Based on Jessica Pressler’s New York Magazine article titled ‘How Anna Delvey tricked New York’s Party people’, the upcoming Netflix series by Shonda Rhimes, Inventing Anna has already generated quite the buzz. The series chronicles the pursuits of a witty and cunning 28-year-old named Anna Sorokin, who, despite hailing from a lower-middle-class family, managed to pose as a wealthy socialite and scam businesses and her friends of money.
Anna Sorokin, who later adopted the alias of Anna Delvey, became somewhat of a pop-culture anti-hero and a female subversion of Robin Hood, who scammed capitalist organisations of money while living a double-life. This limited and dramatised ten-episode series will see a journalist set out on a quest to investigate her life and understand the motive behind her actions.
The real-life Delvey, the new face of the American Dream, has, however, refused to watch the series and see her “fictionalised self” being misrepresented via the lens of a journalist and wrote an essay to Vanity Fair, discussing the same. Julia Garner, who is seen reprising the lead role of Anna, has, however, defended the show’s depiction of the protagonist, talking about how she wants to “help people try to understand why she did it.”
This controversial yet exciting series is slated for a February 11th, 2022 premiere on Netflix. Here is everything we know about the Inventing Anna cast and the characters they play:
Everything we know about ‘Inventing Anna’ cast and their characters
Julia Garner – Anna Delvey
Anna Sorokin, who used the alias of Anna Delvey, is the notorious “SoHo scammer” who was convicted in 2019 of theft, larceny, cheating and fraudulence. After spending some time at Albion Correctional Facility in New York, she was released in 2021 for good behaviour.
The character of Delvey will be portrayed by Julia Garner. A brilliant actress, Garner is popular for her role as Ruth Langmore in Netflix’s Ozark. This role brought her two Emmy Awards for her phenomenal performance as the cold and calculative character. Garner has undergone an immense transformation to fit into the role of Delvey, especially with the bizarre accent that saw her incorporating elements of German, Russian and European accents to impersonate Delvey’s tendency to adapt to her changing surroundings.
Anna Chlumsky – Jessica Pressler
Shonda Rhimes based her series on the article written by New York Magazine journalist Jessica Pressler who investigated the case of Anna Delvey in depth. Pressler had previously written the article “The Hustlers at Scores” that inspired the 2019 Hustlers film.
Anna Chlumsky is set to play the role of Vivian, a journalist, who is the fictionalised version of Pressler in the series. By investigating Anna, the duo is said to develop a strange love-hate relationship as the former tries to understand what prompted Anna to do what she did.
Arian Moayed – Todd Spodek
Anna Delvey’s real-life defence attorney, Todd Spodek, had previously defended her by saying that her plans and schemes were too amateurish and inept to be considered for a prison sentence. However, she was convicted and sent to prison for nearly two years.
Succession star Arian Moayed is set to reprise the role of Spodek. As a well-known lawyer among the community of white-collar crime, it will be interesting to see the actor add dimension and depth to this sharp-witted and conniving role that required Spodek to shed blood, sweat and tears to defend his client.
Laverne Cox – Kacy Duke
Celebrity trainer and life coach, Kacy Duke, was a good friend of Anna’s. Initially hired to be her trainer, Kacy became a good friend of Anna’s and accompanied her on a particularly ill-fated trip to Morocco. She also tried to help Anna sort out her finances.
Laverne Cox is set to portray the role of Kacy Duke. An Orange Is the New Black alum; Cox was the first transgender person to have received an Emmy nomination. As Duke, Cox will very well be seen as a part of Anna’s inner circle but is portrayed to be mature enough to stay out of the legal trouble.
Katie Lowes – Rachel Deloache Williams
Another friend of Anna’s, Rachel Deloache Williams, has been mentioned several times in Pressler’s article. She was forced to pay a whopping amount of over $60,000 for a trip that the duo had taken together.
Williams was just one of the many people Delvey scammed and was instantly attracted to Anna due to the latter’s charming nature and used her Instagram to do her “background check”, as mentioned in this Harper’s Bazaar expose. Katie Lowes, known for her role in the popular show Scandal, will be seen as Anna’s ex-best friend.
Alexis Floyd- Neffatari Davis
Seen in The Bold Type, Alexis Floyd will be portraying the role of Neffatari “Neff” Davis, a friend of Anna Sorokin’s. The real-life Davis had taken to Instagram to wish Anna on her birthday, talking about how she did not support the latter’s fraudulent schemes but would never forget her influence and impact.
Sorokin had met the real-life Davis when the latter was working as a concierge at 11 Howard Hotel that was Anna’s home for several months back in 2017. She had lured Davis into her opulent and grand lifestyle as well, taking the latter on a misadventure of a lifetime.
