# Amrita Acharia
**Amrita Acharia** (born 1987) is a British actress of Nepalese-Ukrainian heritage, known for playing the Dothraki handmaiden Irri in the first two seasons of HBO's *Game of Thrones*, Dr. Ruby Walker in ITV's *The Good Karma Hospital*, and Aabis in the Starz series *The Serpent Queen*.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3822505/) She has worked in British, Norwegian, and American productions in English, Norwegian, and Ukrainian, and since 2022 has also worked as a short-film director.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3822505/) • [2](https://niff.org.np/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/NIFF2022-Catalogue-Final_compressed-1.pdf)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1987, Kathmandu, Nepal; one film database gives 1990 instead[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/amrita_acharia) • [4](https://www.filmstarts.de/personen/519268.html) |
| Heritage | Nepalese-Ukrainian; father a Nepalese gynaecologist, mother a Ukrainian architect who met at medical school in Kiev[5](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/amrita-acharia-interview-game-of-thrones-irri-the-good-karma-hospital-itv-a7556451.html) |
| Upbringing | Grew up in Ukraine, Kathmandu, and England, moved to Norway at 13, finished high school in Tromsø, then moved to England to act[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3822505/) |
| Training | ALRA (Academy of Live and Recorded Arts), London, BA (Hons) Acting, three years, 2009[6](https://www.conwayvangeldergrant.com/actors/amrita-acharia/pdf/) |
| Signature TV roles | Irri in *Game of Thrones* (2011–2012, 13 episodes); Dr. Ruby Walker in *The Good Karma Hospital* (2017–2022, 22 episodes); Aabis in *The Serpent Queen* (2022–2024, 16 episodes)[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3822505/) |
| Signature film role | Mina in *I Am Yours* (*Jeg er din*, 2013), Iram Haq's Norwegian drama; 100% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer[7](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/jeg_er_din) |
| Directing | Debut with the short film *The Carer* (2022); followed by *Sleepeater* (2025)[2](https://niff.org.np/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/NIFF2022-Catalogue-Final_compressed-1.pdf) • [1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3822505/) |
| Languages | Ukrainian, Norwegian, and English[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3822505/) |
## Background and training
Acharia's parents met while her father, a Nepalese gynaecologist, and her mother, a Ukrainian architect, were at medical school in Kiev.[5](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/amrita-acharia-interview-game-of-thrones-irri-the-good-karma-hospital-itv-a7556451.html) She spent the first seven years of her life in Nepal, before her father's work took the family to England and, when she was 13, to Norway.[5](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/amrita-acharia-interview-game-of-thrones-irri-the-good-karma-hospital-itv-a7556451.html) Her teenage years were spent in Tromsø in far northern Norway, an accent she has described as "the Norwegian equivalent of Yorkshire".[5](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/amrita-acharia-interview-game-of-thrones-irri-the-good-karma-hospital-itv-a7556451.html) After high school there she moved to England and trained at the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts (ALRA) in London, completing a three-year BA (Hons) in Acting in 2009.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3822505/) • [6](https://www.conwayvangeldergrant.com/actors/amrita-acharia/pdf/)
She has said that a high-school teacher in Norway was the person who gave her the confidence to treat acting as a profession.[8](https://pop-culturalist.com/amrita-acharia-talks-the-serpent-queen-what-audiences-should-know-about-her-character-and-more/) Her multilingual background has shaped her casting: she has said that because she does not look like a typical Asian, she could be cast as anything from Caucasian to Latina to Asian, and that being of mixed race is an advantage for her.[9](https://nepalitimes.com/amrita-acharia-comes-home?amp=1)
