Richa was born and raised in Northern California in a family of engineers & doctors by day and musicians, singers, & entertainers by night. Her parents were born in India and moved to the U.S. for college and met when her mother was selected as the female vocalist for Richa's father's Bollywood music band. Richa was surrounded by the arts from the day she was born and thus developed a passion for acting and dance very early in life. She has an older brother and a younger sister. She especially loves comedy, as her house was always full of laughter and creative eccentricity growing up.She started learning Kathak (Indian Classical Dance), hip-hop, modern, jazz, and other various styles of dance at the age of 5, and she attended several Drama camps & programs throughout her youth. She was very involved in her high school's theater program and traveled with her school to Scotland where her play was selected for performance at the prestigious Fringe Festival.She was crowned Miss India Northern California in 2008 and went on to win the title of Miss India USA 1st Runner-Up the same year. She won best talent at the regional pageant with her classical dance performance.She received her B.A. in Communications and minor in Dramatic Art at the University of California, Davis. After college, Richa moved to Los Angeles where her acting career really started to take off with her first prime time TV credit on The Mindy Project (2012). She studied acting with Ivana Chubbuck, Lesly Kahn and Margie Haber, and she learned the skill of improvisation at the Upright Citizens Brigade theater.