Meet the real Vivian Kent from Inventing Anna: Jessica Pressler is the inspiration behind the Netflix hit and was also responsible for Jennifer Lopez’s Hustlers movie
- The real life journalist also wrote about the New York exotic dancers who would become the basis of Hustlers before stumbling on the story of Anna Delvey
- She once set the record straight on what is fact and fiction in the Netflix hit series – and the truth of being conned by a high school student in her earlier days
Pressler’s story details the rise and fall of scam artist Anna Delvey (real name Anna Sorokin) who pretended to be a German-born heiress, which was turned into a miniseries by producer Shonda Rhimes for Netflix. On the show, Pressler was fictionalised as Vivian Kent – played by Anna Chlumsky.
Massachusetts native Pressley is no stranger to fame. In her decade-long career, she has written compelling exposés and feature articles for prestigious publications like New York Magazine, GQ and Elle.
But she is undoubtedly becoming more famous – Netflix said its users streamed 77.3 million hours of Inventing Anna in the first week of its release.
Here we take a look at her fascinating life, her involvement in the series and how she was once conned by a high school student.
Her story inspired Jennifer Lopez’s Hustlers
Before Inventing Anna, there was Hustlers. Pressler reported the fascinating story of a group of exotic dancers who conned rich men in her 2015 New York Magazine article “The Hustlers at Scores”, which was later turned into Jennifer Lopez’s critically acclaimed 2019 film.
Her article was nominated for the National Magazine Award in 2016 and she ended up being portrayed by Julia Stiles on screen. “Early on, I kept thinking the character would get cut, because my impression was that journalist characters are not sexy,” she told The Los Angeles Times. “There’s no typing, which I think is a very good choice,” she added.
Pressler is still friends in real life with the ex-dancer Roselyn Keo, the basis for the role of Destiny played by Constance Wu in the film.