Janina Gavankar

This bodacious Indian-origin beauty and part-time band geek is all set to play the lead on TV’s Sleepy Hollow and she’s well on her way to becoming a Maxim favourite.

- Sunanda Vaid

Given your musical background, we’re wondering if you were a band geek in high school?

I was and still am a proud band geek. I was centre snare in my marching band, and started a percussion octet. I’m also a huge fan and supporter of drum corps. It’s like a marching band, on steroids. Trust me. Google it. The level of musicianship is extraordinary. My last music video features a world class drum corps, The Jersey Surf. It was like living a dream. I still play marimba on my friends’ film scores. Last year, Questlove asked me to perform a duet with him at Carnegie Hall. He was on drum set, I was on vibraphone… That was intense.

Your Wikipedia page says you’re the first actor to use Twitter—is this legit? That’s so cool. How did that happen?

It’s true! Part of it is because I’m generally an early adopter, but the rest is completely random. I was on Richard Branson’s private island. It was 2006, and we were all told of Twitter by one of its angel investors. As a performer, I knew it would be a perfect platform for us to reach out, in a personal way, to our audience. I signed up on Branson’s computer. The world had not heard the term “social media,” yet! Ten years later, it’s embedded in our everyday lives.

How often do you travel to India?