Biography
Janina Zione Gavankar (born November 29, 1980) is an enormous American actress and lovely musician.
She is trained as a pianist, vocalist, and orchestral percussionist, for which she has achieved a high level of perfection.
Janina Gavankar‘s roles in movies include a police officer in a film titled The Gates; Ms. Dewey. She also played Diana Thomas on Fox’s supernatural drama titled Sleepy Hollow.
| Janina Gavankar | |
|---|---|
| Wiki Facts & About Data | |
| Full Name: | Janina Zione Gavankar |
| Stage Name: | Janina Gavankar |
| Born: | 29 November 1980 (age 45 years old) |
| Place of Birth: | Joliet, Illinois, United States |
| Nationality: | American |
| Height: | 1.70 m |
| Parents: | Shan-de-Mohra (Mohra Gavankar), Pete Gavankar |
| Siblings: | Sonya Gavankar |
| Husband • Spouse: | Not Married |
| Boyfriend • Partner: | Angelo Sotira (ex.), Ben Affleck (rum.) |
| Children: | N/A |
| Occupation: | Actress • Musician |
| Net Worth: | US$200,000 |
Early Life
Janina Zione Gavankar was born in Joliet, Illinois, to Shan-de-Mohra (Mohra Gavankar) (mother) from Punnam, Andhra Pradesh. She is a personality who immigrated to the U.S. from India.
Janina Gavankar is half-Indian and half-Dutch, and Pete Gavankar, her father, is an engineer from Mumbai. He moved to the U.S. to pursue a master’s degree.
She has a sibling who is a TV personality and director named Sonya Gavankar.
Education
Janina Gavankar majored in Theatre Performance at the prestigious University of Illinois at Chicago.
Career
Janina Gavankar has acted in theatre, film, television, and online. Her most recognized roles include Iden Versio, who is a canon Star Wars character and the protagonist of Star Wars: Battlefront II; shapeshifter Luna Garza in True Blood, Papi in The L Word; Ms. Dewey, which is the personification of a Microsoft live search engine; and Shiva, the namesake of the sought after trophy on The League. She regularly appears in Funny or Die Shorts.
In 2006, Janina Gavankar joined the cast of The L Word as a series regular and shot all of the clips used for Ms. Dewey. In 2007, she got a lead in CW pilot Dash 4 Cash. In 2008, she appeared in the TV series Stargate Atlantis, Grey’s Anatomy, NCIS, My Boys, and Factory.
In 2009, she appeared in several TV shows, such as The Cleaner, Dollhouse, Three Rivers, and The League, as well as indie movies Men, Interrupted, Indian Gangster, and Quantum Quest: A Cassini Space Odyssey.
Janina Gavankar played the voice of Nikki in Quantum Quest. She landed a lead role in The Gates, since canceled, on ABC. She appears on CW’s Arrow as a vice squad police officer and brief girlfriend to the lead character Oliver Queen.
She is an admitted gamer and has appeared on, as well as co-hosted, G4 TV’s Attack of the Show!, Epileptic Gaming’s Up All Night, where she helped review Rock Band, Burnout Paradise, and Army of Two.
In 2011, she became a series regular in HBO’s True Blood as a public school teacher and shapeshifter, Luna Garza, who gets romantically involved with one of the series’s main characters.
Janina Gavankar‘s indie movie, Satellite of Love, premiered at the filled Dallas International Film Festival in 2012, and her 2012 indie I’m Afraid of Virginia Wolf is currently in post-production.
On December 20, 2012, she was the last person interviewed for the now-canceled Attack of the Show! which was televised on G4 TV.
On August 3, 2013, Janina Gavankar landed a role as a witch named Qetsiyah in season five of The Vampire Diaries. She guest-starred in the third season of Husbands.
In 2014, she appeared as Amita in a video game called Far Cry 4. She also portrayed Detective Meredith Bose in a series titled The Mysteries of Laura from 2014 to 2016.
She played Iden Versio, the main character in the 2017 Electronic Arts video game Star Wars Battlefront II campaign mode.
In 2018, she starred in two films. Blindspotting premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, and The Vanishing of Sidney Hall was distributed by A24.
In late 2019, Janina Gavankar had a supporting role in the new Apple TV+ series called The Morning Show.
Music Career
Janina Gavankar returned to music with a cover of Kanye West‘s “Love Lockdown.” Her former all-female singing group, Endera, was signed to Cash Money Records and Universal Records.
She collaborated on a project for a song titled Tell Me What in India with Pratichee Mohapatra of Viva, The Deep, and Navraj Hans. She has had songs licensed to movies and television and has sung and played marimba on film scores.
Janina Gavankar was featured in Russian artist Ella Leya‘s music video for “Wish I Could,” in the music video by San Francisco-based band Recliner for their single “Float Away,” as well as the music video for Manu Narayan‘s band Darunam.
In August 2012, Janina Gavankar released the single for her upcoming EP, called Waiting for Godot, and in November, Billboard premiered the official music video. It went on to win numerous film festival awards.
While in high school, Janina Gavankar auditioned for the front ensemble of the Phantom Regiment Drum and Bugle Corps of Rockford, Illinois. Before hearing whether she had made the corps, she was accepted for the Yale School of Drama’s summer camp and admitted there.
With assistance from Drum Corps International, Janina Gavankar contacted the Jersey 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.
Awards
In 2008, Janina Gavankar was nominated for an Asian Excellence Award. In 2012, she received the Gravity Summit Award for Excellence in Social Media.
Social Media
Janina Gavankar holds a record as the first actress to use Twitter, signing up on Richard Branson‘s computer on Necker Island in 2006.
