Mindy Kaling’s New Netflix Series Just Cast an Unknown as Its Lead

Mindy Kaling’s forthcoming autobiographical coming-of-age series has found its lead: Toronto-based newcomer Maitreyi Ramakrishnan.

One of 15,000 actors to respond to Kaling’s worldwide open casting call for the Netflix project, Ramakrishnan will be making her onscreen debut in the lead role of Devi.

The untitled project, co-created, co-written and executive produced by Kaling and The Mindy Project co-executive producer Lang Fisher, is said to be a semi-autobiographical take on Kaling’s childhood, most of which was documented in Kaling’s first memoir Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, and follows the “complicated life of a modern-day first generation Indian American teenage girl.”

Though not much else is known about the project, Devi’s character is described as an overachieving high school sophomore with a short fuse that gets her into difficult situations.

Howard Klein (The Office, Parks and Recreation), David Miner (30 Rock) and Tristam Shapeero (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt) will also serve as executive producers alongside Kaling and Fisher.

Further details, including a tentative release date, have yet to be set, but seeing that Kaling’s initial casting posting also called for two other South Asian female roles, we can expect further casting announcements to roll out in the coming months.

With Ramakrishnan’s casting following January’s announcement of the addition of newcomer Rachel Zegler to Steven Spielberg’s remake of West Side Story, it seems like 2019 is proving a good year for unknowns to break into the industry.

Stay tuned for further updates, but in the meantime, check out our review of Kaling’s latest film, Late Night.