Janina Gavankar was about to premiere her directorial debut at SXSW when the festival was suddenly cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead of hopping on a plane to Austin, the actress, who also stars as anchor Alison Namazi in Apple TV+’s The Morning Show alongside Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston, received her Special Jury Award from home. Here’s how she’s navigating this new reality.
Name: Janina Gavankar
Profession: Actor, Filmmaker
Pronouns: She/Her
Please Support: I love what Criterion is doing, raising funds to make sure Arthouse theaters will still be around, post-pandemic. You can donate here.
Profession: Actor, Filmmaker
Pronouns: She/Her
Please Support: I love what Criterion is doing, raising funds to make sure Arthouse theaters will still be around, post-pandemic. You can donate here.
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At this moment I'd also like to call attention to a dear friend in my home state of Illinois. Roy Garcia has dedicated his life to the safety of others as a State Police officer, and Homeland Security director. He's in need of a liver, and his friends have started a GoFundMe to help.
In early March, I was working on season 2 of The Morning Show, a pilot for NBC, and going to SXSW with my directorial debut, a short film called Stucco. The TV shows have shut down production. We know we'll go back to work on The Morning Show, but every TV network with a traditional pilot season is now figuring out if anything is salvageable this year. SXSW was cancelled.[My creative partners and I are honored to have received a Special Jury award, but are so sad to have missed out on celebrating with the SXSW community.
Besides constantly checking on those who need support, or are at risk, I’m just working on developing projects as much as possible, so I can hit the ground running when the time comes. Like most, I'm finding ways to raise money for charities by doing streamed fundraisers.
I’m most anxious about the health of loved ones, and the lack of readiness our country has displayed. So many people have lost their jobs. I’m worried about the recession that’s about to hit us.
I started doing yoga at home. My body is pretty terrible at it, but it's helping my brain. I also hosted a murder mystery party on Zoom and am finally catching up on video games from independent studios: Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, Prey, Kona, The Turing Test, A Plague Tale, and After Party, which I'm in!
Some shows I’m into right now: Back to Life, Work in Progress, Ozark, and Tales From the Loop. My friends and I also started this Spotify playlist, called “Sounds of Covid.” My new film The Way Back, which co stars Ben Affleck, is available to stream now, too!
I talk to my mother daily, and every day I take time to reconnect with someone I've needed proper time to catch up with. All we have is quality time. It's a chance to ask people, "How are you doing, really?"