Janina Gavankar is an American actress and musician who is known for her portrayal of Luna Garza in the HBO series, True Blood. Janina Zione Gavankar was born on November 29, 1980, in Joliet, Illinois; her father, Peter Ganesh Gavankar, was an engineer from Mumbai. As a teenager, Gavankar attended the Yale School of Drama’s summer camp. Janina Gavankar’s screen credits include Code Academy (short 2014), Think Like a Man Too (2014), Pee –Wee’s Big Holiday (2016), The Vanishing of Sidney Hall (2017), Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017), Blindspotting (2018), and White Orchid (2018).  In addition to True Blood, Gavankar has been on many television shows including The L Word, Stargate Atlantis, Grey’s Anatomy, The Cleaner, Dollhouse, Arrow, The Vampire Diaries, The Mysteries of Laura, The History of Us, Sleepy Hollow, and as a guest diner on the reality competition show, Hell’s Kitchen.

In 2008, Gavankar was nominated for an Asian Excellence Award. Gavankar, an admitted gamer, was the first actress to use Twitter; signing up on Richard Branson’s computer at Necker Island in 2006. In 2011, Gavankar created a free template for actors and artists to help them control their online presence. In 2010, Gavankar received the Gravity Summit Award for Excellence in Social Media.