Janina Gavankar
Biography
Janina Zione Gavankar is an American actress and musician born on November 29, 1980, in Joliet, Illinois. She is trained as a pianist, vocalist, and orchestral percussionist, and she majored in Theatre Performance at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Her television roles include playing a police officer on The Gates, Ms. Dewey as the personification of a Microsoft branded search engine, and Shiva on The League. She also portrayed shapeshifter Luna Garza on the HBO series True Blood, McKenna Hall on The CW series Arrow, Meredith Bose on the NBC series The Mysteries of Laura, and Diana Thomas on the Fox supernatural drama Sleepy Hollow.
Career overview
Janina Zione Gavankar is an American actress and musician born on November 29, 1980, in Joliet, Illinois. Trained as a pianist, vocalist, and orchestral percussionist, she majored in Theatre Performance at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Throughout her television career, Gavankar has portrayed a diverse array of characters. Her notable roles include a police officer on The Gates and Ms. Dewey, who was the personification of a Microsoft branded search engine commenting on user searches. She also played Shiva, the namesake of the sought-after trophy on The League, and took on the role of shapeshifter Luna Garza on the HBO series True Blood.
Additional television credits include playing McKenna Hall on The CW series Arrow and Meredith Bose on the NBC show The Mysteries of Laura. Furthermore, she appeared as Diana Thomas on the Fox supernatural drama Sleepy Hollow. With dozens of known acting credits listed in her filmography, Gavankar continues to be recognized for her contributions to television and film.
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Frequent co-stars
Career timeline
Full filmography
- Best of the Best (2026)
- Borderlands (2024) as Knoxx
- Will Trent (2023) as Casey Mavery
- Heroes' Feast (2023) as Self
- Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi (2022) as Pav-ti (voice)
- The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window (2022) as Meredith
- Encounter (2021) as Piya
- Never Have I Ever (2020) as Akshara
- Big Sky (2020) as Reenu 'Ren' Bhullar
- The Mighty Ones (2020) as Kensington (voice)
- The Mighty Ones (2020) as Momn-E (voice)
- Space Force (2020) as Hannah Howard
- The Way Back (2020) as Angela
- The Morning Show (2019) as Alison Namazi
- Relics and Rarities (2019) as Mumee
- Stucco (2019) as J
- Stucco (2019) Director
- Stucco (2019) Writer
- Stucco (2019) Executive Producer
- Blindspotting (2018) as Val
- The Vanishing of Sidney Hall (2018) as Gina
- The White Orchid (2018) as Tina
- Straight from the Town: Making Blindspotting (2018) as Self
- This Is Christmas (2017)
- Norman Pinski Come Home (2017) as Reporter
- Pee-wee's Big Holiday (2016) as Party Guest
- The History of Us (2015) as Sabrina
- The Mysteries of Laura (2014) as Meredith Bose
- Garfunkel and Oates (2014) as Dr. Sharma
- Think Like a Man Too (2014) as Vanessa Martinez
- Nikki & Nora: The N&N Files (2014) as Lea Sadina
- FUTURESTATES: Code Academy (2014) as Madame Counselor
- Sleepy Hollow (2013) as Diana Thomas
- Who's Afraid of Vagina Wolf? (2013) as Katia
- Satellite of Love (2013) as Michelle
- The Final Moments of Karl Brant (2013) as Detective Hostetler
- Arrow (2012) as Detective McKenna Hall
- The Exes (2011) as Kerry
- Traffic Light (2011) as Alexa
- The Custom Mary (2011) as Ms. Rime
- The Gates (2010) as Leigh Turner
- Quantum Quest: A Cassini Space Odyssey (2010) as Nikki (voice)
- The Vampire Diaries (2009) as Tessa
- The League (2009) as Shiva
- Three Rivers (2009)
- True Blood (2008) as Luna
- Shattered! (2008) as Maria
- Grey's Anatomy (2005) as Intern Lisa
- Cup of My Blood (2005) as Iona
- Stargate Atlantis (2004) as Sgt. 'Dusty' Mehra
- The L Word (2004) as Eva "Papi" Torres
- Barbershop 2: Back in Business (2004) as Field Reporter
- NCIS (2003) as Angela Lopez
- Dark (2003) as Kaya
- Barbershop (2002) as Fine Woman
- Strong Medicine (2000) as Nurse Juni
- Girlfriends (2000)
- Cortex as Sama