Poorna Jagannathan

Acting

Poorna Jagannathan

Born

1972-12-22 (53)

Place of birth

Tunis, Tunisia

Known for

Acting

Credits

53 titles

Poorna Jagannathan (/ˈpɔːrnə ˌdʒɑːɡəˈnɑːθən/ POR-nə JAH-gə-NAH-thən; born December 22, 1972) is an American producer and actress of Indian descent. She is known for her portrayal of Safar Khan in the HBO drama miniseries The Night Of and for her role as Nalini Vishwakumar in the Netflix teen comedy series Never Have I Ever.  Jagannathan also co-conceived, produced, and acted in the play Nirbhaya, considered "one of the most powerful and urgent pieces of human rights theatre ever made," and is regarded as a critical moment in India's history of women's empowerment. Jagannathan was named among the "Top 100 Most Impactful Asians" in America in 2021 and 2022 by Goldhouse. People magazine featu…

Known for

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit poster
8.0

In the criminal justice system, sexually-based offenses are considered especially heinous. In New York City, the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit. These are their stories.

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

1999

Law & Order poster
7.3

In cases ripped from the headlines, police investigate serious and often deadly crimes, weighing the evidence and questioning the suspects until someone is taken into custody. The district attorney's office then builds a case to convict the perpetrator by proving the person guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Working together, these expert teams navigate all sides of the complex criminal justice system to make New York a safer place.

Law & Order

1990

The Blacklist poster
7.6

Raymond "Red" Reddington, one of the FBI's most wanted fugitives, surrenders in person at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C. He claims that he and the FBI have the same interests: bringing down dangerous criminals and terrorists. In the last two decades, he's made a list of criminals and terrorists that matter the most but the FBI cannot find because it does not know they exist. Reddington calls this "The Blacklist". Reddington will co-operate, but insists that he will speak only to Elizabeth Keen, a rookie FBI profiler.

The Blacklist

2013

NCIS: Los Angeles poster
7.5

The exploits of the Los Angeles–based Office of Special Projects (OSP), an elite division of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service that specializes in undercover assignments.

NCIS: Los Angeles

2009

The View poster
4.3

ABC Daytime's morning chatfest, currently featuring Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Sunny Hostin, Sara Haines, Alyssa Farah Griffin, and Ana Navarro discussing the most exciting events of the day. Hot topics in the news, the best experts in their field, celebrity interviews and general entertainment are all part of The View.

The View

1997

Law & Order: Criminal Intent poster
7.6

The third installment of the “Law & Order” franchise takes viewers deep into the minds of its criminals while following the intense psychological approaches the Major Case Squad uses to solve its crimes.

Law & Order: Criminal Intent

2001

Film credits

2020s · 7 titles

The Out-Laws poster
6.0

A straight-laced bank manager is about to marry the love of his life. When his bank is held up by infamous Ghost Bandits during his wedding week, he believes his future in-laws who just arrived in town, are the infamous Out-Laws.

The Out-Laws

2023

Wolfs poster
6.6

Hired to cover up a high-profile crime, a fixer soon finds his night spiralling out of control when he's forced to work with an unexpected counterpart.

Wolfs

2024

Turtles All the Way Down poster
7.2

Aza confronts her potential for love, happiness, friendship, and hope while navigating an endless barrage of invasive, obsessive thoughts.

Turtles All the Way Down

2024

Goodrich poster
6.4

Andy Goodrich's life is upended when his wife enters a rehab program, leaving him on his own with their young kids. Goodrich leans on his daughter from his first marriage, Grace, as he ultimately evolves into the father Grace never had.

Goodrich

2024

House Comes with a Bird poster
6.2

It’s quintessentially late afternoon Californian sun. The eponymous house gently hosts a number of clipped social encounters. Each of these denotes dynamics of power in race, gender and class. While it’s the macaw that seems ostensibly and literally caged, Bravo’s drama of manners suggests that every single one of us may not be quite as uncaged as we assume.

House Comes with a Bird

2022

I'll Show You Mine poster
4.2

An author, who made a career by examining her own trauma sits down to interview her nephew for a new book about his history as a gender-nonconforming model and pansexual poster boy. Each of them reveal much more than expected and confront some of their most deeply hidden secrets.

I'll Show You Mine

2022

Alia's Birth poster
NR

A rocky relationship between a lesbian couple forces them to spend the night apart.

Alia's Birth

2021

2010s · 12 titles

The Circle poster
5.5

A young tech worker takes a job at a powerful Internet corporation, quickly rises up the company's ranks, and soon finds herself in a perilous situation concerning privacy, surveillance and freedom. She comes to learn that her decisions and actions will determine the future of humanity.

The Circle

2017

Mile 22 poster
6.3

An elite group of American operatives, aided by a top-secret tactical command team, must transport an asset who holds life-threatening information to an extraction point 22 miles away through the hostile streets of an Asian city.

Mile 22

2018

Thanks for Sharing poster
6.0

A romantic comedy that brings together three disparate characters who are learning to face a challenging and often confusing world as they struggle together against a common demon—sex addiction.

