We know her best as Iden Versio in Star Wars: Battlefront 2, but to the wider world Janina Gavankar is an actor on the up, with roles opposite Ben Affleck and projects in development. Good times are ahead, but it’s been a struggle and Janina discusses her career so far with Variety and The Hollywood Reporter.
On her last day of filming “The Way Back,” Janina Gavankar says Ben Affleck had a funny, if awkward, question for her.
“He didn’t know how to ask me this, but he was like, ‘Where did you…? Where did you…?’ And I finished his sentence. I was like, ‘Where did I come from?’” Gavankar told Variety. “I said, ‘Ben, I’ve been [acting] for 15 years. I’ve been marginalized for 15 years. There was no way I would get to act across from you in any of these years until now.’”
Gavankar, 39, plays Affleck’s estranged wife in the Gavin O’Connor-directed feature, a relationship strained by both addiction and personal tragedy.
And if Affleck’s question landed as slightly awkward, it’s because for over a decade, Gavankar has built up her resume with a slew of TV roles (“The L-Word,” “True Blood,” “The Morning Show”) and various creative endeavors, in everything from music to gaming.