Warning: Spoilers ahead for The Pitt season 2.
Supriya Ganesh feels like she is playing out an alternate version of her adult life on The Pitt. In early 2024, when she received an audition for the smash-hit HBO Max drama, which follows a single 15-hour shift in the emergency department of the fictional Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center every season, the Tamil American actor was seriously considering going to medical school.
During the Hollywood strikes a year earlier, Ganesh—who had previously guest-starred on long-running procedurals such as Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Blue Bloods, and Chicago Med—decided to take the MCAT. After placing in the 99th percentile, Ganesh was searching for referrals to shadow doctors and looking into community colleges to complete the one remaining prerequisite course she had left.
“If you know anything about the MCAT, it’s kind of insane that I took the MCAT without taking organic chemistry,” Ganesh, who earned a Bachelor’s degree in neuroscience from Columbia University, tells Teen Vogue with a laugh. “I taught myself a way to answer those questions without knowing any of the science, which is something I used to tell my students all the time when I would tutor them: ‘I can get an organic chemistry question right without knowing organic chemistry, so this isn’t as stressful as you think it is. You just have to understand the pattern.’”
Even as the first season of The Pitt aired last year, Ganesh kept up her tutoring job—until it became clear that people were signing up for her classes not for the lessons but to meet the actor behind Dr. Samira Mohan, the dedicated and empathetic resident who struggles to find any kind of work-life balance.
While the debut season had already secured five Primetime Emmys among other accolades, Noah Wyle, who stars as attending physician Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch, said recently that he “was most desirous” of the Actor Award for best TV drama ensemble. For Wyle, the win was a chance to celebrate the rest of his cast—many of whom, including Ganesh, have been overlooked by awards voters. Ganesh echoed that sentiment, noting, “I’m so happy, especially for the people of color on our cast, to get this recognition.”
Below, Ganesh opens up about her portrayal of the fan-favorite doctor, why it has been important for her to speak up about the microaggressions that actors of color continue to face in Hollywood, and whether she could ever see herself practicing medicine in real life.
Supriya Ganesh: I don’t want to say it didn’t remind me of myself, but I got the first three episodes and there was a scene that made me go, “Oh, this is the type of story I want to tell.” It was the sickle cell patient in episode 2. I knew what sickle cell was because of my medical background, but I didn’t put two and two together of what it would mean for a Black person to have a disease like that, to be racialized as a patient. Sometimes, the Asian and Black communities are really pitted against each other in this very strange way by media and news outlets. So to have this South Asian character put this narrative out there of multicultural and multiracial solidarity like that, I was like, “F*ck yeah, I want to be a part of this.” That really was the moment that I, as an artist, fell in love with that character.
SG: Dr. Mohan lost her father when she was pretty young. She was about 15, and she lost him because of medical mismanagement. Her father had chest pains, they went to the ER, the ER said he was fine, they went back home, and then he passed because it was in fact a heart attack. She thinks there was maybe something racialized there happening with how they were dismissing him. That was a really formative moment for her. She doesn’t want to be that doctor that came and told her and her mom that her dad had passed, and she doesn’t want to be that other doctor who maybe didn’t take her father seriously and let him go. That’s also why something like the Diaz family case really hits her, because she remembers what it’s like to be that daughter. She remembers what it’s like to take extra shifts when you lose that income.
SG: I didn’t even pitch the diabetic thing. All I said was, “I want something to do with insurance,” and the writers were already thinking about that. But I remember Scott said, “It’s tricky, because people use the ER as their insurance; people who are uninsured sometimes go to the ER.” So they needed to figure out how to exactly deal with that. Sometimes, [these issues] become abstract … I don’t really understand why something isn’t being done about [the tens of thousands of people who die from being uninsured in America]. I think I know why change isn’t going through, but it really breaks my heart that something as trivial, to me, as money could stand in between a patient and the care they need. So to have a very real storyline like Mr. Diaz, and to delve into what people with diabetes deal with every day, especially if they’re uninsured, it really meant the world, because it put a human face on some of these statistics and studies people see out there.
SG: Last season, she was so nervous and worried about pleasing her superiors and trying to figure out how to be a good doctor. She’s more confident at the start of this shift, which is a really great layer to add. That’s really the only change we can show in terms of a time jump. But it was interesting to play this Samira who’s being bothered by her mom. She’s a very empathetic and kind doctor to her patients, but she really struggles socially with the people in her life—and her mom, especially, is one of those people. I made the decision that she can’t have empathy for her mom being lonely, because that would mean she needs to have empathy for herself being lonely—and she doesn’t have that. I also think she’s embarrassed that she’s 30, and her mom is blowing up her life. I love Samira, but I remember reading or hearing what Scott had in mind for her, and I was like, “Oh my God. Why is your life plan so intertwined with your mother’s?!” That definitely tells me so much about the way she thinks her life is going to go.
SG: The writers didn’t really give us a lot of direction for season 2, but [there were] a lot of ideas that some writers had that were said in passing. I remember someone said, “Oh, Samira probably works double [shifts], so she probably knows the night shift more than the day shift.” I was like, “Oh, that would make total sense,” and that was immediately something I integrated. Someone had said, “Oh, I think Samira and Abbot would be good for each other.” That was also something Shawn and I integrated, because we thought it would be fun and interesting. Shawn and I actually just talked about it a week ago on the phone, because we were talking and gossiping, really. Funnily enough, I texted him yesterday on his phone number just to ask him a question, and he was like, “Sorry, who is this?” I realized he hadn’t saved my number! I was like, “Great. Thank you so much, Shawn. I’m never going to talk to you again.” [Laughs.]
