‘The Pitt’ Star Supriya Ganesh Comes Out Publicly
The actor shares she/they pronouns and opens up about queerness, cultural identity, and pushing back against gender norms.
Supriya Ganesh, star of HBO Max’s The Pitt, has publicly come out as queer and announced she uses she/they pronouns. In a recent interview, the actor spoke candidly about how her evolving relationship to gender, culture, and identity informed the decision, calling it a reflection of both her queerness and her experience as a South Asian woman navigating Western expectations.
“I made the decision before I started this career in earnest to be as authentic as I possibly could,” Ganesh told Variety. “If I’m not being as authentic and true to myself as I possibly can be, then what am I doing?”
Born in the United States and raised in India from the age of three, Ganesh grew up around gender expression that felt more expansive. “In India you have the existence of a third gender. There is a little more fluidity in how men present themselves, women present themselves,” she said. Returning to the U.S. as a young adult, she found herself pressed into a mold that never quite fit.
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Her decision to use she/they pronouns was part of reckoning with that pressure. “I feel like a lot of the times I do present as pretty femme,” she reflected. “But there are a couple of times where I’m existing outside of that, and I don’t always totally feel like I’m fitting into what I think is a very white-conceived perception of femininity.”
She also shared that she was inspired in part by Indigenous actor Lily Gladstone, who also uses she/they pronouns.
Ganesh hopes her visibility will create positive ripple effects. “It… feels like a little bit of a shout-out, being like, ‘Hey, I’m queer. See me.’ I also want queer brown women to look at me and know that that’s someone they can turn to and relate to.”
Landing her breakthrough role on The Pitt came at a critical moment. Ganesh had considered leaving acting altogether. After a series of stalled auditions and long stretches without work, she thought seriously about returning to medicine. When the series came along, it felt like something shifted back into place. “When it worked out, it felt like everything in my life had led up to that moment, honestly.”
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That sense of purpose followed her into House of India, where she plays a Tamil-American woman navigating generational tension and cultural memory through food and family. “I’m Tamilian, and so when I read this play and there was Tamil in it, I was like, “Oh my God, I have to be a part of it.”
The production features an all-AAPI cast, which Ganesh describes as deeply affirming. “We have three South Asian people, one Thai person. And it’s so gorgeous to be able to debate things about South Asian culture and South Indian culture, even more specifically, within that sort of safe space.”
The Pitt season 1 is available to stream on HBO Max. House of India runs through June 8 at the Old Globe Theater in San Diego; for more info, head here.
