Local Teen Stars in New Hulu Limited Series 'Under the Bridge'

With seven years of acting, short films, commercials, modeling and voice-over work under her belt, 14-year-old Bothell native Vritika Gupta has landed a starring role in the true-crime drama series, “Under the Bridge”.

The series – which premiered on Hulu in April – is based on a book by Rebecca Godgrey, telling the true story of 14-year-old Reena Virk from Saanich, British Columbia. Throughout the series, Virk comes to grips with her strict family and navigates friendships as she tries to fit in with a clique of teenage girls with tangled pasts. In November 1997, Virk was attacked and drowned in a river.

Eventually, the attack was traced to several of Virk's peers, including the girl clique – Kelly Ellard (Izzy G.), Josephine Bell (Chole Guidry and Dusty (Aiyana Goodfellow) – and a teenage boy, Warren Glowatski (Javon Walton ).

Gupta, who attends Leota Middle School, has been eager to pursue acting since she saw the Disney Channel show “Bunk'd” at the age of seven. She credited the show's behind-the-scenes clips and sets as what sparked her and her sister's interest.

“I took lessons with [my sisters] and just some classes and coaching to really understand…she stopped, but I kept going,” Gupta said.

Gupta pointed to the end of the COVID pandemic as the moment she transitioned from acting to acting in front of the camera — which she said she preferred.

Gupta's mother Upasna, who had a passion for sketches, said that when Gupta decided to pursue acting, she engaged in all the tasks related to her work.

“Every time I said 'we have to do this coaching, we have to do this audition at 9 o'clock, 10 o'clock, 11 o'clock,' she did it without hesitation,” Upasna said, smiling. “It was a great commitment and passion that I saw in her.”

Apart from acting, Gupta also competes in club swimming and volleyball.

“I think it's very important to have these two separate worlds, you know, my social life and my acting life,” she said.

Although Gupta has starred in 14 short films and television series, seven commercials, four theater productions and seven Internet productions, “Under the Bridge” marked his first involvement in a project based on real events.

At first, like many of her younger castmates, Gupta was unfamiliar with Virk's story. Once she started learning more about the incident, she understood the importance of bringing the story to light, because there are “so many Reenas out there, she's not the only one.”

“Being able to share this story, understand it myself and learn as I go is something that's very helpful, not only as an actor but as a person. Being able to educate myself.. .and learning more was very important to me,” she added.

Taking on a non-fictional character whose story has reverberated in different forms throughout 27 years has been difficult to understand at times, Gupta admitted. While some actors had old interviews and articles on which to base their character, Gupta had to primarily study Virk through the written words of others.

Alongside Godfrey's book and drawing on the advice of series producer and showrunner Samir Mehta, Gupta discovered the pillars of Virk's identity through “Reena: A Father's Story,” written by Manjit, Virk's father.

“I wanted to learn more about Reena, not only as a teenager, but also as a sister and a friend, and to be able to really understand her past and her childhood,” Gupta said. “I think [Manjit’s] The book did a great job of being able to show the emotions not only he was feeling, but also what he thought she was feeling. I feel like those things were really helpful in getting into that mindset and getting into that mental space.

Gupta also credited casting director Julie Schubert's orchestration of several callbacks and chemical readings over Zoom as the reason the castmates “clicked instantly.”

Although on-screen the relationship between Gupta and the teenage clique featured many tension-filled scenes, off-screen the girls went to school, explored Canada, hung out by the pool at the hotel and ate together.

“I think [chemistry] is something so important to have. It can translate on screen if you have it off screen,” she said.

After watching the series, Gupta hopes people will learn lessons beyond spreading kindness and positivity in the world and understand the importance of surrounding themselves with trustworthy and supportive individuals.

“I think it's very important because understanding people's mistakes and also empathizing with them is very important, and being able to always have some sort of support system and something to lean on, is really what is most precious.”