If you’re looking for something new to binge-watch, you need to seriously consider Imposters. The show's first season is currently streaming on Netflix, and according to cast member Marianne Rendón, it’s chock-full of twists and turns, surprises and gasp-worthy moments. Imposters' second season just premiered on Bravo on April 5, so you don’t have much catching up to do! You can catch Imposters on Bravo every Thursday night at 10/9c.
Her Campus recently spoke with Rendón about her experience playing Jules Langmore, working with renowned actress Inbar Lavi and studying the art of acting at the collegiate level.
Her Campus: Season 2 of Imposters premiered on April 5, what can we expect from the coming episodes? Would you say this season lives up to the first?
Marianne Rendón: I think 100 percent the second season will live up to the first. It gets very different in some ways to the first season that you see us doing even more unexpected things, but I think it's very similar to the first in that there's constant twists and turns at every corner. You can expect to see us continuing to be on the run with this ring in our possession and trying to figure out what to do with it and how to sell it. We find ourselves in Scottsdale, Arizona, which is Richie's hometown, and he gets us involved with some pretty sketchy characters as we attempt to sell the ring for as much as we can. In the most Bumbler fashion we know, it doesn't go as planned.
HC: Your character, Jules Langmore, is both a con artist and the victim of a con. Have you been able to relate to her at all? Do you enjoy playing a character that walks a fine line between moral and immoral?
MR: Yes to all of the those things. I was really interested in telling stories about people who are very quotidian and seemingly normal, the very everyday folks who are trying to make their way into the con world. I like all of the Bumblers' different relationships to the con. You'll see Jules go through a lot of shape-shifting character roles. She'll do some role playing. She'll become different characters. I think that element as an actor was the most fun for me because we're constantly trying to transform ourselves into different people.
HC: When you auditioned for this role, how did you prepare?
MR: I think what's important about this show was the rhythm of the language and the rhythm between the Bumblers. I read the script, and I made sure I was working on her sharpness and how quick she was. She vibrates at a very high frequency as you can tell in the first season. I was living within that high energy. She's also very sarcastic and very witty, and I relate to some of that sarcasm and self-deprecation.
HC: What’s it like working with Inbar Lavi? Have you grown close over the two seasons?
MR: Yes. Inbar is an incredible actress, and she gives so much when she's working with you. She's very present and intense, and she's one of my favorite people to work with on the show because her focus is very electric. There's some really interesting tension that happens between Jules and Cece and Maddie in the first season, and you'll see a lot of that intensity between them in the second season as well.
HC: You went to both Bard College and Juilliard. What degrees or programs of study did you pursue there?
MR: Bard is a liberal arts college, so we're required to study a lot of the humanities and writing. It was a writing-based program, but I focused on theater throughout. It was an incredible program. We had a lot of interesting artists that came through. I was doing a lot of performance art and a lot of dance. I was originally a dancer from childhood until I was pursuing modern to flamenco. I had my hands in a lot of different pots in the liberal arts college. I realized at the end of my study that I really wanted to be an actor, and I knew that I needed better training, so I auditioned on a whim to Julliard. It's the only prep school for acting I auditioned for, and I think I wrote my essay for it the night before it was due. It was more of a dare to myself if I was going to go for it. I ended up auditioning for it, and it's a very intense audition process—it lasts over four months.
HC: What were the most important lessons you learned during your time as a student?
MR: I think in terms of my undergrad and being exposed to so many different things within the humanities—different philosophers, different artists visually, musicians, things that influenced me very much as an artist and opened up my fear of artistic aesthetic choices—helped me to hone in on what I really wanted to pursue professionally. When I was at Juilliard, I just think there's so much time spent on one thing—yourself—and it's very monastic in some ways. It's 14-hour days at school, so it made me really aware of my strengths as a performer and confidence, which is so essential to longevity and performing. I think it made me a much better person in that it made me confront a lot of my insecurities and a lot of things I don't like about myself and to make peace with that. It's a lifelong journey, but I think it started within the work at a pretty young age.
HC: Do you think it’s important for young women aspiring to be in the entertainment industry to study their craft at the collegiate level?
MR: I'm not sure. I think it's so individualistic. I know plenty of actors and actresses who have not studied and didn't need to and are very interesting performers for that reason. I think that if you're eager to go immediately into a conservatory program without really knowing what you want, it can be dangerous and detrimental as an artist. I think what I would tell a lot of young women is to expand your horizons and try to absorb as much information as you can about other subjects because essentially that's going to make you a better actor. When you really want to continue to pursue acting and continue to practice, you can role play things with you friends and audition for stuff, but it's not essential to study acting on a collegiate level to be a good actor. It was for me because I think I was eager to practice, and I wasn't quite confident enough to get out in the world without knowing myself on that level.
