Maitreyi Ramakrishnan became a global phenomenon with her debut series Never Have I Ever , becoming a face of South Asian representation in the West. The actor’s upcoming Netflix film Best Of The Best takes the representation a notch further. “In recent years, representation has gotten strides farther than where we were before. It’s personality first, and then the non-changeable factors of their cultural backgrounds is additional information. But I have to give the dues where it’s deserved.
We did have past representations that might not have necessarily been what we fully resonated with or saw ourselves in, but sometimes even just existence, though might not be reflective of your experience, still moves the needle,” she says.
Having seen global success at 18 with her debut show, brought a lot of pressure and responsibility for Maitreyi, and she admits it made growing up also a bit challenging. But the idea of being perceived by millions of people around the world constantly when you are just 18 is a lot. Because everything was online, it kind of felt a little fake at first, “Never Have I Ever season one came out in COVID and.
Maitreyi Ramakrishna’s new film shows Indian dance in a new light in Hollywood, including classical dance forms like Bharatnatyam. And she is glad things have moved beyond the snake charmer music, as represented in the past. “All these dance styles come from very rich cultures and histories and our choreographers kept it real. We’re not settling for just waving our hands in the air anymore. That’s not happening,” she insists. It was right after Tiger King, Love is Blind, and Too Hot to Handle. So, everyone’s bars were really low, and we slid right in there with a nice little comedy that’s actually a story about grief. I never grew up wanting to be an actor or be in entertainment. I wanted to be behind the scenes and draw, and be an animator. However, Maitreyi credits actor-producer Mindy Kaling for making things easier for her. “I got the biggest gift in having the best first boss in the world with my icon and one of the first true faces and pioneers of South Asian representation in the West, Mindy Kaling. She always kept it real and never went easy on me. She would always lead with her heart and truly saw me as a young kid who she realized she plucked out of nowhere and doesn’t know this world. She really took such good care of me. So, I didn’t crash out, I’m not shaving my head yet. We’re still here. So, I guess we’re all right,” she ends.
So, it was overwhelming,” she says.
