Janina Gavankar | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Gavankar at the premiere ofStar Wars: The Last Jedi in 2017 | |
| Born | Janina Zione Gavankar (1980-11-29)November 29, 1980 (age 44) Joliet, Illinois, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Actress, musician |
| Years active | 2000–present |
| Website | janinagavankar |
Janina Zione Gavankar (/dʒəˈniːnəɡəˈvɑːŋkər/; born November 29, 1980)[1][2][3] is an American actress and musician. She is trained as a pianist, vocalist, and orchestral percussionist, and she majored in theatre at theUniversity of Illinois Chicago.[4][5][6] Her roles include Eva "Papi" Torres onShowtime'sThe L Word, Shiva onThe League, Leigh Turner onThe Gates,Luna Garza onHBO'sTrue Blood, McKenna Hall onThe CW'sArrow, and Diana Thomas onFOX'sSleepy Hollow. In marketing, she also played "Ms. Dewey", a personified search engine and virtual assistant forMicrosoft.[7]
Gavankar was born inJoliet, Illinois, to Ganesh "Peter" Gavankar, an engineer fromMumbai, who first travelled to the U.S. to pursue a master's degree, and Shan Demohra "Mohra" Gavankar, of half-Indian and half-Dutch descent fromPune, who also emigrated there from India.[8]
Gavankar has acted in theatre, film, television, and online. Her most notable roles includeIden Versio, acanon Star Wars character and the protagonist ofStar Wars: Battlefront II; shapeshifterLuna Garza inTrue Blood,Papi inThe L Word;Ms. Dewey, the personification of aMicrosoft live search engine; andShiva, the namesake of the sought after trophy onThe League.[9] She regularly appears inFunny or Die shorts.[10]
In 2006, she joined the cast ofThe L Word as a series regular and shot all of the clips used forMs. Dewey.[7] In 2007, she landed a lead role in the CW pilot,Dash 4 Cash.[11] In 2008, Gavankar appeared in the TV seriesStargate Atlantis,Grey's Anatomy,NCIS,My Boys, andFactory. In 2009, she appeared in the TV showsThe Cleaner,Dollhouse,Three Rivers, andThe League, as well as indie films,Men, Interrupted,Indian Gangster, andQuantum Quest: A Cassini Space Odyssey. Gavankar provided the voice of Nikki inQuantum Quest. She landed another lead role inThe Gates, since cancelled, on ABC.[12] She appears on CW'sArrow as avice squad police officer and brief girlfriend toOliver Queen.
Gavankar is agamer[13] and has appeared on, as well as co-hosted,G4 TV'sAttack of the Show!, Epileptic Gaming'sUp All Night, where she helped reviewRock Band,Burnout Paradise, andArmy of Two.[14]
In 2011, Gavankar became a series regular in HBO'sTrue Blood as a public school teacher andshapeshifter,Luna Garza, who gets romantically involved with one of the main characters of the series.[15][16]
Her indie film,Satellite of Love,[17] premiered at theDallas International Film Festival in 2012, and her 2012 indieI'm Afraid of Virginia Wolf is currently in post-production.[18] On December 20, 2012, Gavankar was the last person interviewed for original 2005–2012 run ofAttack of the Show!, which aired onG4 TV.[19]
On August 3, 2013, Gavankar landed a role as a witch named Qetsiyah in the fifth season ofThe Vampire Diaries.[20] She guest starred in the third season ofHusbands.[21]
In 2014, she starred as Amita in the video game,Far Cry 4.[22] She also played Detective Meredith Bose onThe Mysteries of Laura from 2014 to 2016.[23]
She starred asIden Versio, the main character in the campaign mode of the 2017Electronic Arts video game,Star Wars Battlefront II.[24]
In 2018, she appeared in two films.Blindspotting premiered at theSundance Film Festival,[25] andThe Vanishing of Sidney Hall was distributed byA24.[26]
In late 2019, Gavankar joined Apple TV'sThe Morning Show, as Alison Namazi,[27] co-anchor of the pop culture segment of the titular show.
Starting in 2021, Gavankar had a starring role as the antagonist in seasons 2 & 3 of theABC hit show,Big Sky, playing the sibling in a mafia family.
