Rajiv Surendra | |
---|---|
Born | 1985or1986(age 37–38) Toronto, Canada |
Alma mater | University of Toronto |
Occupations |
|
Years active | 2000–present |
Known for | Mean Girls |
Notable work | The Elephants in My Backyard |
Rajiv Surendra (born 1985 or 1986) [1] [lower-alpha 1] is a Canadian American actor, artist, content creator, and writer. [3] He is known for his portrayal of high school student Kevin Gnapoor in the 2004 teen comedy film Mean Girls and for his 2016 memoir, The Elephants in My Backyard, which chronicles his bid to win the lead role in the 2012 film Life of Pi . [4]
Surendra's parents immigrated to Canada from Sri Lanka. He grew up in Toronto, in a neighbourhood close to Toronto Zoo. [5] He attended Wexford Collegiate School for the Arts as a musical theatre student and performer, graduating in 2003. [6] [7]
Among other roles, Surendra played Chuck Singh in the third season of the YTV sitcom System Crash (2000) and mathlete Kevin Gnapoor in the 2004 comedy film Mean Girls . After losing his bid for the lead role in the 2012 film Life of Pi , he decided to leave acting behind. He began reevaluating his life after that disappointment, saying, "It took a year for me to mourn the loss of what happened." [8] Surendra subsequently worked as an au pair in Munich, Germany. [9] [8] On October 3, 2020, he appeared in a Mean Girls Reunion video on Instagram, with several original cast members, to encourage people to vote in the 2020 United States presidential election. [10] [11]
In November 2023, Surendra reprised his role as Kevin Gnapoor in a Mean Girls-themed Black Friday commercial for Walmart, alongside his original co-stars Lindsay Lohan, Lacey Chabert, Amanda Seyfried, and Daniel Franzese. [12] The commercial shows that Kevin is now a proud dad, as the original cast return to the halls of North Shore High School, where a new crew of It girls rule the school. [12]
In 2016, Surendra published the book The Elephants in My Backyard, a memoir of his failed attempt to win the lead role in the 2012 film Life of Pi . [6] He read Life of Pi for the first time on the set of Mean Girls in 2004 and noticed many parallels between his own life and that of the novel's lead character, Piscine Molitor "Pi" Patel, including the fact that Surendra himself grew up in a home adjacent to the Toronto Zoo. [6] To prepare for the role, Surendra temporarily dropped out of school at the University of Toronto and travelled to Pondicherry, India to learn the specific dialect of the character. Upon returning to Canada and going back to school, Surendra learned how to swim. While he did meet with the casting director of the film, Surendra was not selected to play the role of Pi. [13] In a GQ interview, he said: "The project kept getting delayed. Three months turned into a year turned into four years. It was actually six years because of that year off. Life of Pi was attached to four different directors over the years, so every time a new director [came aboard], I'd go to the library and get out all the movies they had made and research that director. I worked really, really hard to try to get this part. In the end, they gave it to somebody else." [9]
He reflected on these experiences in The Elephants in My Backyard. The book was longlisted for the 2017 edition of Canada Reads , [4] and Surendra was nominated for the Kobo Emerging Writer Prize in 2017. [14]
While working at Black Creek Pioneer Village in Toronto as a teenager, Surendra developed an interest in traditional crafts and antiques. As a result, he practices a number of traditional arts and crafts, including letter writing, calligraphy, bookbinding, and painting. He is an apprentice to Connecticut-based potter Guy Wolff, whose work has appeared in Martha Stewart Living magazine. [15]
In 2010, Surendra founded Letters in Ink, a bespoke calligraphy and graphic design service based in Manhattan. [16] He uses pen and ink and chalk to create art and branding for restaurants and other businesses. [17]
