5 Things to Know About Amita Suman From Netflix's Shadow and Bone

Suman was born in Nepal and migrated to the well-known city of Brighton, in East Sussex, when she was 7 years old, which is where she was raised.

Following high school, Suman attended the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts, which has campuses in both South London and Manchester. She graduated in 2018 and joined performers such as Coronation Street's Mollie Gallagher and Sarah Parish as an alumnus.

Suman's first major television role after graduating from the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts was in Doctor Who as a young version of Yasmin Khan's grandmother, Umbreen. The episode was titled "Demons of the Punjab" and was the sixth instalment in the 11th season of the hit series. In the episode, Yasmin returns to the country of Punjab as it's being torn apart, in search of her grandmother's history.

Suman stepped into the shoes of Naya, a recurring character in The Outpost, a fantasy series that aired on The CW in America. The role was played by Medalion Rahimi (Before I Fall) in season one, and Suman was recast for the second season. As the story goes, The Outpost tells the story of Talon (played by Jessica Green), who's the lone survivor of a brutal attack on her village. Cue an adventure that sees Talon set off on a journey to the edge of the civilised world to avenge her parent's murders.

When speaking with Seventeen, Suman admitted that she didn't receive any formal knife training ahead of filming for Shadow and Bone, which involved quite a few battle scenes. So, she took on the task herself and trained as best she could. Not only that, as she fumbled her way through learning to wield a knife as believably as her character, Inej, she came out the other end with a battle scar on her knuckles, which is, just quietly, pretty badass.