Maitreyi Ramakrishnan is a Canadian actress. She is best known for her leading role as high school student Devi Vishwakumar in the Netflix teen comedy series Never Have I Ever and the lead in the Pixar feature Turning Red.

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Personal Life

Physical Appearance

Family Status

Career

Ramakrishnan made her acting debut in the television show Never Have I Ever, which revolves around the life of Devi Vishwakumar. In that year, Mindy Kaling selected her from an audition pool of more than 15,000 people in an open casting call for the show. Ramakrishnan made her audition tape at a local library using her mother's camera and eventually received requests for four more videos before having a screen test in Los Angeles and being asked to play the role. Ramakrishnan was 17 at the time of casting and had never acted professionally. Maitreyi had admitted in an interview that growing up, she was watching Vijay's acting in Pokkiri, and that was one of the influencing factors in taking up an acting career. Her casting was able to garner major press attention, especially in Canada, both due to the nature of the open casting call and for her Tamil Canadian identity. That same year, Today had called the teen one of 18 "Groundbreakers" on the International Day of the Girl—a list of girls who were breaking down barriers and changing the world.

In April 2020, Never Have I Ever premiered on Netflix. Ramakrishnan plays the main role of Devi Vishwakumar, a first-generation Indian-American high school student, loosely based on Mindy Kaling. This show ran for four seasons until June 2023. The series itself and Ramakrishnan's performance have received critical acclaim; Variety referred to the performance as a "breakout performance". She was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award, a Canadian Screen Award, an MTV Movie & TV Award, and two People's Choice Awards, and one win. In July 2020, Netflix released viewership data for the series, reporting that it had been viewed by 40 million households worldwide since its release. In May 2020, Ramakrishnan participated in the live read series Acting for a Cause, starring as Olivia in a live-staged reading for the class of William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, to help raise funds for a local Chicago hospital amidst the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. She also hosted the livestream segment at the 8th Canadian Screen Awards for Children's and Youth Programming Category. That same February, Ramakrishnan was named Breakout Actor on Time magazine's Time 100 Next roster of the next hundred chronogram, impactful figures.

In March 2022, Ramakrishnan was announced as a brand ambassador for clothing retailer American Eagle's "Member's Always: Future Together" campaign with Madelyn Cline, Joshua Bassett, Michael Evans Behling, Coco Gauff, and Mxmtoon. That same month she had voiced Priya Mangal, an Indian-Canadian mellow, deadpan girl and one of the protagonist's friends in the Pixar animated fantasy-comedy film Turning Red. The film was released on 11 March on Disney+ and in limited theaters. Ramakrishnan was announced to voice Zipp Storm as part of the content slate for the fifth incarnation of the My Little Pony franchise. The first project, the 2D animated short-form web series My Little Pony: Tell Your Tale, premiered on YouTube in early April. She has also voiced the character for the CGI-animated Netflix series My Little Pony: Make Your Mark, which premiered in September, and was preceded by a special of the same name in May. The second season premiered in June 2023. That same month she was given the honorary Radius Award from the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television at the 10th Canadian Screen Awards, for her global impact on television. In November, Ramakrishnan starred in a Netflix holiday special for the Make Your Mark series titled My Little Pony: Winter Wishday. The third special, My Little Pony: Bridlewoodstock was released in June 2023.

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Facts

• Is of Tamil descent
• Considered pursuing a career as an animator before considering her career as an actress
• Was encouraged by her drama teacher to start a career in acting
• Is a big fan of Marvel Comics and Disney
• Is a fan of the Toronto Raptors basketball team