IN A PARALLEL, lazier universe, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan is not the star of Mindy Kaling’s teen rom-com series, Never Have I Ever. The Tamil Canadian actor was in her final year at Mississauga’s Meadowvale High School when her best friend sent her the casting call with the message, “Yo, let’s do this.” Ramakrishnan, relaxing on her couch, was about to text back a hard no—it seemed like too much effort; she was tired from school. But, she says, “Something in me was like, You know what? Why not?”
Less than three months later, Ramakrishnan beat out 15,000 other young women to play Devi Vishwakumar, an open-hearted nerd navigating puberty, early love and friendships. She had never appeared on screen before. “It was a really steep learning curve,” she says. “I didn’t…
