Avantika Vandanapu

Avantika Vandanapu (born January 25, 2005 ), is an American actress. Starting with Brahmotsavam (2016), she worked in several films in India's Telugu film industry. She had her first lead role in the Disney Channel original movie Spin (2021) and subsequently starred in Netflix’s Senior Year (2022). She is best known for her portrayal of Karen Shetty in the musical comedy Mean Girls and found commercial success in the horror film Tarot (both 2024).

Early life
Avantika Vandanapu was born to an Indian Telugu-speaking family in Union City, California, part of the San Francisco Bay Area. Her family originally hails from Hyderabad in India before they emigrated to the United States. She took drama lessons at the American Conservatory Theater.

Career
In 2014, Avantika won second place in the Zee TV dance competition reality series Dance India Dance L'il Masters (North America Edition).

Avantika entered Telugu cinema in 2015 and was signed for two movies. She was selected to play the role of Chutki in 14 Reels Entertainment's Krishna Gaadi Veera Prema Gaadha, which was released in February 2016. However, due to the scheduling conflicts, she could not continue with the movie. Avantika officially debuted as a child artist in Brahmotsavam starring Mahesh Babu, Kajal Aggarwal, Samantha and Pranitha Subhash which started shooting on September 16, 2015. She then appeared in Chandra Shekhar Yeleti's film Manamantha. Later, she signed on for Premam starring Naga Chaitanya and Shruti Hassan, in which she portrays the younger version of Madonna Sebastian's character. Avantika revealed that the key reason for her departure from Telugu cinema was the lack of variety in the roles she was offered which mainly consisted of playing the "heroine" or a "small supporting role".

In 2021, Avantika played the lead role of Rhea Kumar in the Disney Channel Original Movie, Spin alongside Meera Syal, Abhay Deol and Aryan Simhadri. The film, along with her performance, received positive reception from critics with Udita Jhunjhunwala of Firstpost describing her as a "delight  further praising "[her] sparkling eyes, [as] she glides through the restaurant with as much ease as she finds her groove behind the mixing console". She followed this with supporting roles in the Netflix original films Moxie and Senior Year'' with the former directed by Amy Poehler and the latter co-starring Rebel Wilson.

In 2024, Avantika portrayed Karen Shetty in the film adaptation of the Broadway musical Mean Girls, based on the 2004 movie of the same name. The movie received mixed reviews from critics, however, her performance was better-received. Writing for The Guardian, Peter Bradshaw lauded Avantika as the highlight "among the mean girls". Speaking about the change in Karen's ethnicity from the original film, Avantika expressed how "playing that kind of character, especially as an Indian American woman is really, really crazy," adding that she was "excited to finally play a South Asian character that wasn’t reduced to being a stereotype". Following this, she returned to Indian projects with the Amazon Prime series Big Girls Don't Cry as a closeted lesbian who struggles to retain her basketball captaincy whilst coming to terms with her sexuality. In a mixed review for Film Companion, Rahul Desai criticised that the abundance of characters makes it difficult to maintain focus to the nuances of each character’s storyline but praised the chemistry and performances of the cast. Avantika then appeared amongst an ensemble in the Anna Halberg and Spenser Cohen-helmed ''Tarot. '' Her mother's belief in astrology and her own intrigue in the occult during her youth encouraged her to take on the film as it amalgamated the two. The film was negatively received by critics; in her review for Collider, Emma Kiely found that Avantika's performance had been constrained as she "isn't given enough to do" and compared it negatively to her performance in Mean Girls. Made on a shoestring-budget, the film emerged as a commercial success.

Avantika is set to headline the Disney+ original series A Crown of Wishes, based on the 2017 novel of the same name.

Personal life
Avantika currently resides in New York City. She attends Columbia University as a member of the class of 2027.