Aria Montgomery

Aria Montgomery is one of the main characters in the Pretty Little Liars series. She is portrayed by Lucy Hale.

Biography
Aria Montgomery is the "weird girl" of the group who moves back to Rosewood with her mother Ella, father Byron, and younger brother Mike after an extended absence in Iceland following Alison's disappearance. Prior to her first day back in high school, she goes to a bar and instantly strikes a conversation with a handsome guy. There is instant chemistry between the two. When she arrives in school the next day, she finds out that the guy who she liked at the bar was none other than her new English teacher Ezra Fitz and embarks on a long-term relationship with him.

Season 1
The series begins with a flashback in a barn where Aria, Hanna, Spencer and Emily are having a sleepover; they are startled by their best friend and queen bee Alison, who frightens them by causing creaking noises outside the barn as a practical joke. The five girls gossip and share secrets before falling asleep. When they awake they realize that two of the girls are gone, they run into Spencer, who tells them Alison is missing and that she heard a scream.

One year later and Aria and her family have returned home to Rosewood after living in Iceland. Aria still feels troubled over her best friend’s disappearance which concerns both her parents who encourage her to reconnect with her old friends. Aria sees through her dad's concerns however and reassures him that she is still keeping his secret. She drops her brother off at lacrosse practice and stops at a Bar and Grill. There, she meets a man named Ezra who mistakes her for a college girl and informs her that he will soon be starting a new teaching post. The two feel an instant connection and end up making-out in the bathroom.

In a conversation with her father, we see flashbacks of Aria and Alison catching her dad making out with another woman in the back of his car. Aria begins to reunite with her old friends, mainly Emily at school and discovers that Ezra is in fact her new English teacher, Mr. Fitz. After an awkward moment, Aria receives a text message from an unknown "A" which reads "Aria: Maybe he fools around with students all the time. A lot of teachers do. Just ask your dad. -A". Aria attempts to continue her relationship with Ezra but he rejects her telling by her everything has changed, however they rekindle their romance. Aria meets up with Emily, Hanna and Spencer at the funeral, and they reveal that each has received a message from the mysterious A. The police now reveal that the girls need questioning again as they are now looking at a murder case, before they each receive a text saying, "I'm still here, bitches. And I know everything. -A".

Aria and her friends continue to be tormented by the anonymous "A", who seems to know all the secrets they told Alison, including the secret surrounding a mysterious blind girl, Jenna Marshall. When Jenna joins them at their lunch table her presence triggers a flashback to the night of the unknown; "The Jenna Thing". The four girls and Alison are having a sleep over and trying one each other's clothes when Alison claims to have seen Toby Cavanaugh spying on them through her window. To get revenge, Alison and the girls plant a stink bomb in his garage. However it causes the garage to explode, presumably causing Jenna to lose her sight, a fact that Jenna seems determined to hang over their heads.

Aria continues her illicit affair with Ezra, while trying to come to terms with her father’s own affair. "A" continues to taunt the girls in every aspect of their lives and they try to block them out of their lives but "A" appears to be too smart, even breaking into Spencer’s house and sending a detailed letter to Aria’s mother, Ella, telling of her husband’s affair which leaves Ella devastated and Aria guilty for keeping it from her.

A meeting with an old college friend of Ezra’s as well as a message from "A" brings home the reality of his relationship with Aria and he eventually ends it at their school homecoming. Afterwards, Ezra leaves Rosewood and Aria discovers that he has gone to New York to look for another job.

Aria's parents argue and eventually separate over her father’s affair, with her mom moving out of the house and into an apartment above her art gallery. Noel Kahn, a boy Aria used to have a crush on, asks her out. She declines at first but eventually accepts when the school’s SATs are canceled and they have to take shelter due to a hurricane warning in which Ezra makes his return and tells Aria that she was all he thought about. At Mona's "glamping" party Ezra texts Aria to meet him near the party in his car. She does so and the two eventually end up kissing and are spotted by Hanna who has been surveying the area with binoculars, to spot who "A" is. She thinks A is Noel Khan because she sees him write something on the back of Ezra's car. Before she can tell others, Hanna is hit by a car, and Aria reads a text from "A" who tells the remaining girls that "She knew too much. -A".

