Although Maitreyi was done playing a student at Sherman Oaks, she hasn’t said goodbye to high school forever. And fans can look no further than her upcoming film Slanted. After all, the 24-year-old plays Bhindra, the best friend of Chinese American student Joan Huang (Shirley Chen), who undergoes a procedure to become a white girl (Mckenna Grace) in hopes of becoming prom queen.

“At first, I actually was really hesitant about the movie, because I was like, ‘Whoa. This is a little controversial. We’re taking a big swing,'” Maitreyi admitted. “You’re replacing an East Asian girl with a white girl directly. Then we never see her again.”

However, her conversation with the film’s writer and director Amy Wang, whose own experience as an Asian Australian inspired the project, ultimately convinced her.