## Game of Thrones and early career
Acharia's first major screen role was Irri, the Dothraki handmaiden and companion to [Daenerys Targaryen](https://www.edgepedia.org/daenerys-targaryen), in the first two seasons of *Game of Thrones* (2011–2012, 13 episodes).[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3822505/) She had to learn lines in Dothraki, the invented language of the series, which she described as "guttural and harsh", sounding to her partly like Arabic and partly like Spanish.[5](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/amrita-acharia-interview-game-of-thrones-irri-the-good-karma-hospital-itv-a7556451.html) In a 2010 interview with the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet, given a year after she left drama school, she called the move to a production of that scale enormous, with a massive crew, a huge budget, and gigantic sets.[10](https://www.westeros.org/News/Entry/New_Amrita_Acharia_Interview/)
Her character was killed off at the end of season two, strangled by the fellow handmaiden Doreah ([Roxanne McKee](https://www.edgepedia.org/roxanne-mckee)) during the theft of Daenerys's dragons at Qarth.[5](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/amrita-acharia-interview-game-of-thrones-irri-the-good-karma-hospital-itv-a7556451.html) • [11](https://time.com/3951804/game-of-thrones-maisie-williams-comic-con/) The death scene was cut from the final edit, despite Acharia performing it with enough force that she had heavy bruising on her neck the next day; she told the crew member playing opposite her to "just go for it".[5](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/amrita-acharia-interview-game-of-thrones-irri-the-good-karma-hospital-itv-a7556451.html) Fans have continued to raise the character with her at conventions, because in [George R. R. Martin](https://www.edgepedia.org/george-r-r-martin)'s source novels Irri's story continues for much longer.[5](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/amrita-acharia-interview-game-of-thrones-irri-the-good-karma-hospital-itv-a7556451.html)
## Norwegian film and British television
After *Game of Thrones*, Acharia played the lead in *I Am Yours* (*Jeg er din*, 2013), the debut feature of the Norwegian-Pakistani writer-director Iram Haq.[5](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/amrita-acharia-interview-game-of-thrones-irri-the-good-karma-hospital-itv-a7556451.html) • [7](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/jeg_er_din) She played Mina, a divorced Norwegian-Pakistani single mother and aspiring actress caught between her conservative family and an unsuitable relationship with a Swedish film director ([Ola Rapace](https://www.edgepedia.org/ola-rapace)).[12](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jan/29/i-am-yours-review) The Guardian's review called her performance "electric" and "impressive", and Variety described her as "a naturally warm lead thesp, who gives a literally and figuratively naked performance".[12](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jan/29/i-am-yours-review) • [5](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/amrita-acharia-interview-game-of-thrones-irri-the-good-karma-hospital-itv-a7556451.html) The Independent describes the film as Oscar-nominated.[5](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/amrita-acharia-interview-game-of-thrones-irri-the-good-karma-hospital-itv-a7556451.html) Acharia has said the part demanded heavy improvisation and a sustained extreme emotional state, and that it resonated with her sense of mixed-race identity and not knowing where she belongs.[5](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/amrita-acharia-interview-game-of-thrones-irri-the-good-karma-hospital-itv-a7556451.html)
Her other Norwegian work includes the defense lawyer Amina Sahir in the second season of the noir thriller series *Acquitted* (2016, 8 episodes) and Reidun in Tommy Wirkola's *Dead Snow 2: Red vs. Dead* (2014).[13](https://www.allocine.fr/personne/fichepersonne-519268/filmographie/) • [14](https://www.conwayvangeldergrant.com/actors/amrita-acharia/)
In British television she became the lead of ITV's prime-time medical drama *The Good Karma Hospital*, playing Dr. Ruby Walker, a British-Asian NHS junior doctor who takes a post at an under-resourced public hospital in the southern Indian state of Kerala; the role ran for 22 episodes across four seasons from 2017 to 2022.[5](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/amrita-acharia-interview-game-of-thrones-irri-the-good-karma-hospital-itv-a7556451.html) • [1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3822505/) Filming took three months, with Sri Lanka standing in for Kerala.[5](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/amrita-acharia-interview-game-of-thrones-irri-the-good-karma-hospital-itv-a7556451.html) She followed this with Holly Fox in the ITV/Hulu miniseries *The Sister* (2020, 4 episodes) and Inge Palmberg in an episode of *Van der Valk* (2024).[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3822505/)
