NBC’s newest sitcom “A.P. Bio” features Linfield alumna, Aparna Brielle ’15, as she debuts in her role as a snarky and brilliant high school student.

A.P. Bio is about a Harvard philosophy professor, Jack Griffin, played by Glenn Howerton, who finds himself teaching an Advanced Placement high school biology course after losing his dream job.

However, the class is not at all what the students were expecting, as Jack Griffin has no interest in teaching or knowledge of biology.

Initially earning her degree in marketing, Brielle found herself longing for a life in acting, and eventually moving to Los Angeles after graduating.

Her acting training started in Portland when she was fifteen, and she continued with her acting throughout her time in college.

During her Linfield career she auditioned for shows such as “Grimm” and “The Librarians.”

“I wanted so desperately to be in all the stories I grew up watching that I would often play pretend as the characters I loved,” Brielle said.

A.P. Bio was one of the many pilots Brielle auditioned for she described this as “a rigorous process. There are usually around a hundred people auditioning for any one main character on a television show.”
Brielle plays a character named Sarika, an ambitious, ivy league student who always has the answer, and whose dreams are to be a doctor.

“Once I was on the stage, that’s when it clicked—being an actor was who I was, not just what I
wanted to do.”

Sarika is the antagonist to Jack Griffin. She is the student in class who wants to learn and wont let Jack disregard his responsibilities.

Although there are some similarities between herself and the character she plays on television, Brielle also expressed their differences.

“Sarika and I are both incredibly ambitious—that’s how we’re similar. I also think I’m much more relaxed than she is, especially when it comes to sitting back and learning to adapt to the way life hits you.”

Although college was only a short portion of her life, Brielle was greatly impacted by her time at Linfield.

At first, she didn’t know if college was the right fit for her and went through some personal issues of her own.

“[B]eing at Linfield was great for me because it provided me a safe space to come to terms with myself and understand how to work with it and heal from it and use it to inform my daily work and daily life,” Brielle said.

She said that Linfield’s liberal arts education was important in broadening her understanding of the world around her.

“It makes life just that much more interesting. And as an actor, I need to be able to empathize and understand what’s going on around me in order to step into someone else’s shoes.”