In "Moments Later", Aria finds the message on Ezra's car where they made out saying "I see you." Aria, Spencer, and Emily visit Hanna at the hospital. Hanna says that Noel is "A," but Aria refuses to accept that a guy she knows and crushed on could be doing this. She asks him where he was the night before, but he lies and says he was with his best friend. Eventually, Noel admits he saw Aria making out with Ezra, and wrote on the car. Noel thinks Ezra raped Aria and he offers to help her tell the police. Aria makes him promise not to tell anyone. Ezra tells her later that Noel blackmailed him to get a better grade on an essay, but when Aria confronts him about it, he denied it and said he was just asking Ezra to look it over again. Aria also helps Ezra with his play in the "The Badass Seed" as manager but eventually quits because it put too much pressure on their relationship and made other students, especially Mona, suspicious. In A Person of Interest, Jenna is writing an essay with Ezra's help; it involves the accident that blinded Jenna. Ezra's curiosity is piqued and asks Aria what she knows about it. Aria tries to change the subject by offering to cook a gourmet dinner at his place. Later, she mentions to Emily her feelings, who encourages Aria to trust Ezra, but Aria isn't sure. Ezra comes home to his apartment to see Aria decked out and a fancy dinner awaiting them. But, Ezra kills the mood by bringing up Jenna's accident again, and Aria avoids him the next morning. She returns the next day, and spills "The Jenna Thing" to him. Ezra responds understandingly and tells Aria his opinion of her is not changed. Aria is tearful, and the two embrace.

In "Monsters in the End", Aria finds out that Ezra has an ex-fiancée named Jackie Molina. Ezra explains to Aria that he loves her and nothing is going on between him and Jackie anymore. At the end of the episode, Officer Garret stands outside Ezra's door and sees Aria exiting his house. The episode then ends by Garret saying "I'd like to talk to you about one of your students". Then, an unknown person takes the spare key to his house from under his welcome mat.

In "For Whom the Bell Tolls", Ezra texts Aria 10 messages saying that a cop was at his house and he needs to talk to her. Aria eagerly rushes to school and Ezra says he turned in his resignation. Aria gets very worried but then Ezra says that Hollis has offered him a job. Aria then punches Ezra because she had thought that they were caught. Ezra explains that Garret was there to ask about Spencer, the trophy, and props. He adds that he will not be her teacher anymore and that they can go out in public.

Aria's dad, Byron Montgomery has a faculty mixer at his house and Ezra explains that he will be there. Aria then teases him about being a professor and says, "I'll show you my room." At the faculty mixer Aria answers the door, and Ezra's ex fiancée, Jackie Molina, standing in the doorway. She explains that she works at Hollis which prompts Aria to go to her room angrily because of what just happened. Ezra and Jackie see each other, and Jackie gives Ezra a smile. Ezra goes off to find Aria, and Aria tells him that she can't help but think that Ezra still has feelings for Jackie and is angry with him. Ezra says that he didn't know she would be there and says she was just a T.A. then. Aria explains that up until then, he was the only guy who didn't lie to her. She then leaves Ezra standing there in her bedroom.

Season 2
With Ian's body missing and the entire town of Rosewood  questioning what exactly happened the night before at the church, Aria and girls have a lot of explaining to do. But with the police and their parents not quite sure what to believe, the girls' parents rally together to try and help the four out with the assistance of a therapist. Now being forced to talk out their problems, Aria, Emily, Hanna and Spencer feel more alone than ever. Even with a reassurance that everything they discuss won't leave the therapist's office.

With the girls being forced to go their separate ways for a bit, Aria, Emily, Hanna and Spencer need each other now more than ever. Aria arrives at Spencer's house one night to find the window of the door is broken and someone entered the house. She enters the house and calls out "is anyone home?" Someone in a black mask and outfit runs from upstairs and body slams Aria into a table, then flees the scene. Aria and Spencer both believe that it was Ian, who came back to get rid of or injure Spencer, but got Aria instead. Aria later discovers the intruder is none other than her little brother Mike who "panicked" when he pushed her and ran. On the eve of Ezra's last day at Rosewood High, he begs Aria to meet him so they can work things out. Aria, on the other hand, is not so sure there's anything left to say.

As Aria, Emily, Hanna and Spencer try to keep their distance from each other, each girl looks to distractions to help fulfill the "separate time" request from their parents. Aria channels her inner artist and signs up for a pottery class at Hollis College. Not only does the class qualify as "separate time," but it also gives her an excuse to see Ezra on campus, so there are benefits on both sides -- that is until she finds out Jenna is also taking the class.

Aria drive to basketball practice to look for Mike but he isn't there. Aria has a chance encounter with Jason he compliments her and brings back some surprising memories, and confesses how he misses her pink hair.

