an Indian American lead in one of its original films. Avantika portrays Rhea in Spin, who is a clever and driven adolescent who is attempting to balance between her responsibilities at her family’s restaurant with her new enthusiasm for DJing. Following her audition for the lead role through a self-tape when she was only 12 years old, the native Californian had been following the Rhea role for the past four years.
Avantika shared with Teen Vogue about the thrilling moment of being booked in the film. She said, “It was my first American audition ever.” The project was subsequently shelved for redesigning and recasting while the narrative was reworked to find the appropriate personnel behind the scenes, including director Manjari Makijany (Skater Girl), but it marked the start of a new journey for Avantika. She said, “I still watch that tape back and think it was so awful. But that tape got me to LA.”
Avantika Vandanapu considers herself so unbelievably blessed to be in such a groundbreaking position, and believes that Rhea may inspire people to believe that they can achieve anything. During the red carpet, she said, “As soon as I read the script, I had a feeling that this was going to be a very monumental film for the South Asian community and truly for representation in Hollywood”.
Avantika grew up in the Bay Area and had been a dancer since her childhood, drawn to the more expressive aspects of the art form, which pushed her to enroll in drama lessons at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco and Film Acting Bay Area. She went on to have small roles in Telugu-language South Indian films, where she achieved a successful acting career.
