Mother promise: How Poorna Jagannathan became TV’s best mum

For Poorna Jagannathan, fame was never the end goal. Now that she’s tasted success, playing a feisty mom on Never Have I Ever, she’s realigning her priorities

Poorna Jagannathan is surprised to learn that IMDB lists 53 projects to her credit, given that she debuted only in 2004. “I read that and it just hit me,” says the 50-year-old actor, laughing. Even the two-decade-long journey has been riddled with pauses. “Most of my career, there were like two tiny projects a year. There was no pace; it was a snail’s pace. There were no roles for women who look like me,” she says.

Actor Poorna Jagannathan’s two-decade-long journey has been riddled with pauses. “Most of my career, there were like two tiny projects a year. There was no pace; it was a snail’s pace. There were no roles for women who look like me,” she says. Stylist: Tania Fadte, hair and makeup: Sandhya Shekar, clothes: Rajesh Pratap Singh. (Vikas Vasudev)

Jagannathan says that playing Nalini to the teenage Devi in Never Have I Ever taught her to be more patient and understanding with her own son.

Jagannathan says, “The thirties and forties were about raising my child. The fifties are about being more courageous with my career choices”. (Vikas Vasudev)

Jagannathan, who has been seen in movies and series like (clockwise from top) Big Little Lies (2017-19), Delhi Belly (2011), The Night Of (2016) and I’ll Show You Mine (2022), is conscious of what she represents. She’s been trying to make her characters as South-Asian as possible – names, clothes, little details.

Sofia Vergara plays Gloria Pritchett .

Justina Machado plays Penélope Alvarez.

Tracee Ellis Ross plays Rainbow Johnson.

Zenobia Shroff plays Muneeba Khan.

Constance Wu plays Jessica Huang.