Who is Janina?

Janina Gavankar is an American actor, musician, filmmaker and technologist, born in Joliet, Illinois. She is known for roles across prestige TV and film, for playing lead characters in major video games, and for her work as an early technologist and angel investor.

Papi on The L Word, Luna on True Blood, and roles in The Morning Show, Big Sky, Blindspotting and The Way Back; playing Iden Versio in Star Wars Battlefront II and leading Alan Wake 2, Forspoken and Horizon Zero Dawn; and being the face of Microsoft's Ms. Dewey and an early-stage tech investor.

Iden Versio in Star Wars Battlefront II, Tatai in Horizon Zero Dawn, Kiran Estevez in Alan Wake 2, Tanta Sila in Forspoken, Amita in Far Cry 4, Sinmara in God of War Ragnarök, Lola in Afterparty, and Freddie in Stray Gods. She is also cast in the upcoming Until Dawn 2.

Yes — a trained pianist, vocalist and orchestral percussionist who has released her own music and performed at venues including Carnegie Hall.

Yes. Through her production company Safe Haven she co-wrote, co-directed and starred in the short film Stucco, which won a Special Jury Prize at SXSW. She writes, directs, and produces film, tv, podcasts, music and videos.

Yes. She has been an early adopter in technology since the early social web — famously as Microsoft's Ms. Dewey in 2006, and as the first actor to use Twitter (now X) — and is an angel investor with a sharp eye for early companies. The same taste that shapes her art shapes her bets: an early first-round investment in ClassPass (a unicorn that later merged with Mindbody) anchors a portfolio that includes Boulevard, Live Tinted and Mpathic.

Born in Joliet, Illinois; studied theatre at the University of Illinois Chicago. She is of Indian and Dutch descent.

Janina Gavankar — full name Janina Zione Gavankar. She often goes simply by Janina.