Aya Cash facts for kids

Aya Rachel Cash is an American actress. She is best known for starring as Gretchen Cutler in the FX/FXX dark comedy series You’re the Worst (2014–2019), as Stormfront in the Amazon Prime Video superhero drama series The Boys (2020–2022), and most recently as Cheryl Peterson in the Fox sitcom Welcome to Flatch. She was nominated for the Critics’ Choice Television Award for Best Actress in a Comedy Series and the TCA Award for Individual Achievement in Comedy for You’re the Worst. Cash also appeared in numerous films, including The Oranges (2011), Sleepwalk with Me (2012), Begin Again (2013), The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), Mary Goes Round (2017), Game Over, Man! (2018), and Scare Me (2020).

Early life

Cash was born in San Francisco, California, to poet and novelist Kim Addonizio and Buddhist teacher Eugene Cash. On her mother’s side, she is the granddaughter of tennis champion Pauline Betz and sports writer Bob Addie. Her father’s upstairs neighbor, Margarita Landazuri, was one of the first employees for Turner Classic Movies and avidly supported Cash’s love for acting and film. Her father’s family is Jewish, whereas her mother is Catholic and of Italian descent. Cash has described herself as Jewish, and explained that their surname “was originally something like ‘CH-irsch’.”

Cash is an alumna of the San Francisco School of the Arts. She graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2004 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting, in partnership with the Guthrie Theater Actor Training Program. She then moved to New York City, where she began her acting career. For years, she struggled financially and worked as a full-time waitress to make ends meet.

Career

Television

Cash’s television appearances include Brotherhood, Law & Order, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Law and Order: Criminal Intent, 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”.

In 2019, she was cast as Stormfront in the second season of the Prime Video superhero dark comedy-drama series The Boys. The second season premiered in September 2020.

In 2020, Cash was cast as local newspaper reporter Cheryl Peterson in a pilot for a Fox sitcom titled This Country. The title was later changed to Welcome to Flatch, which premiered in 2022.

Film

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

Theatre

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

Personal life

Cash met writer and producer Josh Alexander when she was his waitress. They dated for seven years before marrying in 2012. They reside together in New York City.

Cash both identifies as Jewish and was raised Jewish, but no longer practices the religion, stating, “my mother is Catholic, my father is Jewish, but I was raised Jewish in a very not strict temple […] then I chose, after my Bat Mitzvah, not to continue.” Although she also mentioned that she has participated in Jewish holidays over the years, but not in many of them in recent years.

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” (איה) is an archaic word for “hawk”, though it is, in fact, the Modern Hebrew word for “honey buzzard”, a different bird of prey.

Cash is a celebrity ambassador for INARA, an NGO that helps war-wounded refugee children from Syria get medical help.

Filmography

Film

Year
Title
Role
Notes
2008
Off Jackson Avenue
Olga

2008
Deception
Secretary #2

2009
Winter of Frozen Dreams
…

2009
The Bits in Between
Suzy

2011
The Oranges
Maya

2012
Sleepwalk with Me
Hannah

2013
The Happy House
Wendy

2013
Begin Again
Jenny

2013
The Wolf of Wall Street
Janet

2014
Loitering with Intent
Jesse

2016
10 Crosby
Aya
Short film
2016
All Exchanges Final
Dom
Short film
2017
Village People
Barbara

2017
Mary Goes Round
Mary

2018
Brand New Old Love
Hannah Becker

2018
Game Over, Man!
Cassie

2018
Social Animals
Jane

2020
Scare Me
Fanny

2021
We Broke Up
Lori

Television

Year
Title
Role
Notes
2006
Law & Order
Janine Lesko
Episode: “Kingmaker”
2006
Law & Order: Criminal Intent
Lori
Episode: “Weeping Willow”
2007
Brotherhood
Martha Danners
Episode: “Shelter from the Storm 1:1-2”
2007
Spellbound
Chrissy
Unaired CW pilot
2009
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Katrina Lychkoff
Episode: “Hothouse”
2010
Mercy
Bliss Edlestein
Episode: “Too Much Attitude and Not Enough Underwear”
2010
Strange Brew
Lizzy
Unaired FOX pilot
2011
Traffic Light
Callie
Main role; 13 episodes
2012
Friday Night Dinner
Lizzy
Unaired NBC pilot
2012
A Gifted Man
Trish Sulloway
Episode: “In Case of Heart Failure”
2013
The Newsroom
Shelly Wexler
3 episodes
2013
We Are Men
Claire
5 episodes
2014–2019
You’re the Worst
Gretchen Cutler
Lead role; 62 episodes
2015
Modern Family
Vanessa
Episode: “Rash Decisions”
2015
The Good Wife
Amber Audrey
Episode: “Don’t Fail”
2015
Sirens
Cindy
Episode: “Let Pythons be Pythons”
2015
The Walker
Unknown
2 episodes
2016
American Dad!
Jody the Waitress (voice)
Episode: “The Unincludeds”
2016–2019
Easy
Sherri
4 episodes
2019
Fosse/Verdon
Joan Simon
Miniseries
2019
Will & Grace
Olivia Walker
Episode: “The Scales of Justice”
2020–2022
The Boys
Klara Risinger / Liberty / Stormfront
Main role (season 2)
Recurring (season 3); 10 episodes
2021
Family Guy
(voice)
Episode: “Peterschmidt Manor”
2022
Welcome to Flatch
Cheryl Peterson
Main cast
2022
Robot Chicken
(voice)
Episode: “May Cause Internal Diarrhea”
2022
The Girl from Plainville
Katie Rayburn
Miniseries
2022
The First Lady
Shirley Liebowitz
2 episodes

Theatre

Year
Title
Role
Venue
2006
The Pain and the Itch
Kalina
Playwrights Horizons
2008
From Up Here
Lauren
Manhattan Theatre Club
2008
Three Changes
Steffi
Playwrights Horizons
2009
Offices
Laura / Emma / Secretary
Linda Gross Theater
2011
The Other Place
The Woman
Music Box Theatre
2011
Happy Hour
Performer
Peter Norton Space
2014
Trudy and Max in Love
Trudy
South Coast Repertory
2017
The Light Years
Ruth / Adeline
Playwrights Horizons
2018
Kings
Lauren
The Public Theater

Awards and nominations

Year
Association
Category
Work
Result
Ref.
2016
Critics’ Choice Television Awards
Best Actress in a Comedy Series
You’re the Worst
Nominated

Gold Derby Awards
Best Comedy Lead Actress
Nominated

TCA Awards
Individual Achievement in Comedy
Nominated

2021
Critics’ Choice Super Awards
Best Actress in a Superhero Series
The Boys
Won

MTV Movie & TV Awards
Best Villain
Nominated

Hollywood Critics Association TV Awards
Best Actress in a Streaming Series, Drama
Nominated