The senior season of ‘Never Have I Ever’ is here, but fans want to know more about Maitreyi Ramakrishnan’s parents. Here’s what we know.
Maitreyi Ramakrishnan is a Canadian actress. She is known for her leading role as Devi Vishwakumar in the Netflix teen comedy series Never Have I Ever and as Priya Mangal in the Pixar film Turning Red.
Maitreyi was discovered after her best friend, Shaharah Gaznabbi, told her that Mindy Kaling was holding an open call for a South Asian teen actress to play the lead in a new Netflix series. Prior to that, she was rehearsing for a school production of ‘Chicago’ when she auditioned for the role. Following two auditions in LA, Maitreyi beat out over 15,000 other applicants to win the main part in ‘Never Have I Ever’ and the rest is history. She now considers Mindy a close friend and mentor and refers to her as her “fairy godmother” on social media.
With that said, here’s what fans should know about Maitreyi Ramakrishnan’s parents and siblings; plus, stick around as we disclose what the 21-year-old actress has said about her ethnicity.
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Who are Maitreyi Ramakrishnan’s parents?
Maitreyi’s father is named Ram Selvarajah and her mother is Kiruthiha Kulendiren. According to Evening Standard, the Sri Lankan civil war on Tamil citizens forced Maitreyi’s parents to flee as refugees from Sri Lanka to Canada.
Ram’s official LinkedIn profile reveals that he is currently a systems analyst and team lead for the government of Ontario; he started the role in August 2012. Overall, he’s worked for the government for 14 years, beginning his career in January 2008.
You can follow him on Instagram here.
As for Maitreyi’s mother, Kiruthiha, there are conflicting reports; some say she works in marketing, while others claim her occupation is unknown. We know it’s not much, but we can safely assume that Kiruthiha strives to stay out of the spotlight.
Nevertheless, you can follow her on Twitter here — she often retweets posts about her daughter, Maitreyi.
What is Maitreyi Ramakrishnan’s ethnicity?
When it comes to her ethnicity, Maitreyi identifies as Tamil-Canadian. This revelation came about when Netflix officially announced the cast of Never Have I Ever, in which the press release described the actress as Tamil-Canadian.
“I made it very clear to my agent and publicist that Tamil-Canadian is very, very important to me,” Maitreyi told Now Toronto in August 2019. The outlet noted she “made sure her ethnicity and nationality were spelled out exactly that way” in the release.
“My identity isn’t being Sri Lankan… That’s not my country. My country is Canada. But my culture is definitely Tamil.”
Does Maitreyi Ramakrishnan have any siblings?
If you thought Maitreyi was an only child like her character in Never Have I Ever, you’d be mistaken. The Turning Red actress has an older brother named Vishwaa Ramakrishnan. Like their parents, Vishwaa is quite a private person.
However, you can follow him on Instagram here; based on his profile, it seems Vishwaa is an aspiring musician. Not only has he seen The Rolling Stones live in concert, but he also traveled to Nashville to gain more experience in the industry.
On Aug. 10, Maitreyi appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and briefly talked about her brother. She told the titular host that she always tried to be “the center of attention” growing up and made “all of [her] brother’s birthday parties about [her].”