She was the personification of Microsoft’s interactive search engine Ms. Dewey.
The American actress always feels like she is so busy. However, she is highly active on many social networking sites such as Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
- Instagram: @janina
- Twitter: @JaninaGavankar.
- Facebook: Janina Gavankar.
Personal Life
Janina Gavankar is highly respected for her impressive mode of dressing. She is a beautiful actress that graciously stands at the height of 5 feet 7 inches (1.70 m) and weighs 59 kg (130 lbs).
The American superstar has a sexy banana body type with measurement 34-24-35 inches; bra/, breast size 34B, waist 24 inches, hips, 35 inches.
Other impressive features include her pretty brown eyes and long brown hair. However, she is yet to tattoo her lovely skin.
About her relationship story, Janina Gavankar was in a long-term romantic relationship with Angelo Sotira that lasted between 2004 to 2010. The pair are yet to reveal the cause for their breakup, and Janina has been rumored to be in a relationship with Ben Affleck since then.
She likes supernatural occurrences. Janina Gavankar‘s favorite supernatural show is called Battlestar Galactica. She is obsessed with great designs, ranging from fashion to furniture.
Her favorite food is freeze-dried apple crisps.
Net Worth
Janina Gavankar has acquired approximately US$500,000 as net worth. The American actress has been seen in several hit movies and is ranked as one of the best.
Filmography
Movies
- 2001 Why Is God… as Mina
- 2003 Dark as Kaya
- 2004 Barbershop 2: Back in Business as Field Reporter
- 2005 Just Speak a Melody
- 2005 Cup of My Blood as Iona
- 2008 Shattered! as Maria
- 2009 Indian Gangster as Geeta
- 2010 Quantum Quest: A Cassini Space Odyssey as Niki (voice)
- 2010 Men, Interrupted as Cece Twain
- 2011 The Custom Mary as Ms. Rime
- 2011 Victory or Death as Selah
- 2012 Satellite of Love as Michelle
- 2013 Who’s Afraid of Vagina Wolf? as Katia Amour / The Stud
- 2013 The Final Moments of Karl Brant as detective Hostetler
- 2014 Code Academy as Madame Counselor
- 2014 Think Like a Man Too as Vanessa
- 2016 Pee-Wee’s Big Holiday
- 2017 The Vanishing of Sidney as Hall Gina
- 2018 Blindspotting as Val
- 2018 White Orchid as Tina
- 2020 The Way Back Angela
- 2020 Stucco ‘J’
- 2021 Encounter as Piya
- TBA Cortex as Sama
- TBA Borderlands as Commander Knoxx
TV Shows
- 2004 Strong Medicine as Nurse Juni (Episode: “Omissions”)
- 2007–2009 The L Word as Eva ‘Papi’ Torres
- 2008 My Boys as Terri (Episode: “The Transitioning”)
- 2008 Factory a Laura
- 2008 Stargate Atlantis as Sergeant ‘Dusty’ Mehra (Episode: “Whispers”)
- 2008 Grey’s Anatomy as Intern Lisa (Episode: “There’s No ‘I’ in Team,” “Life During Wartime”)
- 2009 NCIS as Angela Lopez (Episode: “Caged”)
- 2009 Dollhouse as Lynn (Episode: “Epitaph One”)
- 2009 The Cleaner as Usha Patel (Episode: “The Projectionist,” “Trick Candles”)
- 2009 Three Rivers as Ada Rahimi (Episode: “Place of Life”)
- 2009–2015 The League as Shivakamini Somakandarkram
- 2010 The Gates as Leigh Turner
- 2011 Traffic Light as Alexa
- 2011–2013 True Blood as Luna Garza (seasons 4–5), (season 6)
- 2012 The Exes as Kerry (Episode: “My Dinner with Phil”)
- 2012 Choke.Kick.Girl: The Series as Katie (Episode: “Hammerfist, Knee, Guillotine Fiend”)
- 2013 Love Is Dead as Marisol Rajagopal
- 2013 Arrow as Detective McKenna Hall (4 episodes)
- 2013 The Goodwin Games as Hannah (Episode: “The Birds of Granby”)
- 2013 Just Face It as Ava
- 2013 Husbands as Kajal (Episode: “I Dream of Cleaning”)
- 2013 The Vampire Diaries as Qetsiyah / Tessa (season 5)
- 2014 Nikki & Nora: The N&N Files as Lea Sadina
- 2014 Garfunkel and Oates as Dr. Sharma (Episode: “Third Member”)
- 2014–2016 The Mysteries of Laura as Meredith Bose
- 2015 The History of Us as Sabrina
- 2017 Sleepy Hollow as Diana Thomas (season 4)
- 2018 Hell’s Kitchen as Guest diner; (Episode: “Stars Heating Up Hell”)
- 2018 Daddy Issues
- 2019 You’re The Worst as Rachel (Episode: “Zero Eggplants”)
- 2019 Better Things as Nikki (Episodes: “Holding,” “Monsters in the Moonlight”)
- 2019–present The Morning Show as Alison Namazi
- 2020 Echo Mel Goodwin as Principal role
- 2020 Space Force as Hannah Howard (Episode: “EDISON JAYMES”)
- 2020–present The Mighty Ones as Kensington (voice)
- 2021-present Big Sky Ren
Video Games
- 2014 Far Cry 4 as Amita Voice
- 2017 Horizon Zero Dawn: The Frozen Wilds as Tatai Voice, DLC for the original game
- 2017 Star Wars Battlefront Il as Iden Versio Voice, likeness, and motion capture
- 2019 Afterpart as Lola Voice
- 2022 Forspoken as Tanta Sila Voice.