All About Maitreyi Ramakrishnan's Parents, Ram Selvarajah and Kiruthiha Kulendiren

Mar. 15, 2025

Maitreyi Ramakrishnan (center) and her family attend Netflix’s “Never Have I Ever” Season 4 Premiere Screening Event at Regency Village Theatre on June 01, 2023 in Los Angeles, California.Photo:Emma McIntyre/WireImage

Emma McIntyre/WireImage

Maitreyi Ramakrishnanhas been a rising star since she landed a leading role in Hollywood at age 19, and she is grateful for her parent’s support through it all.

From the moment Ramakrishnan learned she hadlanded the lead role of Devi in Netflix’sNever Have I Ever,her first acting job in Hollywood, her parents have been unwavering in their support. Since then, she has voiced characters inTurning RedandMy Little Pony. In June 2024, it was announced that she would be joining the cast ofFreaky Friday 2.

“… A big reason why people tell me in interviews, ‘You’re so wise beyond your years,’ or ‘You’re so grounded,’ or ‘You’ve got a great head on your shoulders,’ a big part of that is my family,” Ramakrishnan toldTeen Voguein August 2021. “I could not do this as well as I am without my fam.”

From escaping the civil war in Sri Lanka to supporting their daughter’s career, here’s everything to know about Maitreyi Ramakrishnan’s parents, Ram Selvarajah and Kiruthiha Kulendiren.

They share two kids

Maitreyi Ramakrishnan with her brother, Vishwaa Ramakrishnan, and mother, Kiruthiha Kulendiren, in July 2019.Maitreyi Ramakrishnan/Instagram

Maitreyi Ramakrishnan/Instagram

Before their daughter was born in December 2001, Selvarajah and Kulendiren had welcomed a son, Vishwaa Ramakrishnan. They raised their children just outside of Toronto, in Mississauga, Ontario.

Vishwaaattended McGill Universityand, according tohis Instagram, later received a master of science in empires, colonialism and globalization from the London School of Economics and Political Science in 2023.

In August 2022, onJimmy Fallon’sThe Tonight Show, the actress joked that as a younger sibling, she used to “make all of my brother’s birthday parties about me.”

They immigrated to Canada from Sri Lanka

Maitreyi Ramakrishnan in October 2023.Maitreyi Ramakrishnans/Instagram

Maitreyi Ramakrishnans/Instagram

Selvarajah and Kulendiren escaped the civil war in Sri Lanka (which was fought from 1983 to 2009) and relocated to Canada as refugees in the late 1980s.

Ramakrishnan is grateful for learning her family’s history.

“It’s just that appreciation for my family and for who they are as individuals coming here to Canada,” shetold the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security. “And it, of course, makes me even more grateful for the soil that I walk on to live the life and be able to do what I do again, you know.”

Selvarajah and Kulendiren brought their children to a protest on the Gardiner Expressway when they were young kids, which took place to raise awareness about the war crimes happening back home.

“We consciously raised them so that our stories wouldn’t define them,” Kulendiren toldNow Toronto.

Going to protests with her mom as a kid gave her an understanding of social justice and instilled in her a need to speak out against injustices, she told the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security.

“By the time I was in, like middle school and high school, like that was no stranger to me,” she said. “Doing a walkout – that wasn’t anything new that felt out of the ordinary. It just felt like the right thing to do.”

They raised Ramakrishnan in a multigenerational home

Maitreyi Ramakrishnan (center) and her family attend Netflix’s “Never Have I Ever” Season 4 Premiere Screening Event at Regency Village Theatre on June 01, 2023 in Los Angeles, California.Emma McIntyre/WireImage

LikeherNever Have I Evercharacter,Ramakrishnan grew up in a multi-generational home that included her mom, dad, brother, grandmother, grandfather and great-grandmother.

“Family discussions in my house are like ping pong matches,” RamakrishnantoldThe New York Timesin June 2023. She continued to explain that she got her “overdramatic self” from her grandmother.

In August 2022, she revealed onThe Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallonthat she used to steal her mother’s clothes as a kid.

She also toldSELFin October 2020 that “my mom and my grandma really drive into both me and my brother that we take care of our body and take care of our skin.”

“Whenever I don’t, [my mom] always looms it over me, like, ‘I’ve taken care of your skin for so long when you were a child. Your skin was perfect, and now you’re just going to throw it away!’ And I’m like, Ah, okay! Alright! I’ll fix it! My bad! Definitely owe it to my mom to make sure that I stay on top of my health,” she toldSELF.

In September 2021, Ramakrishnan told PEOPLE that shefelt lucky to have a family full of cooks— including a mom who makes “really good stir-frys,” a culinarily inclined brother and a grandma who “cooks a lot of rice and curry.”

