Maitreyi Ramakrishnan

Ramakrishnan was born and raised in Mississauga, Ontario. She is the daughter of Sri Lankan Tamil parents who immigrated to Canada as refugees because of the country's civil war, and she identifies as Tamil Canadian. Her parents are named Ram Selvarajah and Kiruthiha Kulendiren, and she has a brother named Vishwaa.

She attended Lisgar Middle School and graduated from Meadowvale Secondary School. During high school, she performed in a production of Footloose, an experience that encouraged her to pursue acting professionally during her final year. She initially planned to study theatre at York University, but deferred her acceptance after being cast in Never Have I Ever. She later changed her intended field to human rights and equity studies and graduated from York in autumn 2025.

Ramakrishnan made her professional acting debut as Devi Vishwakumar, the protagonist of Never Have I Ever. Mindy Kaling selected her from an open casting call that attracted approximately 15,000 candidates. Ramakrishnan made her first audition tape at a local library using her mother's camera, submitted four additional videos and then travelled to Los Angeles for a screen test. She was 17 when she won the role and had no professional acting experience.

The series premiered on Netflix in April 2020 and ran for four seasons through 2023. Devi is an Indian-American Tamil high school student whose story explores grief, family, friendships and identity. Ramakrishnan's performance received generally positive reviews, including Variety's description of it as a breakout performance. She earned nominations for an Independent Spirit Award, a Canadian Screen Award, an MTV Movie & TV Award and two People's Choice Awards.

Kaling was the creator who chose Ramakrishnan for the role and became an important professional mentor during the series. Ramakrishnan has described Kaling as a mentor for life, while Kaling said she recognised her potential after meeting her. Ramakrishnan also acted opposite Darren Barnet in the series, with Barnet playing Paxton Hall-Yoshida, one of Devi's love interests.

Ramakrishnan voiced Priya Mangal in Pixar's animated film Turning Red, released in 2022. Priya is an Indian-Canadian girl and one of the protagonist's friends. The role marked a move from her live-action television work into feature animation.

She also voiced Zipp Storm in the My Little Pony franchise, including My Little Pony: Tell Your Tale, My Little Pony: Make Your Mark and related television specials. Other voice credits include Marissa in Big Mouth, Nan-young in the English dub of Lost in Starlight and Beesha Balti in The Twits, for which she received an Annie Award nomination.

Her live-action film debut came with a supporting role in Slanted, which premiered at the 2025 South by Southwest Film & TV Festival. She played Brindha, the confident best friend of a protagonist affected by ethnic modification surgery. She later played pop star Ella in Freakier Friday. Her announced and forthcoming projects include the Netflix dance comedy Best of the Best, The Angry Birds Movie 3, the second season of Elle and The Netherfield Girls.

Ramakrishnan has worked as an advocate for girls' and women's rights. Since October 2020, she has served as a global ambassador for Plan International Canada, promoting gender equality and supporting fundraisers through gaming livestreams on Twitch. She also participated in Nobis's #NoColdShoulder campaign, which collected used jackets for donation.

Her recognition has included being named a Breakout Actor on Time's 2021 Time100 Next list. In 2022, she received the honorary Radius Award from the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television for her global impact on television. She was also nominated for Best Voice Acting in a Feature Production at the 53rd Annie Awards for The Twits.