Richa Moorjani is an American actress who is best known for her role as Kamala in the Netflix series Never Have I Ever and as Indira Olmstead in the fifth season of American crime drama Fargo.

Richa Shukla Moorjani
Born
Richa Shukla
NationalityAmerican
EducationUniversity of California, Davis
Occupations
  • Actress
  • dancer
Years active2011–present
Known forNever Have I Ever
Spouse
Bharat Rishi Moorjani
(m. 2019)

Early life and family

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Moorjani was born and raised in an Indian Sindhi Hindu family settled in the United States. She attended Saratoga High School (California) and the University of California, Davis, where she majored in communications. She graduated in 2011.[1]

For over 25 years, Moorjani has been a student of Srimati Anuradha Nag (Tarangini School of Kathak Dance) and has been trained in various styles of western and Indian dance. She told The Hindu, "I will dance until I cannot. Basically, until I die!"[2]

Moorjani's family managed a Bollywood music band.[3]

Career

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Moorjani's early years as an actress saw her playing guest roles in several television shows including The Mindy Project (directed by Mindy Kaling), NCIS: Los Angeles and 9-1-1. She also voice-acted in Fallout 76, a 2018 online action role-playing video game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks.

Between 2020 and 2023, Moorjani portrayed one of the lead characters in Netflix original series Never Have I Ever, which was also co-written by Kaling. She auditioned for Never Have I Ever through an open casting call.[4] Richa plays main character Devi's cousin, Kamala Nandiawadal, in the series. As of 2020, Kamala is a PhD student in biology at Caltech.[5] Speaking on playing a woman of color in STEM, she tells The Hindu, "I learned about how much women of color in STEM go through. It's a real systemic problem where their names are taken off research papers. Granted we see what Kamala goes through in the lab via a comedic lens, but I was keen to show this storyline".[6]

As of late-2021, Moorjani's next project Broken Drawer, directed by Rippin Sindher, has been in post-production. The film is loosely inspired by true events, following a young Sikh mother who was killed while working at her family-owned convenience store in rural California. "Rippin called me and told me how special this role was to her, being based on her mother, and that she couldn't see anyone playing it but me. It turned out to be such a lovely and fulfilling experience," Moorjani told The Hindu.[6]

Filmography

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Film

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Year Film Role Notes
2011 Love Fool Sheela Short
2015 For Here or to Go? Journalist at Speed Date
X: Past Is Present Sanjana
2019 Wolf Arti Short
2020 Invisible Brown Man Seema Desai Short

Television

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Year Title Role Notes
2011 Mark at the Movies Party girl One episode on 28 May 2011
2012 Big Time Rush Palmwoods Girl #2 Episode: "Big Time Surprise"
The Mindy Project Geeta Episode: "Thanksgiving"
2013 Sullivan & Son Girl #1 Episode: "Ladies Night"
2016 The New Yorker: Shorts & Murmurs Episode: "What I Imagine My Boyfriend's Ex-Girlfriends Are Doing Right Now"
2017 NCIS: Los Angeles Rayna Episode: "Unleashed"
2018 9-1-1 Jenna Episode: "Merry X-mas"
2020–2023 Never Have I Ever Kamala Nandiwadal Main role; 34 episodes
2021 Home Economics Episode: "Bottle Service, $800 Plus Tip (25% Suggested)"
Immoral Compass Molly Episode: "Part 8: Nostalgia"
2022 True Story Fenal Episode: "Abishek's Story"
2023–2024 Fargo Indira Olmstead Season 5, main role[7]

Video games

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Year Title Role Notes
2017 Uncharted: The Lost Legacy Additional voices Voice roles
2018 Fallout 76 Abigayle Singh, Watoga, Natasha Hunt, and Nari Simir

References

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  1. ^ Anonymous (2021-01-05). "Never Have I Ever". One Aggie Network. Retrieved 2021-08-23.
  2. ^ Bhavani, Divya-Kala (15 May 2020). "'Never Have I Ever' is changing the conversation about South Asian women in the entertainment industry, says actor Richa Moorjani". The Hindu.
  3. ^ Bhavani, Divya Kala (May 11, 2020). "Richa Moorjani of 'Never Have I Ever' live on Instagram @thehinduweekend". The Hindu.
  4. ^ "Who Plays Kamala On 'Never Have I Ever'? Meet Richa Moorjani, Star Of Mindy Kaling's New Netflix Show". YourTango. April 30, 2020.
  5. ^ Bhavani, Divya Kala (2020-04-20). "'Never Have I Ever' review: Netflix's latest teen comedy by Mindy Kaling is a nuanced coming-of-age offering". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2020-05-14.
  6. ^ a b Bhavani, Divya-Kala (22 July 2021). "The modern brown woman experience in America: Richa Moorjani and Poorna Jagannathan on Netflix's 'Never Have I Ever' season two". The Hindu.
  7. ^ Nemetz, Dave (2023-08-17). "Fargo Season 5 Premiere Date Set at FX — Oh Yah, We've Got First-Look Photos". TVLine. Retrieved 2023-08-17.
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