Acting

Janina Gavankar

Born 1980-11-29 · Joliet, Illinois, USA

Janina Zione Gavankar (born November 29, 1980) is an American actress and musician of Indian and Dutch descent. Gavankar is trained as a pianist, vocalist, and orchestral percussionist. She majored in Theatre Performance at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Gavankar's roles include a police officer on The Gates; Ms. Dewey, the personification of a Microsoft branded search engine who commented on the user's searches; Shiva, the namesake of the sought-after trophy on The League; shapeshifter Luna Garza on HBO's True Blood; McKenna Hall on The CW's Arrow; and Meredith Bose on NBC's The Mysteries of Laura. She also played Diana Thomas on Fox's supernatural drama Sleepy Hollow.

Credits

Newest first

Best of the Best
as Rekha
2026
Borderlands
as Knoxx
2024
Heroes' Feast
as Self
2023
Will Trent
as Casey Mavery
2023
Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi
as Pav-ti (voice)
2022
The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window
as Meredith
2022
Encounter
as Piya
2021
Big Sky
as Ren Bhullar
2020
The Mighty Ones
as Kensington (voice)
2020
The Mighty Ones
as Momn-E (voice)
2020
Space Force
as Hannah Howard
2020
Never Have I Ever
as Akshara
2020
The Way Back
as Angela
2020
The Morning Show
as Alison Namazi
2019
Stucco
as J
2019
Stucco
Director
2019
Stucco
Writer
2019
Stucco
Executive Producer
2019
Relics and Rarities
as Mumee
2019
Straight from the Town: Making Blindspotting
as Self
2018
Blindspotting
as Val
2018
The Vanishing of Sidney Hall
as Gina
2018
The White Orchid
as Tina
2018
This Is Christmas
2017
Norman Pinski Come Home
as Reporter
2017
Pee-wee's Big Holiday
as Party Guest
2016
The History of Us
as Sabrina
2015
The Mysteries of Laura
as Meredith Bose
2014
Garfunkel and Oates
as Dr. Sharma
2014
You're the Worst
as Rachel
2014
Think Like a Man Too
as Vanessa Martinez
2014
FUTURESTATES: Code Academy
as Madame Counselor
2014
Nikki & Nora: The N&N Files
as Lea Sadina
2014
Sleepy Hollow
as Diana Thomas
2013
Who's Afraid of Vagina Wolf?
as Katia
2013
The Final Moments of Karl Brant
as Detective Hostetler
2013
The Goodwin Games
as Hannah
2013
Satellite of Love
as Michelle
2013
Arrow
as Detective McKenna Hall
2012
The Exes
as Kerry
2011
The Custom Mary
as Ms. Rime
2011
Traffic Light
as Alexa
2011
Quantum Quest: A Cassini Space Odyssey
as Nikki (voice)
2010
The Gates
as Leigh Turner
2010
The League
as Shiva
2009
Three Rivers
2009
The Vampire Diaries
as Tessa
2009
True Blood
as Luna
2008
Shattered!
as Maria
2008
Cup of My Blood
as Iona
2005
Grey's Anatomy
as Intern Lisa
2005
Stargate Atlantis
as Sgt. 'Dusty' Mehra
2004
Barbershop 2: Back in Business
as Field Reporter
2004
The L Word
as Eva "Papi" Torres
2004
Dark
as Kaya
2003
NCIS
as Angela Lopez
2003
Barbershop
as Fine Woman
2002
Girlfriends
2000
Strong Medicine
as Nurse Juni
2000
Cortex
as Sama
—