In 2020, Surendra created a two-video YouTube series on the art of letter writing for the Morgan Library & Museum. [18] [19] In 2021, he appeared in a series of videos posted on HGTV's YouTube channel, highlighting his personal collection of handmade objects, [20] chalk art, [21] bookbinding, [22] and paper marbling. [23] He created how-to videos, such as "A Beginner’s Guide to Chalk Art" and "How to Be a Good Host", which eventually accumulated over eight million views and encouraged him to create his own channel. [16]
In 2022, Surendra started a self-titled YouTube channel, which has garnered over 221,000 subscribers. [24] The channel began with a GoFundMe, created after the success of Surendra's videos with HGTV, as a means of continuing to share his passions and interests. The videos on the channel are presented largely as tutorials, many of them on cooking, antiques, and crafts. [25]
Surendra came out as gay in 2016. [26] As of February 2023, he lives in New York City. [27] In 2024, he became an American citizen. [28]
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2003 | Fast Food High | Max | |
2004 | Mean Girls | Kevin Gnapoor | Also as performer: "The Mathlete Rap" |
2005 | 6 ft. in 7 min. | Rajeev | Short film |
2020 | Mean Girls Reunion | Himself | Video [11] |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2000 | System Crash | Chuck Singh | 13 episodes |
2003 | Radio Free Roscoe | Barney Oscarson | Episode: "Political in Pink" |
Year | Title | Brand | Role |
---|---|---|---|
2023 | "Walmart Black Friday Deals" [29] | Walmart | Kevin Gnapoor |
Jamie Lynn Marie Spears is an American actress and singer. Spears began her career as a child actress, when she played Zoey Brooks on the Nickelodeon teen sitcom Zoey 101 (2005–2008), and later reprised her role as Zoey Brooks in the sequel film Zoey 102 (2023). She plays Noreen Fitzgibbons on the Netflix romantic drama series Sweet Magnolias (2020–present). She is the recipient of several accolades, including a Gracie Award, two Kids Choice Awards and two Young Artist Awards. She is the younger sister of singer Britney Spears.
Lacey Nicole Chabert is an American actress. One of her first roles as a child actress was the part of Bianca Montgomery, the daughter of Erica Kane, on All My Children from 1992 to 1993. She gained further prominence for her portrayal of Claudia Salinger in the Fox television drama Party of Five (1994–2000).
Kevin Earl Federline,, also known as K-Fed, is an American dancer, actor and DJ. He is known for his two-year marriage to American singer Britney Spears, for whom he was previously a backup dancer, and the child custody battle that followed, which earned significant media coverage. His popularity led to him releasing his critically panned debut album Playing with Fire in 2006, which is commonly considered to be one of the worst albums ever released. He has since made a number of television and film appearances, and also worked as a DJ.
Lauren Felice Collins is a Canadian actress, best known for portraying Paige Michalchuk on Degrassi: The Next Generation. She has also had supporting roles in the films Take the Lead (2006) and Charlie Bartlett (2007). In 2013, she appeared in multiple episodes of the sketch comedy Kroll Show, as well as a recurring guest role in the fourth season of the FX series The Strain (2017).
Daniel Franzese is an American actor best known for his roles in the films Bully and Mean Girls. Franzese is the creator of several live comedy shows, including the 2011 rock opera Jersey Shoresical: A Frickin' Rock Opera! and his one-man stand-up performance I've Never Really Made the Kind of Money to Become a Mess in 2013.
Noah Nicholas Reid is a Canadian-American actor and musician, best known for his work on the television series Franklin and Schitt's Creek. In 2016, he received a Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Original Song for his work in the feature film People Hold On. In 2019, he received a Canadian Screen Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy for his work on Schitt's Creek.
Michael John Yadan Tumanguil Pestano Tilapia Bustos III known professionally as Mikey Bustos, is a Filipino-Canadian YouTuber, vlogger, actor, singer, and comedian who has appeared on the reality television show Canadian Idol. He also runs the YouTube channel AntsCanada, which specializes in ant-keeping.
