Who are Geraldine Viswanathan’s family members?

Geraldine Viswanathan is an Australian actress, born on June 20, 1995, in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. She learned acting from the Hunter School of the Performing Arts, Newcastle. She began her career in stand-up and sketch comedy in Sydney before transitioning to films and TV shows. She made her TV debut with the show Lost Angels in 2015 and her film debut with Emo the Musical in 2016.

She got her breakthrough with the film Blockers in 2018, where she played Kayla Mannes. She has worked in many films like The Package (2018), Hala (2019), Bad Education (2019), 7 Days (2021), Drive-Away Dolls (2024), etc. She has also worked in TV shows like Janet King (2017), Miracle Workers (2019-2023), and Saturday Morning All Star Hits! (2021), etc. Apart from acting, she keeps her personal life private and rarely talks about her family in interviews. Let’s take a look at Geraldine Viswanathan’s family.

Geraldine Viswanathan’s parents and sister

Suresh Viswanathan and Anja Raith are Geraldine Viswanathan’s parents. Her father, Suresh Viswanathan, is originally from India and belongs to the Tamil community. He is a doctor specializing in nuclear medicine. Her mother, Anja Raith, comes from Switzerland and was raised by a father who was a filmmaker and ballet dancer. She trained at a musical theatre school in London, was an aspiring musical theatre actor, and later became a painter.

In an interview with Character Media, Viswanathan talked about her family and said, “My family is pretty creative, and we would always make little movies at home together. My dad’s a doctor, but he loves film and technology. He always has the new gadgets. My mom loves acting and would do local theater. So I was lucky to have that. We’d make films when we went on family holidays.”

In an interview with Marvel.com, she shared that her parents were the first ones she told after being cast in a Marvel film. She said, “Yeah, they couldn’t believe it. Although my mom could kind of believe it because she went to a psychic 10 years ago when I first came to LA to pursue acting. She asked the psychic about me and where I’d go, and [the psychic] was like, “Oh my God, I just got chills. I just saw her in a superhero movie.” So, it was written in the stars.”

In an interview with Vogue, she mentioned that her father and grandparents are Australian because they have spent most of their lives in Australia. She said, “I didn’t have a very Indian upbringing, so playing Indian or Indian-adjacent characters at work is the closest I can get to that identity.” She has a younger sister named Indira Viswanathan. She is a fashion designer who makes swimwear, reuses vintage clothes, and designs versatile outfits. In an interview with Vogue, she talked about her sister and said, “Indira is the person I call when it all gets too much. She’s the one who grounds me.”

Geraldine Viswanathan’s upcoming projects

Geraldine Viswanathan is part of many film projects released or set to release in 2025. In January, she starred as Jenni alongside Will Ferrell and Reese Witherspoon in the film You're Cordially Invited. Recently, she played the role of Mel in the Marvel Studios film Thunderbolts, which was released in theaters on May 2, 2025. The film’s cast also includes Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, Wyatt Russell, and David Harbour.

In an interview with Vogue, she talked about the film Thunderbolts* and said, “The film feels very fresh and distinct within the MCU. They hired the right people to work on it, who have given it this elevated, angsty quality that no other superhero film has ever had.” In an interview with Marvel.com, she talked about how she got offered the role in the MCU and said, “It was completely out of the blue. I was really sick, and they were like, ‘Jake wants to talk to you. ’”

She added, “We got on a Zoom, and he was being very elusive and vague, trying to explain the script to me — because you can’t read the script before you sign on. He was like, “So, do you want to do it?” And I was like, “Wait, what are you asking me? You want me to do it?” And he was like, “Yeah, would you?” I’ll never forget that moment. Then, I called my parents and was like, “I think I just joined the Marvel Universe…”

She is also set to star as Max in the upcoming rom-com film Oh, Hi! directed by Sophie Brooks. The film’s cast also includes Molly Gordon, Logan Lerman, and John Reynolds. The film is set to be released on July 25, 2025, in theaters.