At just 23, Maitreyi Ramkrishnan is already one of the leading South Asian faces of original Netflix dramas. Having shot to fame with Mindy Kaling’s American dramedy series Never Have I Ever during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Tamil-Canadian star waltzed into Hollywood. But, given the circumstances, Ramakrishnan, who was born to Sri Lankan parents in Mississauga, deferred her acceptance to one of the most prominent and top-ranked universities in Canada twice to climb the stairs of stardom.
Although determined to get her university degree, Maitreyi first put off York University’s theatre program so she could go on to shoot Never Have I Ever‘s first season. The show, wherein she played the titular character Devi Vishwakumar, an Indian-American Tamil teen, has since enjoyed a four-season run. With all hands on deck throughout the course of the multi-season Netflix title, Ramakrishnan deferred her acceptance into the same Toronto university for a second time in 2021, according to Canadian news outlet The Globe and Mail.
She eventually also switched her degree from theatre to human rights and equity studies, a course she has now completed in full. The major transition spoke at length about her passion, as also reflected in her position as an ambassador for Plan International Canada, a non-profit organisation dedicated to advancing children’s rights and equality for girls.
Netflix star Maitreyi Ramakrishnan graduates from York University
Taking to her Instagram profile this week, Ramakrishnan shared the exhilarating news that she had finally graduated from university. “New character unlocked: maitreyi the university graduate,” she captioned a carousel post consisting of a bunch of photos commemorating the occasion.
In a follow-up response, she added, on the SNS platform, “For those asking: my degree is in human rights and equity studies. And no, you don’t need to have a degree to know or give a sh*t about human rights :)”
Even Kaling jumped in to congratulate the young Canadian actress. “Oh my good I’m gonna cry! Congrats little genius (heart emoji) (eye heart emoji),” she commented.
Surely, the moment was full circle for Mindy, who not only served as an executive producer of the coming-of-age Netflix series but also created it. Never Have I Ever started streaming on the OTT giant in 2020, initially presenting Maitreyi’s character as a 15-year-old high-schooler. The Tamil-Canadian star was 17 and fresh out of high school in real life when she landed the lead role in the hit series.
With her roots lying in Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka, as per Vogue India, Ramakrishnan has been going hard this year. Her big university milestone comes merely months after she starred alongside Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan in Disney’s over 20 years-in-the-making Freaky Friday sequel called Freakier Friday.
On top of that, she also lent her voice to a character of yet another Netflix title, this time an animated film, The Twits, which premiered merely days ago. Months before that, the streaming giant released a South Korean animated flick. Maitreyi emerged as the English voice actor of the lead character in the sci-fi romance movie as well.
About York University
Back in 2023, Maitreyi told Netflix audiences that her path was quite like that of her Never Have I Ever character, who was also headed to college by the time the series crossed the finale line. “I originally had the plan to go to York University prior to the casting of Never Have I Ever in 2019,” she said while promoting the wildly popular show.
Addressing her degree change from theatre to human rights and equity studies, she attributed the switch to already having become an actor thanks to her breakout Netflix role. “Human rights and equity studies was one of the degrees I also applied to way back when because it’s always been a passion of mine,” she added at the time.
The South Asian Canadian star’s university is 38th in the world for impact towards sustainable development, according to THE Impact Ranking 2025. Meanwhile, it places among Top 5 Best Comprehensive Universities in Canada, as per Maclean’s University Rankings, which also makes it third in Canada for availability of scholarships and grants in the comprehensive category.
QS World University Ranking 2026, on the other hand, positions it as the 333rd top university in the world. And among other key achievements, York University also stood tall as the 17th best university in Canada on the US News & World Report Best Global Universities Ranking.