Thanks for Sharing

2013

Carrie Pilby poster
6.8

Awkward, isolated and disapproving of most of the people around her, a precocious 19-year-old genius is challenged to put her convictions to the test by venturing out on to the NYC dating scene.

Carrie Pilby

2017

An Actor Prepares poster
5.8

After suffering a heart attack, a world-famous and hard-drinking actor is forced to drive across country with his estranged son—who testified against him in his parents' divorce—on one last madcap adventure.

An Actor Prepares

2018

Delhi Belly poster
7.1

Three unsuspecting, average guys find themselves on the hit list of one of India's most-powerful crime syndicates.

Delhi Belly

2011

Share poster
5.2

After discovering a disturbing video from a night she doesn’t remember, sixteen-year-old Mandy must try to figure out what happened and how to navigate the escalating fallout.

Share

2019

Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani poster
7.3

On a trekking trip, an introverted Naina falls for a charming ex-classmate, whose thirst for adventure drives them apart. Years later, their paths cross again.

Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani

2013

Peace, Love & Misunderstanding poster
5.8

A conservative lawyer named Diane takes her two teenage children Jake and Zoe to meet their estranged, hippie grandmother in Woodstock after her husband asks for a divorce.

Peace, Love & Misunderstanding

2011

Growing Up Smith poster
7.1

In 1979, an Indian family moves to America with hopes of living the American Dream. While their 10-year-old boy Smith falls head-over-heels for the girl next door, his desire to become a "good old boy" propels him further away from his family's ideals than ever before.

Growing Up Smith

2017

The Dead Center poster
5.8

When a mysterious "John Doe" wakes up in a morgue and wanders into a psychiatric ward, a devoted doctor and curious medical examiner must slowly uncover dark and sinister secrets about the man that reveal a more horrifying truth than they could have ever imagined.

The Dead Center

2019

Daisy Winters poster
6.6

An eleven year-old girl's unconventional yet deeply loving relationship with her mother is harshly broken. Along her journey, including her quest to discover her father, she learns how to embrace every moment with determination and unrelenting self-confidence.

Daisy Winters

2017

2000s · 7 titles

Series credits

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit poster
8.0

In the criminal justice system, sexually-based offenses are considered especially heinous. In New York City, the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit. These are their stories.

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

1999

Law & Order poster
7.3

In cases ripped from the headlines, police investigate serious and often deadly crimes, weighing the evidence and questioning the suspects until someone is taken into custody. The district attorney's office then builds a case to convict the perpetrator by proving the person guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Working together, these expert teams navigate all sides of the complex criminal justice system to make New York a safer place.

Law & Order

1990

The Blacklist poster
7.6

Raymond "Red" Reddington, one of the FBI's most wanted fugitives, surrenders in person at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C. He claims that he and the FBI have the same interests: bringing down dangerous criminals and terrorists. In the last two decades, he's made a list of criminals and terrorists that matter the most but the FBI cannot find because it does not know they exist. Reddington calls this "The Blacklist". Reddington will co-operate, but insists that he will speak only to Elizabeth Keen, a rookie FBI profiler.

The Blacklist

2013

NCIS: Los Angeles poster
7.5

The exploits of the Los Angeles–based Office of Special Projects (OSP), an elite division of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service that specializes in undercover assignments.

NCIS: Los Angeles

2009

The View poster
4.3

ABC Daytime's morning chatfest, currently featuring Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Sunny Hostin, Sara Haines, Alyssa Farah Griffin, and Ana Navarro discussing the most exciting events of the day. Hot topics in the news, the best experts in their field, celebrity interviews and general entertainment are all part of The View.

The View

1997

Law & Order: Criminal Intent poster
7.6

The third installment of the “Law & Order” franchise takes viewers deep into the minds of its criminals while following the intense psychological approaches the Major Case Squad uses to solve its crimes.

Law & Order: Criminal Intent

2001

Lanterns poster
8.2

Two intergalactic cops, new recruit John Stewart and Lantern legend Hal Jordan, are drawn into a dark, Earth-based mystery as they investigate a murder in the American heartland.

Lanterns

2026

Better Call Saul poster
8.7

Six years before Saul Goodman meets Walter White. We meet him when the man who will become Saul Goodman is known as Jimmy McGill, a small-time lawyer searching for his destiny, and, more immediately, hustling to make ends meet. Working alongside, and, often, against Jimmy, is “fixer” Mike Ehrmantraut. The series tracks Jimmy’s transformation into Saul Goodman, the man who puts “criminal” in “criminal lawyer".

Better Call Saul

2015

Rizzoli & Isles poster
7.9

Perhaps their strikingly different personalities make the relationship between detective Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles so effective. Jane, the only female cop in Boston's homicide division, is tough, relentless and rarely lets her guard down, while the impeccably dressed Maura displays a sometimes icy temperament — she is, after all, more comfortable among the dead than the living. Together, the best friends have forged a quirky and supportive relationship; they drop the protective shield in each other's company, and combine their expertise to solve Boston's most complex cases.

