# Annet Mahendru

Anita Devi "Annet" Mahendru (born November 5, 1985) is an American actress. She is known for playing Nina Sergeevna Krilova on the FX period drama series The Americans (2013–2016), for which she garnered a nomination for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 2014 and as Jennifer "Huck" Mallick in the AMC series The Walking Dead: World Beyond in 2020.

## Early life and education

Anita Devi Mahendru was born on November 5, 1985, in Kabul, Afghanistan. Her mother, Olga, is Russian, and her father, Ghanshan "Ken" Mahendru, is a Punjabi Hindu Indian educator and journalist with roots from Delhi, who studied at Kabul University and later met her mother while working in Russia. The Mahendru family moved to Kabul where her grandfather had a sweets business. Mahendru's grandmother originally hailed from Nepal.
Mahendru had what she calls a "gypsy" childhood, spending her first seven years of her childhood between Afghanistan and Saint Petersburg. She then lived with her mother at Saint Petersburg and regularly travelled between there and Frankfurt, before moving with her father to East Meadow, New York, at age 13, after her parents separated. Mahendru attended East Meadow High School, where she was active in competitive cheerleading and kick line teams; she graduated in 2004. She went on to earn an English degree from St. John's University in New York City.
Mahendru grew up speaking Persian, Russian, German, and English, and also speaks conversational Hindi and French. She also uses Dari to speak with her relatives. She initially wanted to use what she has called her "ethnic ambiguity" to work for the United Nations. She was enrolled at New York University for a master's degree in international relations as she wanted to work for the women in Afghanistan, but dropped out to pursue acting. She then moved to Los Angeles and studied improv at The Groundlings.

## Career

Mahendru appeared in an episode of the sitcom Love Monkey, an episode of the drama Conviction, a Law & Order spinoff, and the short film "The Art of Love". The following year, she appeared in an episode of the HBO comedy-drama Entourage. Her next significant roles came in 2011, in episodes of the sitcoms Big Time Rush and 2 Broke Girls. In 2012, she starred in an episode of the sitcom Mike & Molly.
In 2013, Mahendru played Nina Sergeevna Krilova in the FX drama The Americans, appeared in an episode of the crime series White Collar, and played Agent Rosen in two episodes of the crime drama The Blacklist. She starred in the unapproved Disney film Escape from Tomorrow, which is set in Walt Disney World.
In 2014, Mahendru was promoted to a series regular for the second season of The Americans. She also starred in the comedy-drama film Bridge and Tunnel, had a voice role in the 2014 animated film Penguins of Madagascar, and guest-starred in the 2016 X-Files miniseries as Sveta, a possible UFO abductee. She played Nafisa Al-Qadi on the FX series Tyrant.
Mahendru stars in the title role of the independent feature film Sally Pacholok (2015), which premiered at and won Best Feature at the DC Independent Film Festival, in Washington, DC.
Mahendru has also performed at theatre works at LATW. In 2017, she performed in Seven as an Afghan refugee and women's rights activist Farida Azizi at the LA Theatre Works. The play was a collaboration between 7 playwrights and female activists each from around the globe that portrays inspiring stories of overcoming adversities to bring about real change and improve the lives of women.
Mahendru stars in the seventh episode of the anthology series The Romanoffs, which began streaming on Amazon Video on November 16, 2018.
She plays a lead role as Jennifer "Huck" Mallick in the AMC series The Walking Dead: World Beyond, which premiered in 2020.