In 2023 Gavankar starred in video gameAlan Wake 2 as Kiran Estevez, an agent of theFederal Bureau of Control, a role she reprised in The Lake HouseDLC, released in October 2024.[28]
Gavankar returned to music with a cover ofKanye West's "Love Lockdown".[29] Gavankar's former all-female singing group, Endera, was signed toCash Money RecordsUniversal Records.[30]
She collaborated on a project for a song called "Tell Me What" in India with Pratichee Mohapatra ofViva, Deep, and Navraaz. She has had songs licensed to films and television and has sung and playedmarimba on film scores. Gavankar was featured in Russian artistElla Leya's music video for "Wish I Could",[31] in the music video bySan Francisco-based band Recliner for their single "Float Away",[32] as well as the music video forManu Narayan's band Darunam.[33]
In August 2012, she released the single for her upcoming EP, entitledWaiting for Godot,[34] and in November,Billboard premiered the official music video.[35] It went on to win numerous film festival awards.[36][37]
While in high school, Gavankar auditioned for the front ensemble of thePhantom Regiment Drum and Bugle Corps ofRockford, Illinois. Before hearing whether she had made the corps, she was accepted for theYale School of Drama's summer camp and went there. "I fell in love with drum corps when I was 13 years old", Gavankar has stated, and remains a strong fan of the activity. When she heard theMartin Garrix/Usher collaboration, "Don't Look Down", she had the idea of performing it as marching music. With assistance fromDrum Corps International, she contacted theJersey Surf Drum and Bugle Corps and arranger Colin Bell. She went into the studios in New York with fifty members of Jersey Surf and recorded the music video "Don't Look Down- #JustAddDrumCorps Edition" that was released in April 2015.[38]
On May 20, 2015, Gavankar performed a percussion duet atCarnegie Hall withQuestlove for the Best Buddies charity benefit.[39]
Gavankar was the first actress to useTwitter, signing up onRichard Branson's computer onNecker Island in 2006.[40][41]
Gavankar was the personification ofMicrosoft's interactive search engineMs. Dewey.[7][42]
In 2011, she created a free template for actors and artists to help them control their online presence[43] and in 2012, spoke at the Suits and Spooks Conference about how she discovered a solution for data challenges faced by actors through the use of open source tools.[44]
In 2017, she launched a private discussion forum for members of the games industry.[45]
In 2018, she produced the first narrative film to use theArri Alexa LF.[46]
Gavankar is a first-round investor inClassPass.[47]
In 2008, Gavankar was nominated for an Asian Excellence Award.[48] In 2012, Gavankar received the Gravity Summit Award for Excellence in Social Media.[49]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Forward Anticipation in Chicago | Corrin | Short film |
| 2001 | Why Is God... | Mina | Short film |
| 2002 | Barbershop | Fine Woman | |
| 2003 | Dark | Kaya | |
| 2004 | Barbershop 2: Back in Business | Field Reporter | |
| 2005 | Just Speak | Melody | Short film |
| Cup of My Blood | Iona | ||
| 2008 | Shattered! | Maria | |
| 2009 | Indian Gangster | Geeta | Short film |
| 2010 | Quantum Quest: A Cassini Space Odyssey | Niki | Voice |
| Men, Interrupted | Cece Twain | Short film | |
| 2011 | The Custom Mary | Ms. Rime | |
| Victory or Death | Selah | Short film | |
| 2012 | Satellite of Love | Michelle | |
| 2013 | Who's Afraid of Vagina Wolf? | Katia Amour / The Stud | |
| The Final Moments of Karl Brant | Detective Hostetler | Short film | |
| 2014 | Code Academy | Madame Counselor | |
| Think Like a Man Too | Vanessa | ||
| 2016 | Pee-wee's Big Holiday | Party Guest | |
| 2017 | The Vanishing of Sidney Hall | Gina | |
| 2018 | Blindspotting | Val | |
| The White Orchid | Tina | ||