Rizzoli & Isles

2010

Numb3rs poster
7.0

Inspired by actual cases and experiences, Numb3rs depicts the confluence of police work and mathematics in solving crime as an FBI agent recruits his mathematical genius brother to help solve a wide range of challenging crimes in Los Angeles from a very different perspective.

Numb3rs

2005

The Night Of poster
8.0

After a night of partying with a female stranger, a man wakes up to find her stabbed to death and is charged with her murder.

The Night Of

2016

Taken poster
6.5

The origin story of younger, hungrier, former Green Beret Bryan Mills as he deals with a personal tragedy that shakes his world. As he fights to overcome the incident and exact revenge, Mills is pulled into a career as a deadly CIA operative, a job that awakens his very particular, and very dangerous, set of skills.

Taken

2017

Never Have I Ever poster
8.0

After a traumatic year, all an Indian-American teen wants is to go from pariah to popular -- but friends, family and feeling won't make it easy on her.

Never Have I Ever

2020

Hot Ones Versus poster
8.8

Welcome to Hot Ones Versus! On this brand new, Hot Ones spinoff series, guests have two choices: Tell the truth, or suffer the wrath of the Last Dab. Whoever eats the most wings, loses!

Hot Ones Versus

2024

Room 104 poster
5.7

An anthology series set in a single hotel room, where every guest who comes to stay reveals a unique set of circumstances and quirks.

Room 104

2017

Made in Hollywood poster
4.6

Made in Hollywood is a talk show hosted by Kylie Erica Mar and Julie L. Harkness airing in syndication since September 30, 2005. The series is currently in its seventh season. The series is filmed in two studios in Los Angeles, California and New York City. Made in Hollywood also airs a spinoff series, Made in Hollywood: Teen Edition.

Made in Hollywood

2005

Nocturne poster
NR

When a victim of notorious serial killer Jurek Walter unexpectedly turns up alive, detective Jonah Lynn races against time to find the one person still missing, while his protégé Saga Bauer goes undercover to get answers from the killer himself.

Nocturne

2026

Defending Jacob poster
8.2

A family's lives are irreparably disrupted when the 14-year-old son is accused of murdering a fellow classmate.

Defending Jacob

2020

The Act poster
7.6

Gypsy Blanchard struggles to deal with the toxic relationship with her overprotective mother, but her attempts to free herself lead to murder.

The Act

2019

The Wilds poster
7.6

A group of teen girls from different backgrounds must fight for survival after a plane crash strands them on a deserted island. The castaways both clash and bond as they learn more about each other, the secrets they keep, and the traumas they've all endured. But there’s just one twist… these girls did not end up on this island by accident.

The Wilds

2020

Deli Boys poster
6.1

When their convenience store-magnate father suddenly dies, a pair of pampered Pakistani American brothers lose everything and are forced to reckon with their Baba's secret life of crime as they attempt to take up his mantle in the underworld.

Deli Boys

2025

Messiah poster
7.3

A wary CIA officer investigates a charismatic man who sparks a spiritual movement and stirs political unrest. Who exactly is he? And what does he want?

Messiah

2020

Gypsy poster
6.6

The journey of Jean Holloway – a therapist who begins to develop dangerous and intimate relationships with the people in her patients' lives.

Gypsy

2017

Sorry for Your Loss poster
6.9

The sudden death of her husband upends and transforms every relationship in Leigh Shaw’s life. It also forces her to realize there was a lot about her husband that she didn’t know.

Sorry for Your Loss

2018

Jonny Zero poster
5.2

Jonny Zero is an action-crime drama television series that aired on the Fox network in 2005. It starred Franky G, GQ, and Brennan Hesser. It was cancelled after eight episodes. It began airing on Monday nights on ABC TV in Australia in early 2007.

Jonny Zero

2005

Lanterns: The Official Podcast poster
1.0

Through interviews with the creators, cast and crew, the podcast goes inside the making of Lanterns, from the murder mystery at the heart of the story to the characters, comic lore, and dive into the worldbuilding, and the relationship between Hal Jordan and John Stewart.

Lanterns: The Official Podcast

2026

Starved poster
4.7

Starved is an FX Network television situation comedy that aired for one season of seven episodes in 2005. The series was about four friends who each suffer from eating disorders, who met at a "shame-based" support group called Belt Tighteners. Its characters included those with bulimia, anorexia, and binge eating disorder. Eric Schaeffer created the show as well as writing, starring in and directing it, based upon his own struggle with eating disorders. In addition to his own life experiences, Schaeffer also drew upon the experiences of the other members of the principal cast, each of whom coincidentally had struggled with food issues of their own. Starved was the lead-in of FX's hour-long "Other Side of Comedy" block with It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. FX executives wanted to use the two series to begin building comedy programming and broaden the network's demographic. The series debuted on August 4, 2005 to poor critical reviews and was cancelled in October 2005, when FX picked Sunny over Starved for renewal.

Starved

2005