Turning Red star Maitreyi Ramakrishnan shares how her character in film is similar to her

Spoiler Alert: This article contains spoilers. Proceed with caution if you have not watched the show/movie.

The Canadian actress Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, who is best known for her lead role as Devi Vishwakumar in the Netflix teen comedy series ‘Never Have I Ever’ has shared her experience of voicing the character of Priya in Disney’s Turning Red. In November 2021, it was announced that Ramakrishnan would voice the role of Priya in the Pixar animated fantasy comedy film Turning Red.

Sharing her experience in the film, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan said, “I remember my first reaction to seeing just a rough sketch of Priya while recording…I was immediately so excited about how similar she looks to me–I’m talking about the bushy hair, the nose piercing, glasses and the slight eye bags from probably staying up way too late the night before! I definitely was not as quiet and cool as Priya is when I was in middle school, but we both are always ready to stick up for a friend.”

She added, “Sounding excited, sad or angry while also staying monotone is a very fine line to walk. Priya is just someone with a monotone voice, but she still has feelings like every other middle school kid, so keeping that in mind definitely helped. Recording early in the morning also helped to sound monotone! Not a fan of mornings.”

The other voice cast includes Sandra Oh, Rosalie Chiang, Ava Morse, Hyein Park, Orion Lee, Wang Ching Ho, Tristan Allerick Chen and Addie Chandler. Billish Eilish and Finneas O'Connell wrote original songs for the film, which will be performed by the fictional band 4*Town. O'Connell, Jordan Fisher, Josh Levi, Topher Ngo and Grayson Villenueva play the band members.

Turning Red marks the feature directorial debut of Domee Shi, who picked up the 2018 animated short film Oscar for Bao. Turning Red follows Mei Lee (voiced by Rosalie Chiang), a confident 13-year-old girl who turns into a giant red panda when she gets overly excited.

We all turn red when we feel angry, and hopefully, the director has tackled the anxiety in the girl's character amusingly. She has shown growing up isn't so easy and how the teenage character outbursts with anger.

Turning Red is set to premiere in London, England on February 21, 2022, and will be released on Disney+ in countries where the service is available, on March 11, 2022.

Also Read: Pixar's Turning Red: Sandra Oh praises Asian audience for understanding the movie so well