As Kevin G., Rajiv Surendra made a massive impression in Mean Girls.
The Mathelete and MC delivered an iconic verse and stood out alongside the likes of Lindsay Lohan and Tina Fey in the cult classic movie.
While many of his costars have gone on to land successful roles in Hollywood, Mean Girls was Rajiv‘s final big gig.
Why did he leave the industry and what has he been doing instead of acting? In honor of Mean Girls Day, we recapped his career evolution.
Read more about Mean Girls star Rajiv Surendra…
In 2023, Rajiv told GQ that he had intentions to land another big role after Mean Girls wrapped – the lead in The Life of Pi. However, things did not go according to plan.
“While we were shooting Mean Girls during my first year of college, I found out they were turning The Life of Pi into a film. I was determined to get that part. So I dropped out of college to go to the little town in India where the book takes place so that I could do some indepth research,” he recalled. “I did that for a few months and came back and was just waiting for them to start production. I assumed that it was going to happen any day now and it didn’t. They lost their director and the project ended up getting put on hold so I went back to college.”
The delay was constantly expanded, and Rajiv went back to school while he was waiting.
“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,” he added.
The role ultimately went to Suraj Sharma.
“I felt like someone had died,” Rajiv said about the lost part. “Very slowly over the course of six years, I was building this boy that was a character in a book. By the end of those years, that was a real person inside of me.”
He continued, saying that “It was traumatic. I think I was in shock for a couple weeks. I felt dead inside for a long time.”
Rajiv refocused and decided to find a different career path. After realizing that he didn’t want to work in an office, he decided to travel to Europe and become an Au Pair.
That chapter of his life came to a close, and the actor decided to pursue creative outlets. He started doing calligraphy work, which gradually took off.
From there, he continued nurturing different creative passions, which eventually led to a partnership with HGTV.
“They approached me about doing a home tour,” he explained about how the partnership began. “It was the longest video they’ve ever made for a home tour and it went viral. When that happened, I asked if they were interested in making how-to videos. Over the past year, we’ve made over 20 videos that have accumulated over 8 million views.”
Rajiv launched his own YouTube channel, where he now has nearly 300,000,000 followers. There he teaches viewers things like how to properly iron a shirt or cook various dishes in the kitchen.
Does he have any interest in returning to Mean Girls for a sequel? Nope.
“Why ruin a good thing,” he asked.
However, he did reunite with some of his costars for a different project last year!
Press play on a trailer for Rajiv Surendra’s YouTube channel below…
