Lutesha

Lutesha was born on June 23, 1994, in Jakarta, Indonesia.^[3][4] She is the second child of three siblings, and the granddaughter of Indonesian diplomat and naval officer Idrus Nasir Djajadiningrat.^[5] She is often called Ute.^[4][6] She attended high school at SMA Plus Pembangunan Jaya; while a student there, she visited Turkey, Switzerland, and the Czech Republic on a cultural mission, performing traditional Indonesian dance.^[4]

Growing up, she says that modeling and acting weren't on her mind, she would say she wanted to be a veterinarian; in high school, she found that meant studying science and put the idea aside. Aiming for graphic design, she took preparatory art courses at Villa Merah, intending to apply for fine arts, but says she had difficulty with drawing. She learned graphic design in university by handling promotional material like posters and T-shirts for student events in her department. She also worked as a model, having to juggle class and exam schedules with her bookings. She graduated from the University of Indonesia with a Bachelor of Arts in Dutch literature, a choice influenced by having a Dutch-Germany great-great grandmother.^[4]

Lutesha began modeling by participating in the GoGirl! Look 2013 magazine modeling competition when she was 19 and in university;^[4][7] she later appeared as a Go Girl cover model. She also interned in the marketing department at fashion company Tinkerlust in 2016.^[8] After graduation, she worked as a social media manager at an art gallery, living in Bali and commuting to Jakarta for modeling jobs.^[4]

Following an unsuccessful audition in 2017 for Galih & Ratna, her career in acting began the same year with the role of Suki in the film My Generation, for which she was nominated Best New Actress in the annual Indonesian Maya Awards. After shooting My Generation, Lutesha remained in Jakarta, working as a graphic designer in a creative agency.^[4][9][10] Over the course of her first four films, My Generation, Ambu, Glorious Days, and May the Devil Take You Too, she continued working as a graphic designer, as a fallback in case her film career stalled.^[4][7]

Her first three film roles had Lutesha worried about being typecast: "The characters were always depressed children, disobedient to their parents, emo, or cold and snappy. Maybe because I'm quiet and have a fierce resting bitch face like that every day."^[a][4]

In 2022, Lutesha co-starred as Alpha, a member of the titular team of assassins in the Netflix feature, The Big 4,^[11] and as Raya Fitri, one of a group of high school students investigating the death of a classmate, in the mini-series, Virgin the Series, on Disney+.^[12]

In 2023, she appeared in 13 Bombs in Jakarta, and co-starred in Ali Topan. NME noted of 13 Bombs, "Lutesha struggles to be a team player and keep her natural charisma in check, ... underlining how restraint remains her Achilles’ heel as an actor", and that she "proves in Ali Topan that she has the potential to be among the finest actors of her generation."^[13][14]

In 2024, she co-starred as Dhea in Love Unlike in K-Dramas, a romantic drama about a love triangle. Commenting on the enduring appeal of the love triangle trope, she said, "Perhaps it's because the socially acceptable love, especially in the heteronormative sense, is the one consisting of two persons only: a man and a woman. Hence, when romance, particularly in films, grows more complicated, it gets more interesting as well."^[15]

On March 23, 2022, Lutesha married musician and illustrator Arswandaru Cahyo.^[16][17] She considers herself introverted, and says she can have a hard time watching her own film performances.^[7]