Is Alan Reed a Real Person and Who Plays Him in 'Inventing Anna'?

Inventing Anna features a star-studded cast, including Ozark's Julia Garner as Anna Delvey, Veep's Anna Chlumsky as Vivian, Succession's Arian Moayed as Todd, and The Bold Type's Alexis Floyd as Neff. The true-crime drama series also features guest appearances from numerous famous faces including Anthony Edwards, Laverne Cox, Jeff Perry and Jennifer Esposito.

Anthony Edwards takes on the role of Alan Reed, one of the many members of New York's business world who Anna Delvey was able to fool.

Newsweek has everything you need to know about the real Alan Reed and the actor who plays him.

Is Alan Reed a Real Person?

Yes and no. The character Alan Reed is not a real person, but he is loosely based on a New York lawyer who did fall victim to Anna Delvey's scam.

Alan Reed in Inventing Anna is inspired by New York real-estate lawyer Andrew Lance. According to his bio, Lance works in private real estate equity funds, hedge funds, sovereign wealth funds, corporate and individual developers and owners, mortgage and mezzanine lenders, and real estate investment.

Lance is also ranked as a leading real estate lawyer by Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business and was listed in New York magazine's "New York Area's Best Lawyers" edition and many more.

If that was not impressive enough, Lance is also a professor at New York Law School and has delivered lectures at Yale Law School and the New York University Schack Institute of Real Estate.

Despite his impressive career, Lance found himself wrapped up in Anna Delvey's scams. Posing as a German heiress with a $60 million trust fund, Delvey was able to convince Lance of her plans to set up a SoHo House-style space in the center of New York, known as the Anna Delvey Foundation (ADF). He agreed to try and help her secure a loan of $40 million and as seen in the series, when Delvey's paperwork began to get declined, he started to ask questions.

New York magazine journalist Jessica Pressler detailed in her article that served as the basis for Netflix's Inventing Anna how one of Delvey's "finance friends" put her in touch with federal prosecutor Joel M. Cohen.

Cohen then reportedly put Delvey in contact with Lance in 2016, a partner at Global Law Firm Gibson Dunn, who eventually was able to help her secure a huge loan for ADF. It was through Lance that Delvey was able to connect with City National Bank, Citibank, Fortress Investment Group and secure some loans for ADF.

In the end, by using fake financial documents without Reed's knowledge, she defrauded Citibank and City National Bank out of a total of $140,000.

Her application for a $22 million loan didn't go through.

In one email, obtained by Pressler for New York magazine, Lance wrote: "Our client Anna Delvey is undertaking a very exciting redevelopment of 281 Park Avenue South, backed by a marquee team for this type of venue and space.

He then went on to explain Delvey needed the loan as "her personal assets, which are quite substantial, are located outside the U.S."

For Pressler's article, she spoke to the real Anna Delvey while she was behind bars awaiting trial at Rikers Prison, New York City.

Delvey reflected: "He knows how to talk to women. And he would explain to me the right amount without being patronizing."

She added: "He was there all the time. He would answer in the middle of the night or when he was in Turks and Caicos for Christmas."

Who Is Alan Reed Actor Anthony Edwards?

American actor and director Anthony Edwards is best known for playing Dr., Mark Greene in NBC's ER and for his performance as Goose in Top Gun.

For his role in ER, Edwards took home a Golden Globe Award for for Best Performance by an Actor in a TV Series and six Screen Actors Guild Awards in total. He also received four Primetime Emmy Award nominations.

His other well-known credits include Miracle Mile, Revenge of the Nerds, Planes, Northern Exposure and Designated Survivor.

Edwards will next be seen in AppleTV+'s WeCrashed, about the rise and fall of WeWork. In WeCrashed, Edwards appears alongside Anne Hathaway and Jared Leto.

Outside of acting, Edwards is the founder of the non-profit organization 1in6.org, which helps to support men who have been sexually abused or assaulted as a child.

Speaking to Esquire about playing the role of Alan Reed in Inventing Anna, Edwards said: "I'm the lawyer who's representing her, helping her to build this big thing. I'm doing a lot of vouching for her and believing in her when I don't have all the information I really need because she's so charismatic. Here's this young energy that's able to manipulate and control people by telling them what they want to hear."

Inventing Anna is streaming on Netflix now.