Maitreyi Ramakrishnan (born 28 December 2001) is a Canadian actress. She is best known for her leading role as Devi Vishwakumar in the Netflix teen comedy series Never Have I Ever (2020–present).
Early Life and Career
Ramakrishnan was born and raised in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. She was born to Tamil parents who immigrated to Canada as refugees from Sri Lanka due to the civil war. She identifies herself as ‘Tamil-Canadian’ rather than ‘Sri Lankan’. She began acting in school plays in Grade 10 and graduated from Meadowvale Secondary School.
Ramakrishnan made the decision to pursue an acting career in her last year at Meadowvale and got the role in the Netflix teen comedy series Never Have I Ever less than a year after. She deferred her acceptance to the theatre program at York University in Toronto, which she had initially planned to attend the fall after she graduated high school, so she could shoot the series in Los Angeles. In 2021, she deferred her acceptance a second time, while switching her degree to human rights and equity studies.
Ramakrishnan made her professional acting debut as Devi Vishwakumar, the lead role, in the Netflix teen comedy series Never Have I Ever. In 2019, she was chosen by Mindy Kaling out of 15,000 candidates that applied for an open casting call for the show. Ramakrishnan created her audition tape at a local library, using her mother’s camera, eventually being asked to send four more videos, before having a screen test in Los Angeles and being offered the role. Ramakrishnan was 17 at the time of her casting and had not acted professionally. Her casting received significant media attention, especially in Canada, both due to the nature of the open casting call and for her Tamil Canadian identity.
In 2019, Today named her one of eighteen “Groundbreakers”, a list of girls who were breaking down barriers and changing the world. Her performance in the show received positive reviews,[24] with Variety saying it was a “breakout performance”. She received nominations for an Independent Spirit Award, a Canadian Screen Award, and an MTV Movie & TV Award.
In 2020, Ramakrishnan narrated the Children’s Programming portion of the 8th Canadian Screen Awards. Also in 2020, she took part in the live read series Acting for a Cause, appearing as Olivia for a live reading of William Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night, to help raise money for a local hospital in Chicago struggling to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2021, she was named as a Breakout Actor in Time 100’s Most Influential People.
On 2 June 2021, it was announced that she would star in the Netflix romantic comedy film The Netherfield Girls, a contemporary adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice. In November 2021, it was announced Ramakrishnan would voice the role of Priya in the Pixar animated fantasy comedy film Turning Red. In 2022, she will voice Zipp Storm in the Netflix computer-animated series My Little Pony: Make Your Mark, as well as 2D series for YouTube called My Little Pony: Tell Your Tale and two CGI specials (My Little Pony: Make Your Mark and My Little Pony: Winter Wishday), replacing Liza Koshy who previously voiced the character in My Little Pony: A New Generation.
Boyfriend/ Husband
Maitreyi Ramakrishnan is currently single and not in any relationship for now. Maitreyi Ramakrishnan is also not married.
Net Worth
Maitreyi Ramakrishnan’s net worth as of 2022 is estimated at around $500, 000 – $2.5 million.
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