Maitreyi Ramakrishnan

Maitreyi Ramakrishnan (/maɪˈtreɪi ˌrɑːməˈkrɪʃnən/ my-TRAY-ee RAH-mə-KRISH-nən; born 28 December 2001) is a Canadian actress. She is known for her leading role as Devi Vishwakumar in the Netflix teen comedy series Never Have I Ever (2020–present) and as Priya Mangal in the Pixar film Turning Red (2022). Ramakrishnan was born and raised in Mississauga, Ontario. 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 went to Lisgar Middle School for elementary 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 also switching her degree to human rights and equity studies.