Janina Zione Gavankar (born November 29, 1983) is an American actress and musician of mixed Indian and Dutch descent. Gavankar is also trained as a pianist, vocalist, and orchestral percussionist. Her family background is Dutch and Indian.

Although she is not a lesbian, she did play one on The L Word. Janina Gavankar played Papi on The L Word. In our interview with her, she talks about how she is like Papi and how working on The L Word changed her feelings about gay and lesbian rights.

She said about the L Word "I absolutely think the show helps the LGBT cause, the obvious immediate reason being awareness. But I also think that the more shows like this that are produced and available to wide audiences, the more the next generation of LGBT can grow up seeing that they do have a voice, and are supported."


Gavankar has returned to music with a rethinking of Kanye West's Love Lockdown

She used to be in Endera, a group signed to Universal Records. She also collaborated on a project for a song called "Tell Me What" in India with Pratichee Mohapatra of Viva, Deep (along with Rock Star Anand Bhatt), and Navraaz. She has had songs licensed to movies and television, and has played marimba on film scores.

Gavankar was featured Russian artist Ella Leya's music video for "Wish I Could", in the San Francisco band Recliner's music video for their single "Float Away", as well as the music video for Manu Narayan's band Darunam.

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