Mahendru was born in Kabul, Afghanistan. Her mother Olga is a Russian businesswoman and artist, and her father Ghanshan "Ken" Mahendru is a HinduIndian educator and journalist. She had what she calls a "gypsy" childhood, regularly travelling between St. Petersburg 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 is fluent in German, Russian and English, and also speaks Hindi, French and Persian. 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, but dropped out to pursue acting. She then moved to Los Angeles and studied improv at The Groundlings.
Career
Mahendru began her acting career in 2006, appearing 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 began playing the recurring character Nina Sergeevna Krilova on 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 dramaThe Blacklist. She also starred in her first film, the fantasy horror Escape from Tomorrow, which drew attention because most of it was filmed on location at both Walt Disney World and Disneylandwithout permission from The Walt Disney Company, owner and operator of both parks. In 2014, Mahendru was promoted to a series regular for the second season of The Americans. She also starred in the comedy-drama filmBridge and Tunnel, had a voice role in the 2014 animated filmPenguins 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 filmSally Pacholok, which premiered at and won Best Feature at the DC Independent Film Festival, in Washington, DC. Mahendru stars in the seventh episode of the anthology seriesThe Romanoffs, which began streaming on Amazon Video on November 16, 2018. She will play a lead role in the upcoming AMC series , which premiers in 2020.
Private life
Mahendru is married to Lucian "Louie" Gibson, an Australian writer and director and a son of Mel Gibson. They live in Los Angeles with their son.
