Anna Chlumsky, of My Girl fame (and I guess Veep, but she’ll always be Vada to me), played a journalist in the Inventing Anna miniseries about con artist Anna Delvey. A lot of Annas in this story! Anna Chlumsky’s character was vaguely based on the NY Mag journalist who wrote the feature upon which the series was based, but Shondaland took many liberties with the character and also Anna over-acted. Anyway, actress Anna attended a gala and was asked about the series and scammer Anna, and actress Anna had an interesting take. She said scammer Anna is like a modern-day pirate, a modern swashbuckler, if you will.
Anna Chlumsky thinks she knows why people are captivated by scam artist Anna Sorokin.
“We still love to be entertained, and I think we love to be entertained by our own conditions sometimes, you know, and I do think that there’s something to, like, the modern swashbuckler that she is,” the actress, 41, told Page Six exclusively Monday at the American Ballet Theatre’s June Gala.
“I mean, she’s even commandeering large vehicles, you know, just the same way that, like, an Errol Flynn would take over a ship,” she added. “So yeah, I sort of feel like she’s a modern-day kind of pirate, and that’s the character we’re watching.”
Earlier this year, Chlumsky starred in the Netflix miniseries “Inventing Anna,” in which she played a journalist who reported on Sorokin, a Russian-born German con artist and fraudster who was arrested in 2017 for defrauding hundreds of thousands of dollars from banks, hotels and friends under the name Anna Delvey.
Sorokin, now 31, was found guilty in 2019 and sentenced to four to 12 years in prison. She was released on parole in 2021, only to be taken back into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for overstaying her visa.
Last month, Page Six exclusively reported that the wannabe socialite was launching her first solo art exhibit, titled “Allegedly.”
“This is a collection of sketches I’ve created while in ICE Orange County detention,” she explained in a statement to us. “I wanted to capture some of the moments of the past years, both never-seen-before and iconic, using the limited tools I have at my disposal. Some of the pieces are straightforward, others are more abstract and will be unique in meaning and appearance to the observer.”
As to whether Sorokin should be deported, Chlumsky is diplomatic.
“That’s really not my business, but, you know, I can’t imagine what’s so bad about going back to Germany,” she told us. “Anyway, that’s the way I think about it.”
I like that Anna Chlumsky just dropped the word swashbuckler into casual gala convo. She’s pretty neutral/diplomatic, but I think swashbuckler sounds more complimentary than she may have intended. A swashbuckler is someone who “engages in daring and romantic adventures with bravado or flamboyance,” which sounds epic. Well, Anna Delvey definitely has bravado and flamboyance and she is certainly daring. Not necessarily a good thing in this case. What Anna Chlumsky says about Germany is a bit shady too. “I can’t imagine what’s so bad about going back [there].” Agree, but Anna Delvey is just desperate for relevance in America. She seems extremely bored in ICE custody, what with her fake law firm announcement and apparently an art show? She’s been sketching in her free time in custody. Seriously, how has she not been deported yet. I guess ICE just prioritizes other countries.
Photos credit: Nicole Rivelli/Netflix
I don’t know if she overacted in IA, she just seems to be one of those actors who has very particular physical mannerisms that they bring to every role. Nicole Kidman is the same, and Kristen Stewart. Whether you like them as an actor will depend on the extent to which their mannerisms bother you.
I didn’t really enjoy IA, partly because it was just too long and drawn out for the story it was trying to tell, but also because the Anna character was just so annoying and entitled. To me she wasn’t a pirate, just a chancer. I think people are fascinated by the sheer audacity of her behaviour, but it gets old pretty quickly when actually she’s already white, attractive and privileged. I was more interested in the character of her friend who worked in the hotel – Neff?
I read the headline multiple times and my brain is STILL insisting AC called Aaron Sorkin a pirate.
Bahahahaha me too I was so confused when I started reading
I’m so glad it wasn’t just me. Until I got into the article, I was like, “wait, are they working on a project together?!? This seems like an odd compliment for Aaron Sorkin, but maybe his brazen dialogue?….” Like I got deep into it mentally before I clicked.
Same!
Same. I was surprised the story wasn’t about Aaron Sorkin.
I wish people would stop trying to glamorize Sorokin. I honestly didn’t find a single redeeming quality about her. She’s a con artist and a sociopath, period, and ICE needs to hurry up and send her Madoff-wannabe grifter azz back to where she came from.
Right? That scene in Inventing Anna where the journalists are jumping up and down cheering for her made me roll my eyes so hard.
I wholeheartedly agree. I couldn’t even finish watching Inventing Anna. I made it literally halfway through the last episode before shutting it off because it drove me mad to see so many people actually rooting for her. And I wanted to throw Neff out a window. What a moron.
The only difference between Ana and someone like James Middleton, who scammed his friends out of millions to invest in a dumb marshmallow business, is that James does actually have those affluent family connections. Had she been a penny-less German aristocrat, no one would have cared. They would have pushed the deal through and propped up one of their own. The problem is that she was a “nobody” that managed to gain access to the exclusive club.
We’re not taking enough about how great Anna Chlumsky was in that roll. I also see her as Vada no matter what else she’s doing but her character in AC was smart and funny and a great foil to Anna.
I agree, Anna Chlumsky was the best thing about that series, hands down. She was magnetic and I was drawn to her every time she was on screen. I think Julia Garner is a fantastic actor, but I felt that in order to convince me that the real life Anna Delvey somehow attracted all of these people, she needed to be at least as, if not more, magnetic than the journalist interviewing her. She was overshadowed in every scene with Anna Chlumsky.
I also found her portrayal of Anna Delvey as so unlikeable. I had a hard time understanding how anyone would put up with her let alone be charmed by her. It could have been the writing / directing as well, I don’t want to heap all the responsibility on Julia Garner.
We don’t give enough credit to the excellent actress who played the role. Regardless of what else she does, I will always view her as Vada, but her AC role was humorous and sharp, making her a nice counterbalance.