Janina Gavankar might just be the busiest person in entertainment today. It's a few days into February when we chat and already the actress and musician (and tech investor, and gamer and, well, a whole lot more) has had the new season of her hit TV series Sleepy Hollow premiere; she's been to the Sundance Film Festival where her new movie, Sidney Hall, screened; she's launched a new website, altFound.com; and as we speak she's on set starring in a new video game she's not yet at liberty to discuss. And to hear the tireless Gavankar tell it, this is just the beginning. Here, she chats with T&C about what's up next.
In 2017 already you've done more than plenty of people do in multiple years. Aren't you exhausted?
Well, it's funny, because you do it all and then it launches when it launches. I've done these things over a long amount of time and then they show up like this and I look so prolific. But really, I'll work as hard as they'll let me if it's a project that's really special.
What is it that makes a project special enough for you to be that devoted?
Right now, I'm stalking the director of a play that I'm dying to do. So if all goes well, I'll have a TV show airing while I worked on this video game, then I'll have the movie, then the play might happen. Part of it is trying to crack a different medium of performance; it's different physically, mentally, and emotionally. But really, it's the characters and the people. I want to work with people with whom I'm obsessed; I say yes and I figure out how to show up.
And with something serialized like Sleepy Hollow, which is entering its fourth season, but its first featuring you, what keeps it exciting?
Well, it's easy because I'm new. I was excited that the network is interested in supporting this show and giving it new blood. That's a big deal, it doesn't happen often.
A project like altFound.com is also unique because it'll require continuous commitment.
My interests are sort of geek-centric. When you say the word "geek," it's perceived to be childish so a lot of brands cover this way in a nostalgic way. But geeks are grown up, so this covers the interests of me and my friends and people like us. There's a lot of art and culture, because of who I am. I'm not the first actress to start a lifestyle site, but I think this one is a little more in touch, it's where you'll see things that have yet to go viral.
You're kind of approaching gamer culture from a more sophisticated place than we're used to seeing.
When you talk about videogames, people immediately think of Halo or Call of Duty, but there are incredible, artful, emotional, narrative-first, independent games out there and they deserve to be seen. In the same way that a tiny film can win an Oscar, the gaming version of that needs to be supported. I'm finding alternatives to things people think they know about.
And you're working on games, also—currently making one you won't tell us about! What do you bring to them?
When I get a script, I'm very vocal about all of my opinions. I ask a lot of questions about characters and the story we're trying to tell. The same thing I'd be doing as an actor on a movie, I do here.
With projects percolating in all these different mediums, is there anything you're still dying to get involved with?
The goal is longevity. Yes, it's great that all these things are happening, but how can I maintain that? I'm interested in proving to myself that I can do what I'm doing—at this level—for decades. That's the goal: the continue.
Adam Rathe is Town & Country's Deputy Features Director, covering arts and culture and a range of other subjects.
