy in The Motive and the Cue at the National Theatre and played Vimala in The Father and the Assassin. In 2024, she played Sonya Singh in eight episodes of Criminal Record. Her other 2024 screen credits included roles in the short films Osama Bin Hiding, Home Girl and The Deranged Marriage.

In 2025, Kala played Saima Virdee in the six-episode BBC One crime drama Virdee. In 2026, she appeared as Laura in Teeth 'n' Smiles at the Duke of York's Theatre in London.