## The Serpent Queen and later work
From 2022 to 2024 Acharia played Aabis, a servant in the court of Catherine de Medici, in 16 episodes of the Starz series *The Serpent Queen*, based on Leonie Frieda's biography of the queen.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3822505/) • [14](https://www.conwayvangeldergrant.com/actors/amrita-acharia/) Her screen work also includes voice roles: Ama Lhamu in the animated feature *[Missing Link](https://www.edgepedia.org/missing-link-2019-film)* (2019), and multiple characters in the animated series *Kitti Katz* (2023).[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3822505/)
She made her directorial debut with the short film *The Carer* (2022), and directed a second short, *Sleepeater*, in 2025.[2](https://niff.org.np/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/NIFF2022-Catalogue-Final_compressed-1.pdf) • [1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3822505/) Upcoming credits listed on IMDb include the [Channel 4](https://www.edgepedia.org/channel-4) series *Pierre* (as DCI Craig), the miniseries *Tiger Island* (as narrator), and voice roles in the video games *Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2* (2025) and *Dragon Quest VII Reimagined* (2026).[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3822505/)
## Identity and public work
Acharia describes herself as multilingual and multicultural, speaking Ukrainian, Norwegian, and English, and has said "wherever I am" when asked where home is.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3822505/) • [5](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/amrita-acharia-interview-game-of-thrones-irri-the-good-karma-hospital-itv-a7556451.html) In 2017 she visited Nepal for the first time in about 16 years, supporting the children's charity ChoraChori at a shelter in Godavari and visiting family in Butwal, Bhairawa, and Arghakhanchi; she has said she lost touch with Nepali because her parents spoke Ukrainian and Russian to each other, and that she would need to relearn the language before acting in a Nepali film, since she does not like her voice to be dubbed.[9](https://nepalitimes.com/amrita-acharia-comes-home?amp=1)
## References
1. [Amrita Acharia, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3822505/)
2. [NIFF 2022 Catalogue, Nepal International Film Festival](https://niff.org.np/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/NIFF2022-Catalogue-Final_compressed-1.pdf)
3. [Amrita Acharia, Rotten Tomatoes celebrity page](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/amrita_acharia)
4. [Amrita Acharia, FILMSTARTS.de](https://www.filmstarts.de/personen/519268.html)
5. [Gerard Gilbert, "Actress Amrita Acharia talks Game of Thrones, Nordic noir and The Good Karma Hospital", The Independent, 2 February 2017](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/amrita-acharia-interview-game-of-thrones-irri-the-good-karma-hospital-itv-a7556451.html)
6. [Amrita Acharia CV, Conway Van Gelder Grant](https://www.conwayvangeldergrant.com/actors/amrita-acharia/pdf/)
7. [I Am Yours, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/jeg_er_din)
8. [Amrita Acharia interview, Pop-Culturalist](https://pop-culturalist.com/amrita-acharia-talks-the-serpent-queen-what-audiences-should-know-about-her-character-and-more/)
9. ["Amrita Acharia comes home", Nepali Times](https://nepalitimes.com/amrita-acharia-comes-home?amp=1)
10. ["New Amrita Acharia Interview" (Dagbladet translation), Westeros.org, 7 September 2010](https://www.westeros.org/News/Entry/New_Amrita_Acharia_Interview/)
11. ["Maisie Williams on How Game of Thrones Treats Women", Time (character death list)](https://time.com/3951804/game-of-thrones-maisie-williams-comic-con/)
12. [Leslie Felperin, "I Am Yours review", The Guardian, 29 January 2015](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jan/29/i-am-yours-review)
13. [Amrita Acharia filmographie, AlloCiné](https://www.allocine.fr/personne/fichepersonne-519268/filmographie/)
14. [Amrita Acharia CV page, Conway Van Gelder Grant](https://www.conwayvangeldergrant.com/actors/amrita-acharia/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Screen actors of the Anglosphere and Europe › Nordic actors*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 12, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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