Never has Maitreyi Ramakrishnan ever acted on screen.
Well, that was once true, until the 18-year-old Canadian newcomer was plucked from an audition pool of 15,000 actors vying to star in Mindy Kalingâs inaugural Netflix series. âNever Have I Ever,â which is loosely based on the comedianâs own adolescence, arrived on the streaming service Monday and for Ramakrishnan itâs the breakout role she never expected to come.
The series, co-created by Kaling and âMindy Projectâ alum Lang Fisher, follows Devi Vishwakumar, a sophomore high schooler who just wants to fit in after an unquestionably terrible year: She lost the ability to walk after her fatherâs tragic death. âNever Have I Everâ checks a lot of the teen rom-com boxes â thereâs unrequited love, a jock with a heart of gold and a cadre of quirky BFFs. But itâs also a quietly revolutionary story that finally puts a first-generation Indian American teen at the forefront.
Ramakrishnan has always felt a kinship with Kaling â the rare face in mainstream media she could actually recognize herself in â but she never expected to outperform actors gunning for their big break when responding to an open casting call.
âI just didnât think it would ever happen. This is my first job. Not even just my first acting job, but my first job period and Mindy Kaling is my boss,â Ramakrishnan told HuffPost in a phone interview.
In what is clearly the exception to the never-meet-your-heroes rule, she added that Kaling âhas really become my mentor. Iâm blessed to say that.â
Ramakrishnanâs character isnât just any girl. Sheâs big-hearted, brash, full of contradictions, prone to mistakes and, perhaps most importantly, not just one thing.
âI brought my own experiences into this and staying true to that helped create a really authentic, fleshed-out character,â she said. âI just didnât grow up really seeing anybody that looked like me who wasnât the butt-end of the joke or the sidekick. Like a lot of people from underrepresented communities, I started to see myself instead in the characters that are portrayed, who are usually just white and straight.â
âThat becomes dangerous because when youâre not seeing yourself, you start living your own life in the shadows,â she said.
Kaling, however, was always a beacon for Ramakrishnan, a self-identifying huge fan of âThe Officeâ who recalled being struck by episodes that explored Kelly Kapoorâs life and identity outside of work.
âIt was a such a nice first step,â Ramakrishnan said of the sitcomâs classic âDiwaliâ episode. âWe can criticize it because itâs not a perfect in-depth representation of the culture, but it made a mark at the time and it was really cool what Mindy did with the space that she had. Sheâs constantly growing and pushing forward.â
In fact, when Ramakrishnan was flown to Los Angeles to audition for the lead role, she fought the all-too-relatable urge to spout off references to the workplace sitcom in Kalingâs presence.
âI was like, âWhat am I going to lose?ââ she recalled thinking during the audition. âI need to just say this right now because I will never see her again. Yeah, jokeâs on me.â
Despite lacking any formal training, her skills proved mighty enough to immediately impress everyone in the room.
âA lot of times we would say to each other, we are looking for the Indian teen girl version of Jonah Hill,â showrunner Lang Fisher told HuffPost. âWe can teach them to act, but you canât really teach someone to be funny.â
âMaitreyi really stood out because sheâs just naturally very funny,â Fisher continued, recalling how the newcomer tends to âdabâ after most takes. âWe knew we were just taking a chance on a 17-year-old who has only done high school plays, but thatâs the thing that was special about her.â
If this all sounds like a dream scenario, know that diving headfirst into Hollywood wasnât without its challenges, as Ramakrishnan had to quiet the voices in her head questioning her right to be there in the first place.
âIn the beginning, there was definitely a sense of why me?â she admitted. âI was like, âWhen is it going to go wrong? When is the bad thing going to happen?ââ
âBut then it hit me while filming. Mindy couldâve picked so many other people, but she didnât. She picked me,â the actor continued. âI didnât just buy a ticket and win the lottery. ... I worked really hard for this and understanding that difference really helped me gain my self-confidence back.â
âOther people wouldâve have crumbled under that pressure, but she rose to the occasion,â Fisher said, recalling how Ramakrishnan worked overtime with an acting coach on the weekends. âI really am so proud of her. She truly turned into a professional working actress by the end.â
Apart from a second season, Ramakrishnan said she hopes that âNever Have I Everâ helps anyone whoâs experienced being the âotherâ feel like they belong. After all, there are still those 14,999 other young South Asian actors who auditioned for the role, and thatâs a triumph in itself.
âThereâs like so much more to do,â she said. âThis isnât the limit of the South Asian representation. There is this pressure to navigate representation and make sure itâs realistic, but it needs to happen. So why not do it, make a mark in the best possible way, keep striving for more and why not me?â