But I love that scene because you see her receive this support from an attending that she really needs as a resident. She recognizes she’s doing something silly in many ways [by delivering meds to Orlando’s house], and it’s like a drop in the ocean. But for him to stand behind her in that push means a lot. I think Dr. Al-Hashimi [the VA doctor, played by Sepideh Moafi, who previously worked with Dr. Mohan at the VA hospital] is also someone who’s done that for her in the past, because she also believes in trying to change the system and work to make it better. Dr. Abbot just was the person to do that for her in that moment.
SG: I think she sees someone really smart who really cares about his patients. She sees someone who respects the kind of doctor she is—and that’s really rare. I don’t know if she necessarily even realizes it’s attraction or whatever at this point. I don’t think her head’s even there. That is one of the first times you see her go, like, “Oh, sh*t. Not only do you get what I’m trying to do, but you’re offering to help me do it.” Even in that scene, the way Shawn and I played it was like they were on two different planes [meaning there was a disconnect] until he offered to Uber the meds—and that’s an Uber Samira can afford. She was joking that, “This is something I have to f*cking do now,” and it’s nice that he offered. That’s the moment they really connect, and it’s hard for Samira to connect with people.
SG: It’s a lot, because she looks up to Dr. Robby so much as this almost parental figure. With parents, you love them, you hate them, you don’t know how to deal with them. Dr. Robby can be so hot and cold with her, but I do think where Noah went with [Robby’s reaction], [Samira thought] that is crossing a line in a workplace. I really do think that she hoped for empathy in that moment from him. It’s not uncommon for residents to have panic attacks. In fact, while I was filming my scene, one of the doctors on set told me he had a panic attack during one of his residency years. Dealing with his job is a lot—and even what Dr. Robby experienced in Season 1 was a panic attack. It’s interesting because I think a lot of what he doesn’t like about Samira, he really sees in himself. It’s that same thing of that part of yourself you don’t like—if you see it in someone else, you don’t want to have empathy for it.
SG: Yeah. I think he is, unfortunately, this barometer for her for how she’s doing. Especially as a resident, you hear so much about how you want to impress your attendings. There is a pecking order, and you are only really guaranteed your job if these people, especially attendings, like you. Because she’s looking for this job at [Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center] now, having someone in such a senior position as Robby and then having him lash out at her like this is really devastating for her. It’s embarrassing. People senior to you hold a lot of power in hospital work environments—and in most environments—so if they don’t see you a certain way, I think it’s really hard to see yourself that way.
SG: [Laughs.] You’ll see in hours 13, 14, and 15, she really has one of the worst days of her life. Her worst nightmare, really, as a doctor ends up happening, so I think she calls her mom either that night or immediately the morning after, because she needs her mom at that point. Honestly, my instinct is, she calls her in the morning after, because it’s just so much [to handle] that I don’t even think she can talk to her mom that night.
SG: You know what? I literally just got tagged in a post that thought I was Alexandra Metz [who plays Dr. Garcia], and I had to comment and be like, “That’s not me.” I do notice people being more conscientious, and I appreciate that, but it’s still happening. The number of South Asian people who’ve come up to me and said, “Thank you for saying something because I also experienced this”—and in ways that have blown my mind. Some of the examples people have given me are so beyond shocking.
Even Black actors and actresses have come up to me. There’s this really well-known Black actress who was talking to Shabana [Azeez, who plays Dr. Javadi] about this. At the party that she met Shabana at, she brought a friend with her who is also a Black woman, and someone met [that Black actress] and was like, “So nice to meet you.” Later on, they met the friend and were like, “Oh, I didn’t know you changed dresses.” The friend had to be like, “No, you met my other friend, the really talented and celebrated actress.” The number of stories that have come to us has made me feel like I did the right thing for my conscience, because this is something a lot of people of color face, and I really want to be open about the struggles artists of color are facing in the industry.
SG: I’ve been in conversation with Shabana about it a lot, actually. We’re so close. Any thought that goes through my head, she’s getting a text, unfortunately. [Laughs.] We were talking right before this interview, in fact. I was also talking to Sepideh about it—who I’ve also gotten mixed up with—as I saw an article that was like, “...the new attending played by Supriya Ganesh.” And I was like, “No!” Maybe people think it happened once. No, it had happened quite a few times, especially in December, which was when I did tweet that, because we just did our press junket. There were instances where it happened pretty publicly.
Sometimes, with South Asian women—Asian women especially—you get put into the submissive woman trope. You’re not expected to speak up, and it’s really important for me to use my voice, lead by example, and kindly and graciously ask for respect.
SG: [Laughs.] I’ve really been debating it recently. It’s really important for me to feel fulfilled by the work that I do; thinking intellectually is really important for me as a person. I remember I was sitting around the other day, and I was just like, “Wow, I really miss doing math.”
SG: You’re laughing, but I love getting an answer right; I love thinking through a problem and solving it. So I don’t know what that means. I don’t know if it means medical school. I don’t know if it means I’ll add other things to acting. Maybe I’ll start writing.
SG: I wanted to be a cardiothoracic surgeon, because of Cristina Yang [on Grey’s Anatomy], obviously. I can still tell you the flow of the blood in the heart and everything. I was obsessed with the heart. I studied neuroscience, and I thought maybe neurology. But the more I read about the types of people who are attracted to those types of disciplines, [the more I realized] it’s people with God complexes, and I’m like, “I don’t know if I have that.” Honestly, if I go back in, I probably would go into derm, but that’s actually the hardest specialty to get into. So if I want that, I better start training now.
SG: Because it’s easy. [Hides her face and laughs.] That’s why it’s the hardest to get into!
