'Never Have I Ever' is over, but Maitreyi Ramakrishnan is just getting started

It's Been a Minute

NPR

News Commentary, Society & Culture, News, Spirituality, Religion & Spirituality

4.6 • 8.8K Ratings

🗓️ 27 June 2023

⏱️ 14 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Maitreyi Ramakrishnan has big dreams. The 21-year-old gained full celebrity status with her breakout role as Devi Vishwakumar in the Mindy Kaling-produced hit Never Have I Ever. The final season just dropped on Netflix so we're revisiting our 2022 conversation with the star where host Brittany Luse gets Ramakrishnan dishing on everything from cosplay to car chases. They also talk about Ramakrishnan's wildest dream role, how to deal with haters and why she hopes this is just the beginning – for her, and for other nerdy brown girls who want to make it in Hollywood.

You can follow us on Twitter @NPRItsBeenAMin and email us at [email protected].

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	You're listening to It's Been a Minute From NPR.
0:05.6	I'm Brittany Loose.
0:07.2	And for some of us, June marked the end of an era, especially for my next guest,
0:12.8	Mitri Ramakrishnan.
0:14.6	She's the star of Netflix's Smash Teen Dramaty Never Have I Ever, which had its series finale
0:20.5	this month.
0:21.8	The show was remarkable in large part because of Mitri.
0:25.7	It's the rare teen show that featured a Sri Lankan Canadian as its lead.
0:30.3	Today, I'm revisiting my conversation with Mitri from last fall, where we get into how
0:36.1	to imagine yourself doing something when no one else like you has done it before, some
0:40.6	advice on how to deal with haters and proudly flying your nerd flag.
0:46.0	And spoiler, Mitri has no shame in being authentically herself.
0:51.0	I'm not secretly obsessed with a lot.
0:53.3	I feel like I'm just outwardly obsessed with things.
0:57.0	And it's like either you're with it or you're not.
0:59.9	I vibe.
1:00.9	I like to just do all the things that I do.
1:03.5	I love cosplaying, so that's really fun.
1:07.2	But I started posting about my cosplays and stuff on the social medias.
1:13.2	Yeah, you get a big response about those on Instagram for sure.
1:17.4	There's so fun.
1:18.4	Why wouldn't it?
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of NPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.