Meet Cute: Why You’ll Fall in Love with Arian Moayed of ‘Inventing Anna’

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 From Succession to Broadway and beyond, your new crush is here!

Welcome to “Meet Cute,” where we get up close and sometimes personal with our newest crush. This time around, we’re chatting with Arian Moayed about his new Netflix original, Shondaland’s Inventing Anna.

Name: Arian Moayed Netflix project: Inventing Anna Instagram account: @arianmoayed DOB: April 15 Astrological Sign: Aries Hometown: Born in Iran, Moayed grew up in Glenview, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. Favorite food: Mexican food Favorite Netflix show: Ozark

On a first date, I always… ask about drinks, if it’s a date at a restaurant. I want to know what the drink vibe is.

My perfect date would be… dinner and a play.

My worst dating experience was… at a bar. For some odd reason, when I was turning 21, I decided not to drink that month except on my birthday. I had a date, and it was not well thought-through. I had two drinks, and I was slurring heavily.

My current Netflix crush is… [a two-fer.] My kids are watching Sister, Sister, which is on Netflix again. It's so funny, it just reminds me of my childhood. I had a huge crush on [Tia and Tamera Mowry] as a child. The other one is, I got to say, I watch Breaking Bad, and Anna Gunn is just so powerful and strong and vulnerable. I feel for her. I think she got screwed.

My love language is… dead on. It’s “acts of service.” You want the heart? I just need to see [you] helping. I'm a giver of words of affirmation.

What would your dating app profile say? It's a Persian saying: "Good thoughts. Good words. Good deeds."

So Inventing Anna is your first Shondaland project. Are you a big fan? I was an OG Grey’s Anatomy fan. I love Shondaland. 

What about Anna Delvey – when did you first learn about this wild tale? I read The Cut article [the show is based on] right around the time I got cast. All I remembered was the headline of “Fake German Heiress.” Right as the audition was coming, I was like, "I'm going to read this article,” and it was mind-altering. So well written, too. That's how I found out about it. [Anna Delvey is] an obsessive person. It's a personality you're just obsessed with knowing more about; it's never-ending.

Your character, Todd Spodek, Delvey’s lawyer, is one of the most stylish characters in Inventing Anna – he’s a sleeper hit. How did his fashion influence your performance? I love suits, and I love wearing suits. I loved every second of it. Lyn Paolo, our amazing costume designer, really wanted Todd to have a good sense of taste with some Mets background in him, some working class, Long Island vibe. I loved wearing those suits.

Spodek undergoes a conceptual transformation, too, through the series. He views his relationship with Delvey as a job – albeit, one motivated by his identity as an immigrant and industry outsider. Then it becomes something else entirely. How do you view his relationship with Delvey?  At the jump, in one of the early scenes, it's like, “Here's the contract, sign this.” It was very transactional. But there’s something about Todd's wanting to make it in this world: His wife is a lawyer, from a family of fancy lawyers. He does criminal attorney, lower level stuff – at one point he says that he represented Alec Baldwin's [stalker.] All this is to say that he had a real opportunity with Anna to really go up the ladder and find himself, to make a name for himself. And what's amazing about Anna Delvey is that people start falling in love with her. They start feeling something about her, and there is a father-daughter relationship that ensues because Todd really cares about her.

Spodek’s dedication to his job comes at the expense of spending time with his family, and I think in a way it sort of mirrors the experience the Jessica Pressler character, Vivian Kent, is having.  And Anna, I think. 

Definitely. But I think the difference might be that Spodek and Kent appear to feel guilty about the sacrifices that they have to make. So, uh, considering Spodek’s situation – can men really have it all?  [Laughs.] Can any of us have it all? I'm a parent of two young ladies. There's often times where the work gets very heavy and then, all of a sudden, you don't see the girls for a long time. Balance is very, very important. I don't think he's a bad dad. I think he's obsessed with this case. And I think, as a parent, sometimes to make sure that you're a good parent, you also have to be a good human being day to day. [Spodek] is so desperate to protect Anna Delvey that, in that mix, he got lost. The big reveal at the end, when he chooses to stay while the rest of his family's going to go on a vacation somewhere warm, really shows the dedication he has for Anna and completing the task. It’s a tough decision. 

In your view, what is this show even about?  For me, as an immigrant who has had to go up the ranks and constantly fight harder than everyone else, one of the big takeaways that I get is how far that struggle and want to succeed can overpower every other piece of life. That’s the one big thing I take away from it. How far will you go with that desire for wanting success? 

Speaking of that desire: Spodek’s wife in Inventing Anna is played by Caitlyn FitzGerald, who is Tabitha on Succession, Roman Roy's girlfriend. By the transitive property, did your Succession character, Stewie, steal Roman's girlfriend? I don't want to say anything, because of an NDA that I signed. But yes. Caitlin is also in The Trial of the Chicago 7 with Jeremy [Strong, who plays Kendall Roy] and they're a thing. But obviously, since I'm the last one, Stewie stole her.

>>> Inventing Anna

source: By Maria Sherman  www.netflix.com