Israeli ‘Imposters’ star Inbar Lavi gets real about playing pretend

NEW YORK (AP) — On the Bravo series “Imposters,” Inbar Lavi plays a young woman named Maddie who is constantly reinventing herself, creating new identities to marry men and women and then steal their money. Off-screen, Lavi is no con artist but she says she can relate to the desire to hide behind different personas.

Born and raised in Israel, the actress admits to being “quite insecure” and “unhappy” as a child.

“The happiest that I remember myself was putting on plays and pretending to be other people,” said Lavi.

She credits her father for giving her the space to explore that. He would follow her around with a video camera, encouraging her to put on plays and skits, and was a devoted audience for her impromptu performances.

As her TV character struggles with allowing others to see her true self, Lavi, 31, hopes that others can see the beauty in being real.

“I’m still far away from the person I want to be but whoever this is for now, she’s all right,” she laughed.

“Imposters” airs Thursdays on Bravo. It is the network’s third original scripted series in a lineup dominated by reality shows.

Lavi recalls the audition process for the role was challenging because she was essentially playing a shapeshifter.

“I think the rule I made for myself walking in was not to be Maddie. It was to be Inbar because Inbar is an actress who plays other people for a living. As long as I could be true to myself as I could be, I would be true to Maddie. That was my focus.”