Page 18 - Real Style February 2018

introducing inbar
Looking back, Lavi is impressed by her own audacity at such a young age. “It was challenging, it was scary, it was exciting. I don’t know if I would have the strength and the bravery to make that kind of move now that I am older. Back then, I had more faith and I went for it,” she muses.
Lavi discovered her passion for the screen after studying ballet and contempo- rary dance back home. While she always enjoyed dance as an art form, her one true love later turned out to be acting. “I have
nds herself identifying with the intrigu- ing character she plays— a stylish con art- ist with multiple alter egos. Although the real life Lavi is far more honest than Mad- die (who marries men and then takes off with their savings), they have some strik- ing similarities.
“I’ve always been drawn to any char- acter that I can’t quite gure out,” Lavi ex- plains. “On the one hand, Maddie has her desire to escape and on the other, I think she also desperately wants to belong. I was interested in that con ict. I could relate to it very much, and I think a lot of the audi- ence does as well.”
For a creative soul who claims to love the idea of escapism, Lavi seems to have found her unique place in L.A., but has not forgotten who she is. The star is proud of her cultural heritage, and cites fellow Israeli-born star Natalie Portman as a role model. In the past several years, Holly- wood has seen an in ux of actresses from Lavi’s home country, which includes Won- der Woman star Gal Gadot.
“It’s empowering and inspiring. It would have been different if the image was a neg- ative image, but it’s such a strong, posi- tive, powerful image that you can only feel proud,” she says, of seeing her culture and country represented in Hollywood. “This is the payoff of a lot of hard work.”
And what hard work the past few years have been for Lavi, who has a fondness for bringing tough girl roles to life with a bit of humour. Comedy is one of her favourite genres, and she tells us that she would love to one day collaborate with The Of ce star Steve Carell.
Lavi previously starred on the MTV show Underemployed as Raviva, a devot- ed young singer-songwriter and mother. Meanwhile, her part as Lieutenant Ravit
“i have a big place for dance in my heart. it taught me everything i need to know about performing, stage, discipline and technique. it taught me a lot about physicality, and i still use that every day on set, every character that i play.”
18 Real Style February 2018
a big place for dance in my heart. It taught me everything I need to know about per- forming, stage, discipline and technique. It taught me a lot about physicality, and I still use that every day on set, every character that I play. I [just] don’t feel as passion- ate about dance as I do about storytelling through lm and TV,” she says.
Speaking of passion, Lavi’s latest role in Imposters is one that she is ecstatic about. Since taking on Maddie, she nds