At 21, Avantika Vandanapu – known mononymously as Avantika – is already one of Hollywood’s most watchable rising stars. The actress has a new Hulu series out called Not Suitable for Work, which is already making waves.

Earlier this year, Avantika starred in director Vicky Jewson’s ballet-fu action thriller film Pretty Lethal, which landed on Amazon Prime Video in March.

Created by Mindy Kaling, NSFW follows young professionals navigating matters of the heart while chasing their dreams in Manhattan. It also stars Ella Hunt, Jack Martin, Will Angus, Jay Ellis, Ego Nwodim and Constance Wu, and premiered on Hulu on June 2.

Avantika, who plays budding stylist Abhinaya “Abby” Chilukuri, revealed to Entertainment Tonight that she hasn’t seen the full show yet as she doesn’t enjoy watching her own performances, but said she is thrilled for fans to see it.

So what do we know about the young actress?

Avantika is proud of her Indian heritage

Avantika Vandanapu was born in January 2005 in California. Her parents, Anupama Reddy Chintala and Srikanth Vandanapu, hail from Hyderabad, India, and raised her as a Hindu. “As I’ve grown older, I have found a lot of comfort in my faith and my culture,” the actress told Cosmopolitan.

She also recalled being bullied as a kid for wearing a bindi to school, but now considers it “symbolic of how open I am about who I am”. Avantika moved to India at age nine and completed a portion of her secondary education through home-schooling. She later returned to the US, eventually settling in New York at the age of 17. She is currently an undergraduate at Columbia University.

She began her acting career in India