As the shocking news about Ian's death makes the rounds through Rosewood, Aria, Emily, Hanna, Spencer and their families all try to cope with the outcome and some much needed closure. Aria looks to find comfort in Ezra, but with their relationship still new to the outside world, the couple struggles to be so public so fast.

In "The Devil You Know", Jason and Aria draw closer as he confides to her about the night his sister disappeared.

In "Never Letting Go" after a talk with Jason, she promises not to tell anyone what he said, and when her friends prejudge him she is quick to defend him.

One night Jason DiLaurentis shows up on Aria's front porch with her little brother Mike whom he caught trying to break into his house. Mike then threatens Aria that if she tells their parents, he'll tell them she had been secretly meeting her friends during their "alone time". After much questioning and nagging, Mike confesses he broke into Emily's garage amongst many other neighborhood homes and that he was the one who broke into Spencer's house and body slammed Aria into a table.

On the eve of the Rosewood Charity Fashion Show, Aria, Emily, Hanna and Spencer are surprised with Jessica DiLaurentis' return to town and her request that they participate in the show on Alison's behalf. Aria takes up the opportunity to try and help jog Jason's memory of the night Ali disappeared. As the charity event gets closer, walking down a runway in a fancy gown may not seem that hard, but nothing is ever easy for the Pretty Little Liars. Unexpectedly "A" sabotages the show. After the turn of events Jason smashes the CD that Noel was using to intimidate Aria and Jason gives her a ride home

In "Surface Tension," Aria's parents have a dinner party at their house, and invite both Ezra and Jason. The night is quickly interrupted when Officer Barry comes to tell Ella and Byron that Mike was arrested. Aria, now alone with Ezra and Jason, tries to fill an awkward situation. Then she receives a phone call from Spencer about the hockey stick Toby found and her assumptions that Jason may have killed Alison. Aria refuses to accept this, as her friendship with Jason starts to grow onto something deeper. Aria then searches through the things Mike stole, and finds the pot Jenna made in their pottery class. Later, when she questions Mike about it, he says that he didn't steal it from the Cavanaugh's, but Garrett Reynolds. Aria then sends a text to Spencer saying not to trust Garrett anymore.

In "Picture This," Aria struggles with herself. She starts having romantic/sexual dreams about Ezra and Jason. Feeling guilty, she pushes herself on Ezra (after practially ignoring him the week before). He senses something is wrong, but drops it when Aria denies it. Jason pursues her and kisses her, but she rejects him saying she isn't available. Unbeknown to her, Jason seems to have been stalking her and taking pictures of her, as pictures of her were found all over Jason's dark room. Neither one of them know that they are being watched by Garrett and Jenna while they speak.

In "Touched by an 'A'-ngel," Aria confesses that she kissed Jason and her dislike of Ezra's friendship with Jackie. She believes that Jackie is interested in Ezra. Jackie subtly hints to Aria that she is being naive about her relationship with Ezra, and Aria is left upset. Aria is also told by Ezra that he is ready to take their relationship public and tell Aria's parents. He kisses her, Jason sees, and she looks upset.

Ezra Fitz

 * Started: "Pilot"PLL101-00190.jpg
 * Ended: "For Whom the Bell Tolls"
 * Reason: Aria thinks Ezra still has feelings for Jackie, and is also upset because Ezra didn't tell her Jackie worked at Hollis
 * Started back up: The Goodbye Look
 * Reason: Aria realizes she has made a mistake leaving Ezra and runs back to him by his car, where they kiss and make up.

Noel Kahn

 * Started: "Please Do Talk About Me When I'm Gone"PLL110-00245.jpg
 * Ended: "Moments Later"
 * Reason: Aria realizes that Noel is a jerk and not someone she wants to be with and that she has stronger feelings for Ezra Fitz.

Trivia

 * She had pink highlights a year ago before going to Iceland, which is in the book it was 3 years ago.
 * In the book, Aria's parents wanted their children to call them by their first name whilst in the series, they call them "Mom" and "Dad".
 * In the series' pilot episode, Aria is the first character shown/mentioned after the flash back while in the book, it was Emily.
 * Lucy Hale auditioned for the role of Hanna Marin but was offered the role of Aria instead.
 * Aria has an alternative fashion sense and loves music, she is also the darkest character out of the four.
 * It was pretty simple for Lucy Hale to adapt to Aria's dark style and personality, because of her role in Wizard of Warvely Place as Miranda Hampson.