Myha’la, Star of HBO’s ‘Industry,’ Arrives

On a humider-than-humid afternoon in July, Myha’la stepped into a teahouse in her Brooklyn neighborhood and joined the line leading to the front counter.

She was wearing a khaki skirt and a matching cropped jacket that revealed the panther tattoos on either side of her abdomen. Her nails were red — she had politely rejected her stylist’s suggestion to paint them brown — and her pixie cut was slick with gel.

The menu seemed endless, with lists of flavors and foams that slowed down several customers placing their orders. Myha’la, a star of HBO’s Gen Z financial drama “Industry,” knew exactly what she wanted: An oolong latte with almond milk, boba and grass jelly.

The woman she plays on the show, Harper Stern, is similarly decisive. As her fellow bright, young overachievers crumble beneath the fluorescent lights of a British investment bank, Harper sees each wobble by a colleague as an opportunity to place an even riskier bet on herself.

“She’s got the sort of killer, quiet confidence that’s actually very dangerous,” Myha’la, 28, said, having installed herself at a counter facing State Street.

When she landed the role on “Industry,” which returns for its third season on Sunday, it was her biggest acting job since she graduated from Carnegie Mellon in 2018. She didn’t have to look too hard to find common ground with the character, an ambitious young Black woman in an elite, cutthroat environment.