Aria Montgomery

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

Biography
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 apparently does but 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 a 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 "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 Bells 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 so worried but then Ezra says that Hollis offered him a job. Aria then punches Ezra because she thought they were caught. Ezra explains that Garret was there to ask about Spencer, the trophy, and props. Ezra explains 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.

Ezra Fitz

 * Started: Pilot
 * Ended: For Whom the Bells 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.PLL110-00245.jpg

Noel Kahn

 * Started: Please Do Talk About Me When I'm Gone
 * 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, whilst 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.
 * Lucy Hale was the only cast member to be offered a role.
 * Aria has an alternative fashion sense and loves music, she is also the darkest character out of the four.