Aya Cash


Aya Rachel Cash is an American actress. She received a nomination for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actress in a Comedy Series and the TCA Award for Individual Achievement in Comedy for her lead role in the FX/FXX series You're the Worst.

Early life

Cash was born in San Francisco, to poet and novelist Kim Addonizio and Buddhist teacher Eugene Cash. Her father's family is Jewish, whereas her mother is Catholic. Cash has described herself as Jewish. Her maternal grandparents are Wimbledon champion Pauline Betz Addie and sportswriter Bob Addie.
She is an alumna of the San Francisco School of the Arts and holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Minnesota/Guthrie Theater Actor Training Program.

Career

Television

Cash's television appearances include Brotherhood, Law & Order, ', ', Mercy, and The Newsroom. Cash was also a series regular in the 2011 Fox comedy Traffic Light, which ran for one season. From 2014 to 2019, she starred in the FX Network series You're the Worst as Gretchen Cutler. She received critical acclaim for her performance, with the website The A.V. Club calling her acting in the second season "the best TV performance of 2015". Cash most recently appeared in the FX Network series “Fosse/Verdon” as Joan Simon, wife of Neil Simon and close friend to Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon.
In 2019, she was cast to star as Storm Front in the second season of the Amazon's series The Boys.

Film

Cash's film credits include The Oranges, Winter of Frozen Dreams, Off Jackson Avenue, Begin Again, The Bits In Between, and The Happy House. She had a small role as Janet, Jordan Belfort’s assistant in The Wolf of Wall Street.

Theater

Additionally, Cash has numerous Off-Broadway credits, and in 2014 starred in the world premiere of Zoe Kazan’s play Trudy And Max In Love.

Personal life

In 2012, Cash married producer/writer Josh Alexander. They live together in New York City.
Cash said that she has a hawk tattooed on her back because she was told that Aya means "hawk" in Hebrew. However, when she visited Israel she was told that "Aya" is an archaic word for "hawk", though it is, in fact, the word for "honey buzzard", a different bird of prey.
Cash is a celebrity ambassador for INARA, an NGO that helps war wounded refugee children get much-needed medical help.

Filmography

YearTitleRoleNotes
2006Law & OrderJanine LeskoEpisode: "Kingmaker"
2006'LoriEpisode: "Weeping Willow |Weeping Willow"
2007BrotherhoodMartha DannersEpisode: "Shelter from the Storm 1:1-2"
2007SpellboundChrissyUnaired CW pilot
2009'Katrina LychkoffEpisode: "Hothouse"
2010MercyBliss EdlesteinEpisode: "Too Much Attitude and Not Enough Underwear"
2010Strange BrewLizzyUnaired FOX pilot
2011Traffic LightCallieMain role; 13 episodes
2012Friday Night DinnerLizzyUnaired NBC pilot
2012A Gifted ManTrish SullowayEpisode: "In Case of Heart Failure"
2013The NewsroomShelly Wexler3 episodes
2013We Are MenClaire2 episodes
2014–2019You're the WorstGretchen CutlerLead role, 62 episodes
Nominated – Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actress in a Comedy Series
Nominated – TCA Award for Individual Achievement in Comedy
2015Modern FamilyVanessaEpisode: "Rash Decisions"
2015The Good WifeAmber AudreyEpisode: "Don't Fail"
2015SirensCindyEpisode: "Let Pythons be Pythons"
2016–2019EasySherri4 episodes
2019Fosse/VerdonJoan SimonMiniseries
2019Will & GraceOlivia WalkerEpisode: "The Scales of Justice"
2020The BoysStormfrontRecurring