Interview: Supriya Ganesh on Being Okay with Waiting for Dr. Samira Mohan in ‘The Pitt’

Most actors dream of landing that big project that will launch their career to the next level. For Supriya Ganesh though, she was comfortable waiting for the right thing. “I would just keep going, ‘I’m okay with waiting, I just want something that I love,'” she reveals. “It definitely took a minute, but I am glad that it took a minute. I am so happy that I’m here.”

“Here” is HBO Max’s latest smash hit, The Pitt, a medical procedural following a single fifteen hour shift at the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Hospital. Ganesh stars as Dr. Samira Mohan, a third-year medical resident attempting to navigate a system that prioritizes profit over people.

“You see essentially why your doctor can’t spend this time for you. It is individually not their fault, it systemically… a big, big problem…. The ER is structured this way because it is ultimately what is most profitable for the hospital, for whatever funding they’re getting…and it’s awful that patients are treated as numbers in that game. I felt so much responsibility bearing that because I also wanted to make sure that, in showing that she was this hero, I also wanted to make sure that the show and this character was also showing why everyone else couldn’t be that hero. I would’ve hated if people thought that every doctor should be like this and no one is. I think what the show does so beautifully is show that there’s a downside to that for the ER team as a whole…. It’s just been such a gift to address some really pertinent issues with this character….”

As Dr. Mohan navigates this delicate balance, she simultaneously steps into her power as a medical professional but also learns her limitations as seen in the season finale, setting the character up for an interesting trajectory for season two. “I hope they continue having her step into her power,” Ganesh admits. “I don’t know if she necessarily would’ve fixed the fact that she has no one to decompress with. I mean she might’ve, she might not have.”

Supriya Ganesh’s work on the first season of The Pitt can be seen in full on HBO Max. Awards Radar sat down with Supriya to discuss what Dr. Mohan means to her, how The Pitt prepared her for her current theatre debut, and what Dr. Mohan’s go-to Lorde song would be. Watch the full interview below.