## Personal life

Mahendru is married to Australian filmmaker Louie Gibson. The couple have a son (born c. 2018).
Despite both her parents' families not being from Afghanistan and having lived across the world since she was young, Mahendru maintains strong ties to her Indian and Russian roots as well as her connection to her birthplace, stating in 2022:
   I feel my Afghan roots deeply in my temperament, as I do my Indian and Russian colours. I feel at home equally at an Afghan wedding as I do at Holi or Fourth of July.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2006 | The Art of Love | Kala | Short film |
| 2008 | El Padrino 2 | Serge's Wife | |
| 2009 | Erza: Fear of a Faceless God | Erza | |
| 2010 | Ungu | Narrator | Short film |
| 2010 | Duel of the Overmen | Ausler | Short film |
| 2011 | El Padrino II: Border Intrusion | Serge's Wife | |
| 2011 | American Badass: Bernie's Back! | Janet | |
| 2011 | The Hollow | Katie | Short film |
| 2011 | Missed Call | Steph | Short film |
| 2011 | Love, Gloria | Katie | |
| 2011 | Almaz | Natasha | Short film |
| 2012 | Got Rights? | Afghan Woman | Short film |
| 2012 | Captain Planet 4 | Scripty | Short film |
| 2013 | Escape from Tomorrow | Isabelle | |
| 2013 | Metropolitan Stories | Esmeralda | Short film |
| 2014 | Bridge and Tunnel | Kelly Jones | |
| 2014 | Smokey Eyes | Barbara | Short film |
| 2014 | Penguins of Madagascar | Eva | Voice |
| 2015 | Sally Pacholok | Sally Pacholok | |
| 2021 | Grow | Kitty / Locasta | |
| 2021 | Jack London’s Martin Eden | Lizzie Connolly | |
| 2022 | Father Stu | Virgin Mary | |
| 2022 | Manifest West | Alice Hayes | |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2006 | Love Monkey | Groupie | Episode: "The Onone That Got Away" |
| 2006 | Conviction | Waitress | Episode: "180.80" |
| 2007 | Entourage | French Girlfriend | Episode: "The Cannes Kids" |
| 2011 | Torchwood: Web of Lies | Pilot | Voice Episode: "Missing Day: Part 1" |
| 2011 | Big Time Rush | Princess Svetlana | Episode: "Big Time Wedding" |
| 2011 | 2 Broke Girls | Robin | Episode: "And the Pop-Up Sale" |
| 2012 | Mike & Molly | Flight Attendant | Episode: "The Honeymoon is Over" |
| 2013–2016 | The Americans | Nina Sergeevna Krilova | 35 episodes Nominated—Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series |
| 2013 | The Blacklist | Agent Rosen | 2 episodes |
| 2013 | White Collar | Katya | Episode: "Ice Breaker" |
| 2014 | Grey's Anatomy | Ana | Episode: "Only Mama Knows" |
| 2015 | The Following | Eliza | 4 episodes |
| 2016 | The X-Files | Sveta | Episode: "My Struggle: Part 1" |
| 2016 | Tyrant | Nafisa Al-Qadi | 8 episodes |
| 2017 | Pickle & Peanut | Mia | 1 Episode |
| 2017 | Neo Yokio | Mila Malevich | 2 episodes |
| 2018 | Lethal Weapon | Layla Khudari | Episode: "Get the Picture" |
| 2018 | The Romanoffs | Elena Evanovich | Episode: "End of the Line" |
| 2020–2021 | The Walking Dead: World Beyond | Jennifer "Huck" Mallick | Main role; 18 episodes |
| 2020 | Prodigal Son | Fiona | Episode: "Scheherazade" |
| 2023 | True Lies | Yelena | Episode: "Waking Dreams" |

### Theatre

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2017 | Seven | Farida Azizi | LATW |

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Award | Category | Work | Result |
| 2014 | Critics' Choice Television Award | Best Supporting Actress in a Drama | The Americans | Nominated |
| 2014 | Gold Derby TV Award | Best Supporting Actress in a Drama | The Americans | Nominated |
| 2014 | Laugh or Die Comedy Festival | Best Supporting Actress | Bridge and Tunnel | Nominated |
| 2014 | Long Beach International Film Festival | Best Supporting Actress | Bridge and Tunnel | Nominated |
| 2014 | Northeast Film Festival | Best Supporting Actress | Bridge and Tunnel | Nominated |
| 2014 | Showbiz India's Trailblazer award | 'Emerging Leader' as a rising South Asian Female Actor in Hollywood | Herself | Won |
| 2015 | Television, Internet and Video Association of DC (TIVA-DC) Peer Awards | Acting on Camera - Fiction, Female - Gold | Sally Pacholok | Won |