Why Jay Farrow From Netflix's Obsession Looks So Familiar

Viewers of the four-part erotic thriller series "Obsession" now streaming on Netflix have been captivated by its sordid storyline centered on Dr. William Farrow (Richard Armitage), who begins an inadvisable romantic affair with Anna Barton (Charlie Murphy) — who is not only a much younger woman but also engaged to his son.

That son, Jay Farrow, may look familiar to viewers of the show, particularly to anyone who has stayed current in the TV portions of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He's played by Rish Shah, who's just starting in his acting career but has already racked up a handful of credits to make him a recognizable face. He's been acting since 2017, and since then, he's appeared in several high-profile projects leading up to his role on "Obsession," which might be his most prominent acting gig yet.

If you've been enjoying "Obsession" and you're wondering where you might have seen Shah before, look no further.

A look at Rish Shah's IMDb page shows a few small acting credits in TV shows "Years and Years" and "Doctors" as well as the web series "PrankMe," but after that, he got his first film role in the 2020 short "The Long Goodbye." Directed by actor and musician Riz Ahmed, the project ties in with Ahmed's album of the same name, and Shah appears in the uncredited role of Karim, a member of a household that gets terrorized by a far-right protest that goes from an unfortunate TV news story to violence in the family's home.

Shah's part is a small one, but it's impressive to see a young actor make their film debut in a work that goes on to win the Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film. And after a few intermediary projects, Shah eventually appeared in what most agree is his breakout role.

If you watched the Marvel series "Ms. Marvel" on Disney+, Rish Shah is likely familiar to you for the role of Kamran, the boy who the titular Marvel fangirl and superhero Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani) has a crush on.

As it turns out, Kamran is far from a typical teenage boy, and his mother is actually an interdimensional being known as a Clandestine. By the end of the series, Kamran has inherited his mother's powers and is invited into the vigilante Red Daggers group, so we may be seeing more from Kamran, either in future "Ms. Marvel" projects or elsewhere within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But it remains to be seen whether that will happen, and as of this writing, Shah has no upcoming Marvel projects listed on IMDb. Still, if you watched "Ms. Marvel" and later watched "Obsession," there's a good chance you'd find Shah familiar on the latter series.

"Obsession" is not Rish Shah's first outing with Netflix, nor is it his first twisty thriller project. He also stars in "Do Revenge" for the streaming platform, a teen comedy in the vein of "Heathers" but with a Hitchcockian twist. Shah plays Russ, a Rosehill Country Day High School student and friend to Carissa (Ava Capri). Both get entangled in a complex revenge scheme carried out by outcast students Drea Torres (Camila Mendes) and Eleanor Levetan (Maya Hawke). The two have the idea to "switch revenges" against the people in their lives who they feel have wronged them as a way to escape culpability, similar to the plot of the film "Strangers on a Train" (or "Throw Momma from the Train," if you prefer).

As you might expect, nothing in the plot goes as expected, and the ending of "Do Revenge" pulls not just from teen classics like "Heathers" and "Clueless" but more lurid fare like 1998's "Wild Things" as well.

Russ is self-assured in his unpopularity and is skeptical about the entire high school social hierarchy depicted in the movie.

Now, with his key role in the latest Netflix watercooler hit "Obsession," more people than ever may be seeing Rish Shah on the screen — and finding him familiar at the same time.