Trivia / Never Have I Ever

Trivia for the series Never Have I Ever:

• Actor-Inspired Element: Paxton was not initially written as part Japanese; the mixed ancestry (mirroring the actor's own) was added to the character after one of the writers overheard him speaking Japanese on set.
• Actor-Shared Background:
  • The Indian or Indian-American characters are mostly from Indian descent as well (but not always the same nationality as well as region).
  • Fabiola Torres is played by Lee (LaRhonza) Rodriguez, who's Afro-Latin like her (in Rodriguez's case, specifically black Mexican).
  • Darren Barnet, like Paxton Hall-Yoshida, is part Japanese (although a quarter rather than half, and on his mother's side, unlike Paxton).
  • The Vishwakumar family are Tamil. Maitreyi Ramakrishnan (Devi), Poorna Jagannathan (Nalini) and Sendhil Ramamurthy (Mohan) are of Tamil ancestry too.
• The Cast Showoff: In real life, Richa Moorjani (Kamala) performs Indian (including Bollywood-style) dances on her You Tube channel; then in 2021, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan (Devi) joined her to dance to a cover of "Sheila Ki Jawani" for Pinkvilla. The pair later got to dance to the Bollywood style "Saami Saami" in the series finale.
• The Danza:
  • Adam Shapiro as Mr. Shapiro (whose first name is later revealed to be Lyle).
  • Martin Martinez as Oliver Martinez.
• Dawson Casting: Darren Barnet (Paxton) was 29 while playing a high schooler at the time of the first season. He was the only member of the "high school" cast in his 30s when the show finally ended, having been 31 when filming wrapped in 2022.
• Fake American: Devi, who was born and raised in Southern California, is played by Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, who is Canadian.
• Fake Nationality: Devi's uncle Aravind, an Indian immigrant, is played by Pakistani actor Iqbal Theba.
• Production Posse: Utkarsh Ambudkar (Mr. Kulkarni) played creator Mindy Kaling's brother in her previous show, The Mindy Project.
• Queer Character, Queer Actor:
  • Dino Petrera is gay like Jonah Sharpe.
  • Lee Rodriguez, who plays the lesbian Fabiola, is bisexual.
  • Addison, who starts dating Fabiola in season 3, is queer and non-binary, like their actor Terry Hu.
• Role-Ending Misdemeanor: Chrissy Teigen was supposed to narrate Paxton Hall-Yoshida's Day in the Limelight but the role was re-cast with Gigi Hadid after Teigen was involved in a Twitter cyber-bullying controversy.
• Write What You Know: Mindy Kaling's father is Tamil, like Devi's family.

---