Who Is ‘Never Have I Ever’ Star Anirudh Pisharody? A Look into His Origins, Wife, and Career
Anirudh Pisharody is on top of the world right now.
The actor, who has been the talk of the town since Never Have I Ever's season three came out, plays a recurring role as Des in the show. But there's not much coverage on the actor or what he had been up to before landing this big gig.
Here are things you should definitely know about the actor, including lesser-known facts about his dating endeavors and life with wife.
Anirudh Pisharody: Age, Origins, and Parents
Anirudh 'Andy' Pisharody was born on February 2, 1994, to Indian parents in Trichur, Kerala, India. Soon after his birth, his family moved to Austin, Texas, and that's where he grew up.
According to him, he had a "very quiet Southern upbringing." But, even though he was raised thousands of miles away from his birthplace, his parents still taught him Malayalam and a bit of Hindi alongside English.
Pisharody attended McNeil High School, and from the very beginning, he was a "theater kid." Interested in acting since he was as young as six years old, he had to put off those artistic dreams aside for quite a while.
After high school, his parents wanted him to have a more "stable" career and join the medical sector. 18 years old, he would watch House MD and Grey's Anatomy, thinking maybe he could be a doctor.
So, he joined the University of Texas at Austin and pursued Public Health. After doing pre-med school, he moved to LA, thinking he would study at the UCLA medical school.
Those plans failed miserably, and within six months of being in LA, he left medical school and pursued acting full time. His parents did not immediately agree with his decisions but eventually came around and encouraged him to chase a show business career if he really wanted it.
Anirudh Pisharody’s Life with Wife, Jill Von Dae
Pisharody met his wife, Jill Von Dae, in Texas at a grocery store parking lot in 2015. He was, as she remembered in an Instagram post from August 12, 2022, "depressed and unfulfilled" when they first met because he was pursuing med school.
They started dating soon after, but she, a Chinese-American director, moved to LA to further her show business career. Pisharody followed suit, although he did not make his move to be with her.
"I didn't move to LA to be an actor. My girlfriend at the time, she was here and the job that I was doing in DC, I really wasn't happy with it," Pisharody recalled during an interview with Pop Sugar in August 2022.
Anirudh Pisharody with his wife, Jill Von Dae. (Photo: Jill Von Dae/Instagram)
His rationale was — maybe it would be fun doing both med school and acting in LA. However, living with his girlfriend on the West Coast, he developed enough courage to take a leap of faith in his acting career.
Since then, both their careers and their love life have progressed parallelly. The couple got engaged after about four years of dating on July 4, 2019.
He proposed to her in Rome, a place both of them love. And in her engagement announcement post on Instagram, she said they would also have their wedding in Rome.
However, the wedding posts never came even though the couple is already married. On April 10, both in 2020 and 2021, she made anniversary posts, hinting they are already hitched.
Must-Know Facts about the ‘Never Have I Ever’ Actor
1. His name is pronounced Ah-Knee-Rood.
2. He never went to his junior high school prom.
3. His first celebrity crush was Jennifer Aniston. Friends was one of the first sitcoms he ever watched after arriving in the US.
4. His dating profile and ideal date — even though he has never really played the field, Pisharody did have a dating profile while in college. It read "here to party." He is now thankful he was not that crazy. As for his ideal date, he and his wife love going to drive-in movies or just movies in general.
5. The most romantic thing he has ever done involves both his parents and his wife — early in his dating life with Von Dae, who is originally from Hong Kong, he wanted to visit her when she was there on a trip. So, to make the trip possible, he lied to his parents about having a conference in Hong Kong.
6. His favorite food is dosas and mimosas.
7. His favorite movie is Batman Begins, and his favorite actor is Christian Bale.
8. Alongside acting, he also did martial arts for a decade. He dreams of doing his own stunts someday.