Aryan Simhadri Cast in Disney+ Adaptation of Rick Riordan’s Best-selling Book Series ‘Percy Jackson and the Olympians’
- The Indian American teen will star as Grover Underwood, alongside Leah Sava Jeffries set to play Annabeth, a friend of Percy, played by Walker Scobell.
Disney+ has roped in Indian American actor Aryan Simhadri for a role in “Percy Jackson and the Olympians,” an adaptation of Rick Riordan’s best-selling book series. The youngster will star as Grover Underwood, alongside Leah Sava Jeffries set to play Annabeth, a friend of Percy, played by Walker Scobell.
The book tells the fantastical story of a 12-year-old modern demigod, Percy Jackson (Scobell), who’s just coming to terms with his newfound divine powers when the sky god Zeus accuses him of stealing his master lightning bolt. With help from his friends Grover (Simhadri) and Annabeth (Sava), Percy must embark on an adventure of a lifetime to find it and restore order to Olympus.
Simhadri’s character Grover is described as “a satyr, half boy and half goat, disguised as a 12-year-old boy,” who “cares deeply about others and will always choose what is best for them, sometimes at his own expense.” Though he’s “cautious by nature, he’ll always throw himself into a fight to protect his friends, especially his best friend Percy.”
In a tweet, Riordan wrote that Simhadri “won our hearts” during his audition for Grover Underwood. “In his auditions for Grover Underwood, Aryan won our hearts. He had me laughing out loud with his delivery and timing…Grover has some big flying shoes to fill, but Aryan is exactly the right guy for the job.”
The 16-year-old from Ventura, California, most recently appeared in the Disney+ remake of “Cheaper by the Dozen” and starred in the Disney Channel original movie “Spin.” He also starred in the Disney Channel improvisational sitcom “Just Roll With It” and the Disney Junior animated series “Mira, Royal Detective.”
His other credits include the Paramount+ animated series “Adventures in Wonder Park,” “The Spongebob Movie: Sponge On The Run,” the “Adventure Time” TV movie “Distant Lands,” and the WWE/Netflix movie “The Main Event.”
Simhadri was discovered at age 4 and was seen in national commercials for Kmart and Toyota, among others. In 2013, he landed a role in Claudia Lonow’s single-camera sitcom “How To Live With Your Parents (For The Rest Of Your Life).” He appeared in one episode.
He was also seen as Riyaz in Jay Karas’ film “The Main Event,” which won him a 2021 Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Streaming Film in the Teen Actor category, according to IMDb.
The teen made his New York theater debut in “Trevor The Musical,” about the highly imaginative 13-year-old Trevor, who struggles to navigate his own identity and determine how he fits in a challenging world as he deals with becoming a teenager, as noted by PlayBill.