Ramakrishnan’s father accompanied her to her first audition

Ramakrishnan’s friends and family “flipped out” with excitement when she got a callback email forNever Have I Everthat read: “Can you come to L.A.?”

However, according toNow Toronto, her father was initially concerned about the legitimacy of the casting email because it came from a generic address rather than a studio account.

After confirming its authenticity, they had to find an agent and coordinate travel plans, figuring out which parent could take time off on short notice to accompany their daughter to L.A. It wound up being her father, who joined his daughter on what would be both of their first trips to Hollywood.

WhenMindy Kalingand Lang Fisher called Ramakrishnan in May 2019 to congratulate her on the leading role, she remembers her parents screaming in the background.

“It was a whole event,” she toldNow Torontoin August 2019.

They work full-time jobs while supporting Ramakrishnan’s career

Maitreyi Ramakrishnan attends Going for Gold: A Celebration of Netflix’s Pan Asian Emmy Contenders at Raleigh Studios Hollywood on May 16, 2022 in Los Angeles, California.Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Netflix

Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Netflix

In June 2023, Ramakrishnan told PEOPLE that she is the “daughter of a workaholic.”

According to hisLinkedIn, Selvarajah has worked for the Government of Ontario for over 16 years and is currently a system analyst. Meanwhile, according to herLinkedIn, Kulendiren is a staff representative at the Canadian Office and Professional Employees Union in Ontario.

During filming, Ramakrishnan’s mom’s boss allowed her to work from home in L.A. Halfway through filming, she switched out with her husband.

“It definitely made me feel a little bit of pressure, but also not really because I knew without a doubt my parents were gonna do that for me. That wasn’t even a question,” she told theLos Angeles Timesin June 2023. “It was pressure in the sense of, ‘OK, you’re doing everything for me. I have no reason to not be on my ‘A’ game.’ ”

In June 2023, she shared during a panel atThe 92nd Street Ythat she felt fortunate to have a mother and father who drove her to set every day, and who often stayed there with her while working full-time jobs.

“They were always supportive, never complained,” she shared.

Ramakrishnan was living at home when the show was released during the pandemic, and her family traveled with her to New York to do promo for season 2.

“Over these four years, I have learned how absolutely privileged I am to have the parents that I do,” Ramakrishnan said at the panel.

They empower Ramakrishnan to speak up

John Shearer/Getty Images

In February 2024, Ramakrishnan told The 92nd Street Y that her mother and father’s biggest concern while watching “sexy dream sequences with Paxton” being filmed is always her comfort.

“Their priority is, ‘Do you like what you’re wearing? Do you feel comfortable doing what you’re doing in this scene? And are you okay with what you’re saying?” Yes? Great.’ And then if I’m not comfortable, my parents always empower me to speak up,” Ramakrishnan said, adding, “I have to just shout out my parents for that.”

When the crowd started clapping, she encouraged them to “give it up for my parents,” adding that they are “quite cool.”

In addition to her acting roles, this lesson carries over into her passion for fighting food insecurity. In September 2021, while speaking about her partnership with MadeGood for the company’s Un-Wreck the Future campaign, Ramakrishnan told PEOPLE that she was raised to “speak up for what I believe in.”

“When it comes to food insecurity, ever since I was a kid my mom would always tell me, ‘Make sure you eat everything because there’s kids out there that don’t get food,” she said. “It is true and it is something that has translated into who I am now because I’m all about making sure there’s no food waste and getting people food.”

Ramakrishnan thought of them while filming one ofNever Have I Ever’s final scenes

Richa Moorjani as Kamala, Poorna Jagannathan as Nalini Vishwakumar, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan as Devi, Ranjita Chakravarty as Nirmala, Lee Rodriguez as Fabiola Torres in episode 410 of Never Have I Ever.Lara Solanki/Netflix

In one of the final scenes ofNever Have I Ever,Ramakrishnan’s character, Devi, is seen at the altar praying and expressing gratitude for her life.

“Thank you, I feel really grateful. I have this awesome life full of dope people who care about me and who love me,” her character says.

Ramakrishnan told theLos Angeles Timesin 2023that she was thinking of her family while filming this scene.

“In that scene, when I was acting that out, it was very easy because I was just thinking about the gratitude that I have for the show, the opportunity, for the crew members that have worked on the show and have taught me so many things, for Mindy, for the fans, for my family,” she told theLos Angeles Times.

“My mom and my dad drove me to work every single day [for] Season 1, 2 and 3. And never once did they complain to me. Never once. So, it was so easy to act out that scene. It was important to me to hit it exactly right to show overwhelming gratitude — that was the emotion I wanted to portray,” she added.

source: people.com