| 2019 | Stucco | J | Short film Also director, writer and producer |
| 2020 | The Way Back | Angela | |
| 2021 | Encounter | Piya | |
| 2024 | Borderlands | Knoxx | |
| TBA | Cortex | Sama | Post-production |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Strong Medicine | Nurse Juni | Episode: "Omissions" |
| 2007–2009 | The L Word | Eva "Papi" Torres | 12 episodes |
| 2008 | My Boys | Terri | Episode: "The Transitioning" |
| Stargate Atlantis | Sergeant "Dusty" Mehra | Episode: "Whispers" | |
| Grey's Anatomy | Intern Lisa | 2 episodes | |
| 2009 | NCIS | Angela Lopez | Episode: "Caged" |
| Dollhouse | Lynn | Episode: "Epitaph One" | |
| The Cleaner | Usha Patel | 2 episodes | |
| Three Rivers | Ada Rahimi | Episode: "Place of Life" | |
| 2009–2015 | The League | Shiva | 10 episodes |
| 2010 | The Gates | Leigh Turner | 13 episodes |
| 2011 | Traffic Light | Alexa | 3 episodes |
| 2011–2013 | True Blood | Luna Garza | 25 episodes |
| 2012 | The Exes | Kerry | Episode: "My Dinner with Phil" |
| Choke.Kick.Girl: The Series | Katie | Episode: "Hammerfist, Knee, Guillotine Fiend" | |
| 2013 | Love Is Dead | Marisol Rajagopal | Television film |
| Arrow | Detective McKenna Hall | 4 episodes | |
| The Goodwin Games | Hannah | Episode: "The Birds of Granby" | |
| Just Face It | Ava | Miniseries | |
| Husbands | Kajal | Episode: "I Dream of Cleaning" | |
| The Vampire Diaries | Qetsiyah / Tessa | 4 episodes | |
| 2014 | Nikki & Nora: The N&N Files | Lea Sadina | 4 episodes |
| Garfunkel and Oates | Dr. Sharma | Episode: "Third Member" | |
| 2014–2016 | The Mysteries of Laura | Meredith Bose | 38 episodes |
| 2015 | The History of Us | Sabrina | Television film |
| 2017 | Sleepy Hollow | Diana Thomas[50] | 13 episodes |
| 2018 | Hell's Kitchen | Herself (guest) | Episode: "Stars Heating Up Hell" |
| 2019 | Relics and Rarities | Mumeé | 2 episodes |
| You're The Worst | Rachel | Episode: "Zero Eggplants" | |
| Better Things | Nikki | 2 episodes | |
| 2019–2021 | The Morning Show | Alison Namazi | 15 episodes |
| 2020 | Space Force | Hannah Howard | Episode: "Edison Jaymes" |
| 2020–2022 | The Mighty Ones | Kensington | Voice, 29 episodes |
| 2021 | Santa Inc. | Lakshmi (voice) | Episode: "The Announcement" |
| 2021–2022 | Big Sky | Ren Bhullar | 18 episodes |
| 2022 | The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window | Meredith | 2 episodes[51] |
| Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi | Pav-ti | Voice, episode: "Life and Death"[52] | |
| 2023 | Never Have I Ever | Akshara | Episodes: "...wrecked my future" and "...gone to prom" |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Far Cry 4 | Amita | |
| 2017 | Horizon Zero Dawn | Tatai | AlsoThe Frozen Wilds DLC |
| Star Wars Battlefront II | Iden Versio | Voice andmotion capture | |
| 2019 | Afterparty | Lola | |
| 2022 | God of War Ragnarök | Sinmara | Largely cut from the game's storyline; present in files[53] |
| 2023 | Forspoken | Tanta Sila | Voice and motion capture[54] |
| 2023 | Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical | Freddie | |
| Alan Wake II | Agent Kiran Estevez | Also 'The Lake House' DLC[55] |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Star Wars Battlefront II: Inferno Squad | Narrator[56] | |
| 2019 | Randomize: Forward[57] | Short story |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | The Mandalorian | Assistant Puppeteer[58] | Uncredited Episode: "Chapter 11: The Heiress" |
As one of my co-workers typed in different words and phrases, the "Ms. Dewey" character (pre-recorded film footage of actress, Janina Gavankar) engages in flirtatious banter, sometimes becoming irritated or condescending if too much time passes before entering a search term: "Hellloooo... type something here!"
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| People | |
| Other | |
