Maitreyi Ramakrishnan

Maitreyi Ramakrishnan is a Canadian actress who rose to prominence for her leading role as high school student Devi Vishwakumar in the Netflix teen comedy-drama series Never Have I Ever. She has also voiced characters in animated projects such as the feature film Turning Red and the My Little Pony franchise, while transitioning into live-action films with supporting roles in Slanted and Freakier Friday.

Ramakrishnan was born on December 28, 2001, in Mississauga, Ontario, where she grew up. She was born to Sri Lankan Tamil parents who immigrated to Canada as refugees, and she identifies as Tamil Canadian. She attended Lisgar Middle School and graduated from Meadowvale Secondary School. During her final year of high school, she decided to pursue acting. She deferred her initial acceptance to York University's theatre program to shoot Never Have I Ever in Los Angeles. Later switching her major to human rights and equity studies, she officially graduated from York in late 2025.

In 2019, Ramakrishnan was selected by Mindy Kaling out of 15,000 applicants from an open casting call for Never Have I Ever. Having no prior professional acting experience, she created her audition tape at a local library. The series premiered on Netflix in April 2020 and ran for four seasons until June 2023. Her performance earned general acclaim and nominations for an Independent Spirit Award, a Canadian Screen Award, an MTV Movie & TV Award, and two People's Choice Awards. She was also named to Today's Groundbreakers list in 2019 and the Time100 Next list in 2021.

Ramakrishnan expanded into voice work by playing Priya Mangal in Pixar's Turning Red and voicing Zipp Storm across the My Little Pony franchise, including the series Tell Your Tale and Make Your Mark. Her additional voice credits include Big Mouth, Lost in Starlight, and The Twits, the latter earning her an Annie Award nomination. In 2022, she received the honorary Radius Award from the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television for her global impact on television.

She made her live-action feature debut playing Brindha in the 2025 comedy-drama Slanted. She went on to play pop star Ella in Disney's Freakier Friday and appeared in the fifth season of the series The Boys. Her upcoming projects include the dance comedy Best of the Best, an ensemble voice role in The Angry Birds Movie 3, a recurring role in season two of the series Elle, and the romantic comedy film The Netherfield Girls.

Ramakrishnan has partnered with brands such as American Eagle, Tim Hortons, Lancôme, Nintendo Switch, Fable & Mane, and Pokémon. Since October 2020, she has served as a global ambassador for Plan International Canada to promote gender equality and women's rights, and she has participated in the Nobis #NoColdShoulder donation campaign. Regarding her personal life, she has stated that she does not care about gender when dating, describing herself as a personality person.