Richa Moorjani

Richa Moorjani
Born	Richa Shukla Moorjani
Nationality	American
Other names	Richa Shukla
Occupations	Actress dancer
Years active	2011–present
Known for	Never Have I Ever
Spouse	Bharat Rishi Moorjani ​ ​ (m. 2019)​

Richa Moorjani is an American actress who is best known for her role as Kamala in the series Never Have I Ever.

Early life and family

Moorjani attended the University of California, Davis, where she majored in communications. She graduated in 2011.

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

Moorjani's family managed a Bollywood music band.

Career

Moorjani's early years as an actor saw her playing guest roles in several television shows includingThe 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.

Since 2020, Moorjani has been portraying 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. Richa plays main character Devi's cousin, Kamala Nandiwadal, in the series. Kamala is a PhD student in biology at Caltech. Speaking on playing a woman of colour in STEM, she tells The Hindu, "I learned about how much women of colour 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”.

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 off 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.

Filmography

Films

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

Television

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"
2012	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-present	Never Have I Ever	Kamala	Main role
2021	Home Economics		Episode: "Bottle Service, $800 Plus Tip (25% Suggested)"
2021	Immoral Compass	Molly	Episode: "Part 8: Nostalgia"
2022	True Story	Fenal	Episode: "Abishek's Story"

Video games

• Fallout 76 (2018) as Abigayle Singh, Watoga, Natasha Hunt, and Nari Simir (voice role)
• Uncharted: The Lost Legacy as additional voices

External links

• Richa Moorjani at IMDb