‘Inventing Anna’: Chase Sikorski Is Based on a Real Person From Anna Delvey’s Life

When Netflix viewers watch Inventing Anna, they immediately want to know more about Anna Delvey’s boyfriend Chase Sikorski (portrayed by Saamer Usmani). When Anna, played by Julia Garner, meets Chase, the two are inseparable. Delvey defrauds hotels, banks, and acquaintances. She also walks around New York City using her boyfriend’s credit card. Yes, Chase Sikorski is a real person from Anna Delvey’s life as a fake heiress; however, the creators changed his name for the series.

‘Inventing Anna’: Chase Sikorski is based on the ‘Futurist’ boyfriend

Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers developed Netflix’s Inventing Anna series with inspiration from Jessica Pressler’s New York Magazine article. “How Anna Delvey Tricked New York’s Party People” details how the grifter posed as a fake heiress worth $60 million. Although the story begins with one of Delvey’s closest friends, Neffatari “Neff” Davis (Alexis Floyd), it quickly moves on to her boyfriend, mentioned only as the “Futurist.”

Pressler explains that Delvey and the Futurist lived out of “fancy hotels” and spent time hosting dinners. The Futurist always spoke to wealthy acquaintances about his dream app while Delvey discussed the private club she planned to open. She always mentioned coming into her trust fund once she turned 25. However, after two years, the pair split. According to Pressler, the app never became a reality, and the Futurist moved to the Emirates.

Chase Sikorski lines up as the person who Shonda Rhimes modeled the Futurist after in Inventing Anna.

Anna Delvey’s boyfriend, Chase Sikorski, in ‘Inventing Anna’ is Hunter Lee Soik in real life

Although the New York Magazine article did not give the Futurist a name, Anna Delvey’s Instagram account aligns with Hunter Lee Soik’s Twitter account in several timelines. On Jan. 21, 2014, both Delvey’s Instagram account and Soik’s Twitter account shared the same portrait of Azzedine Alaïa. The photo is of a Tunisian couturier and shoe designer who won the Best Designer of the Year award in 1984. Both Soik and Delvey shared several photos in Paris in 2014 with similar locations.

Soik gave a Ted Talk in 2013 about dreams that sounds very similar to the talk Sikorski gives in Inventing Anna. Both Soik and Sikorski strived to create an app to act as a “dream database.” The chessboard that Vivian Kent mentions in Inventing Anna Episode 2 is still a part of Soik’s Twitter account. However, Soik’s Instagram account is currently private. The New Yorker profile on Soik is not private and also shares many similarities with Chase in Inventing Anna. Plus, there’s a kickstarter project created by Soik to launch his dream app.

According to Fast Company, Soik did create his dream app, Shadow: Community of Dreamers. It is an alarm clock that slowly awakens users to log their dreams upon waking. Shonda Rhimes created a clever play on words when changing Hunter Lee Soik’s name for Inventing Anna to Chase Sikorski. According to Ancestry, the name Chase means “to hunt” and is a nickname for a “skilled huntsman.” Plus, their last names share many of the same letters; Soik and Sikorski. Although Netflix does not indicate that Chase Sikorski is based on Hunter Lee Soik, the numerous coincidences point in that direction.

Here’s why Chase Sikorski looks familiar in ‘Inventing Anna’

Saamer Usmani portrays Chase Sikorski in the Inventing Anna cast. Viewers might recognize the actor from the Netflix miniseries What/If for his role as Avery Watkins. According to IMDb, he also appears in HBO’s Succession as Chris and The Other Two as Paul Mago. He stars in three episodes of Netflix’s Inventing Anna.

All nine one-hour-long episodes of Inventing Anna are currently available for streaming on Netflix.