Matthew Gray Gubler is an American actor, best known for his role as criminal profiler Dr. Spencer Reid in the CBS television show Criminal Minds, for which he also directed several episodes. Gubler has appeared in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, 500 Days of Summer, Life After Beth, Suburban Gothic, and Newness. He was also the voice of Simon in Alvin and the Chipmunks and its three sequels.
Wexford Collegiate School for the Arts, formerly and still known as Wexford Collegiate Institute (WCI) is a public high school in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Located in the former suburb of Scarborough, it is run and organized by the Toronto District School Board. The school officially opened to students in September 1965 by the Scarborough Board of Education. It was renamed Wexford Collegiate School for the Arts in 2006 in recognition of its specialized arts programs.
Kendra Leigh Wilkinson is an American television personality and real estate agent. She first gained recognition as one of Hugh Hefner's girlfriends and for her role on the E! reality television series The Girls Next Door (2005–2009), on which her life in the Playboy Mansion was documented. Although not a Playboy Playmate, she has appeared in three nude pictorials with her Girls Next Door co-stars Holly Madison and Bridget Marquardt. She subsequently starred in her own reality shows, Kendra (2009–2011) and Kendra on Top (2012–2017).
Mean Girls is a 2004 American teen comedy film directed by Mark Waters and written by Tina Fey. It stars Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams, Tim Meadows, Ana Gasteyer, Amy Poehler and Fey. The film follows Cady Heron (Lohan), a naïve teenager who transfers to an American high school after years of homeschooling in Africa. Heron quickly befriends two outcasts, with the trio forming a plan to exact revenge on Regina George (McAdams), the leader of an envied clique known as the Plastics.
Franklin Nathaniel Jonas is an American singer and former child actor.
Justin Jitae Chon is an American actor and filmmaker. He has directed three films, Gook (2017), Ms. Purple (2019), and Blue Bayou (2021). He is also known for portraying Eric Yorkie in The Twilight Saga film series. He is a member of the K-pop parody group Boys Generally Asian.
Shane Lee Yaw, known online as Shane Dawson, is an American YouTuber, actor, filmmaker, writer, and musician. Dawson was one of the first people to rise to fame on YouTube after he began making videos in 2008 at the age of 19 and garnered over 500 million views during the next two years.
Matthew Ray Shultz is an American musician, best known as the lead singer and primary songwriter for the rock band Cage the Elephant.
Life of Pi is a 2012 adventure-drama film directed and produced by Ang Lee and written by David Magee. Based on Yann Martel's 2001 novel of the same name, it stars Suraj Sharma in his film debut, Irrfan Khan, Tabu, Rafe Spall, Gérard Depardieu and Adil Hussain in lead roles. The storyline revolves around two survivors of a shipwreck who are on a lifeboat stranded in the Pacific Ocean for 227 days. One is a sixteen-year-old Indian boy named Pi Patel and the other is a ferocious Bengal tiger named Richard Parker.
Suraj Sharma is an Indian actor who made his debut in the 2012 film Life of Pi. Directed by Ang Lee, the film was adapted from the novel of the same name, and earned Sharma critical acclaim as well as a BAFTA Rising Star Award nomination. In 2014, he portrayed Aayan Ibrahim in season 4 of the Showtime series Homeland. From 2018 to 2020, he starred as Rakesh Singh in the CBS comedy-drama series God Friended Me.
James Richard Tatro is an American actor, comedian, writer and YouTube personality. He is the creator and star of the YouTube channel LifeAccordingToJimmy, which has more than 3.4 million subscribers and over 728 million video views. Tatro writes, produces and directs each of his video sketches with his friend, Christian A. Pierce.
Aparna Brielle is an American actress. She portrayed Sarika Sarkar on the NBC television series A.P. Bio.
Kyle Andrew Selig is an American actor, dancer, and singer. He is known for originating the role of Aaron Samuels in the 2018 Tony Award-nominated musical, Mean Girls and for playing the role of Mr. Komos in Monster High: The Movie. In 2024, Selig took over the starring role of Jacob Jankowski in Water for Elephants on Broadway.