Aya Rachel Cash is an American actress. She is best known for starring as Gretchen Cutler in the FX/

FXX FXX is an American basic cable channel owned by the Walt Disney Television unit of The Walt Disney Company through FX Networks, LLC. It is the partner channel of FX, with its programming focusing on original and acquired comedy series and fe ...

dark comedy Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discus ...

series ''

You're the Worst ''You're the Worst'' is an American comedy-drama television series created by Stephen Falk. Originally broadcast by FX, the series moved to its sister channel FXX beginning with the second season. The series follows Jimmy (Chris Geere), a self- ...

'' (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 A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...

Welcome to Flatch ''Welcome to Flatch'' is an American mockumentary sitcom that premiered on Fox on March 17, 2022. It is based on the British series '' This Country'', which was created and written by Daisy May Cooper and her brother Charlie Cooper who also pla ...

''. She was nominated for the

Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actress in a Comedy Series The Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actress in a Comedy Series is one of the award categories presented annually by the Critics' Choice Television Awards (BTJA) to recognize the work done by television actresses. It was introduced in 20 ...

and the

TCA Award for Individual Achievement in Comedy The TCA Award for Individual Achievement in Comedy is an award given by the Television Critics Association. Winners and nominees Multiple wins ;2 wins * Louis C.K. (consecutive) *Jane Kaczmarek (consecutive) *David Hyde Pierce (consecutive) *Jon ...

for ''You're the Worst''. Cash also appeared in numerous films, including ''

The Oranges The Oranges are a group of four municipalities in Essex County, New Jersey, all of which have the word ''Orange'' in their name. The four municipalities are Orange, East Orange, South Orange and West Orange. All of these communities were n ...

'' (2011), ''

Sleepwalk with Me ''Sleepwalk with Me'' is a 2012 American independent comedy film co-written by, directed by, and starring Mike Birbiglia. It also stars Lauren Ambrose, James Rebhorn, Carol Kane, and Cristin Milioti. Before making the film, Birbiglia had already ...

'' (2012), '' Begin Again'' (2013), '' The Wolf of Wall Street'' (2013), '' Mary Goes Round'' (2017), ''

Game Over, Man! ''Game Over, Man!'' is a 2018 American action comedy film directed by Kyle Newacheck, written by Anders Holm, and starring Holm, Adam DeVine, and Blake Anderson, all of whom previously collaborated on the sitcom ''Workaholics''. It follows three ...

'' (2018), and '' Scare Me'' (2020).

Early life

Cash was born in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, California, to poet and novelist

Kim Addonizio Kim Addonizio (July 31, 1954) is an American poet and novelist. Life Addonizio was born in Washington, D.C., United States. She is the daughter of tennis champion Pauline Betz and sports writer Bob Addie (born Addonizio). She briefly attended ...

and Buddhist teacher Eugene Cash. On her mother's side, she is the granddaughter of tennis champion

Pauline Betz Pauline may refer to: Religion *An adjective referring to St Paul the Apostle or a follower of his doctrines *An adjective referring to St Paul of Thebes, also called St Paul the First Hermit *An adjective referring to the Paulines, various relig ...

and sports writer

Bob Addie Robert Addie (born Robert Richard Addonizio, February 6, 1910 – January 18, 1982) was an American sportswriter who covered baseball for ''The Washington Post'' and '' Washington Times-Herald''. Addie was known for his red socks, dark glasses, an ...

. Her father's family is Jewish, while her mother is Catholic. 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 The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...

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 Mercy (Middle English, from Anglo-French ''merci'', from Medieval Latin ''merced-'', ''merces'', from Latin, "price paid, wages", from ''merc-'', ''merxi'' "merchandise") is benevolence, forgiveness, and kindness in a variety of ethical, relig ...

'', and '' The Newsroom''. Cash was also a series regular in the 2011 Fox comedy ''

Traffic Light Traffic lights, traffic signals, or stoplights – known also as robots in South Africa are signalling devices positioned at road intersections, pedestrian crossings, and other locations in order to control flows of traffic. Traffic light ...

'', which ran for one season. From 2014 to 2019, she starred in the

FX Network FX is an American pay television channel owned by FX Networks, LLC, a subsidiary of the Disney General Entertainment Content unit of The Walt Disney Company. It is based at the Fox Studios lot in Century City, California. FX originally launch ...

series ''

'' as Gretchen Cutler. She received critical acclaim for her performance, with the website

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

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 Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming and rental service of Amazon offered as a standalone service or as part of Amazon's Prime subscription. The service pr ...

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 ''

'', which premiered in 2022.

Film

Cash's film credits include ''

'', ''

Winter of Frozen Dreams ''Winter of Frozen Dreams'' is a 2009 independent American crime drama film directed by Eric Mandelbaum, and starring Thora Birch, Keith Carradine, and Brendan Sexton III. The film follows the story of Barbara Hoffman, a Wisconsin biochemistry st ...

'', ''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 Jordan Ross Belfort (; born July 9, 1962) is an American entrepreneur, speaker, author, former stockbroker, and financial criminal. In 1999, he pleaded guilty to fraud and related crimes in connection with stock-market manipulation and running ...

'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 Zoe Swicord Kazan (; born September 9, 1983) is an American actress, playwright, and screenwriter. She made her acting debut in the film ''Swordswallowers and Thin Men'' (2003) and later appeared in films such as '' The Savages'' (2007), ''Revol ...

'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 New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. Cash both identifies as Jewish and was raised Jewish, but no longer practices the religion, stating, "my mother is

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, my father is Jewish, but I was raised

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

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 Jewish holidays, also known as Jewish festivals or ''Yamim Tovim'' ( he, ימים טובים, , Good Days, or singular , in transliterated Hebrew []), are holidays observed in Judaism and by JewsThis article focuses on practices of mainstre ...

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 Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

. However, when she visited

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

she was told that "Aya" () is an archaic word for "hawk", though it is, in fact, the

Modern Hebrew Modern Hebrew ( he, עברית חדשה, ''ʿivrít ḥadašá ', , '' lit.'' "Modern Hebrew" or "New Hebrew"), also known as Israeli Hebrew or Israeli, and generally referred to by speakers simply as Hebrew ( ), is the standard form of the H ...

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

Television

Theatre

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cash, Aya Living people Actresses from San Francisco American film actresses American television actresses Jewish American actresses University of Minnesota College of Liberal Arts alumni 21st-century American actresses 21st-century American Jews Year of birth missing (living people)