Impersonator
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An impersonator is someone who imitates or copies the behavior or actions of another.[1] There are many reasons for impersonating someone:
- Living history: After close study of some historical figure, a performer may dress and speak "as" that person for an audience. Such historical interpretation may be a scripted dramatic performance like Mark Twain Tonight! or an unscripted interaction while staying in character.[2]
- Entertainment: An "impressionist" impersonates well-known figures in order to entertain an audience. Especially popular objects of impersonation are Elvis Presley (see Elvis impersonator), Michael Jackson (see Michael Jackson impersonator) and Madonna (see Madonna impersonator). Other uses of impersonation for entertainment include male drag queens (previously called "female impersonators", although this terminology is now considered outdated.)
- Crime: As part of a criminal act such as identity theft.[3][4] This is usually where the criminal is trying to assume the identity of another, in order to commit fraud, such as accessing confidential information, or to gain property not belonging to them. Also known as social engineering and impostors.
- Decoys, used as a form of protection for political and military figures.[5] This involves an impersonator who is employed (or forced) to perform during public appearances, to mislead observers.
- To create a romantic connection with someone, for example catfishing.[6]
Celebrity
Celebrity impersonators look similar to celebrities and dress in such a way as to imitate them. Impersonators are known as sound-alikes, look-alikes, impressionists, imitators and tribute artists.
Some interest in celebrity impersonators, may arise from the consumer desire to see a celebrity who has died. The dead celebrity market was estimated to generate $2.25 billion globally, with celebrity impersonators used in live entertainment shows and advertising.[7]
One of the most prominent examples of this phenomenon is the case of Elvis Presley. Edward Moss has appeared in movies and sitcoms, impersonating Michael Jackson.[8][9]
There are other motivations for celebrity impersonation, Tom Jones has attracted his share of impersonators from different places around the world. From the United States, to South East Asia, to the UK, there are performers who either sound like him or imitate his act.[10][11][12][13]
A 2010 research study explored how celebrity impersonation performance acts are understood by audiences, within an interactional frame, where the performer and audience collaborate by recognising the 'game' of pretending to be a celebrity. It proposed that this type of impersonation goes beyond imitation and is in fact a complex interaction, where the real and artificial coexist comfortably.[14]
Criminal
A person who impersonates a designated officer in the United Kingdom faces a prison term not to exceed 51 weeks in England, one year in Scotland, or 6 months in Northern Ireland.[15]
In the United States, it is an offence to impersonate a federal officer.[16] In 2025, there were a number of arrests, due to civilians impersonating immigration officials,[17] whilst the FBI began to probe an effort to access the personal phone of Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff, that had involved impersonation.[18]
In a Colorado case, an immigrant was charged with "criminal impersonation" for using another person's Social Security number when signing up for a job,[19] some courts have ruled that supplying this wrong information may not be criminal.[20] The ruling hinges on whether there was harm to the other person.[21]
Often, criminal impersonation involves someone impersonating a victim for financial gain. In Australia, a woman in Melbourne used three victims identities to file ten fraudulent business activity statements and registered as a tax agent, in order to commit criminal offences.[22]
Online
The internet has resulted in new forms of impersonators emerging online. This can involve acts such as the impersonation of someone else's identity, across a variety of platforms, such as social media.[23]
Within online dating, the phenomenon of catfishing has arisen, where individuals impersonate the identity of someone else, whilst forming romantic relationships. Motivations for this can include to check on partner fidelity, for monetary gain or simply out of curiosity.[24]
Online impersonation can be used as a cyberbullying tactic, that in some instances creates a permanent and accessible record that anyone can view. This can have a significant impact, such as hindering employment prospects.[25]
Online impersonation has led to debates around whether identity verification should be a requirement on some online platforms.[26] Some jurisdictions are attempting to introduce new laws to help combat this problem, for example in Nepal.[27]
Deepfake
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Audio deepfakes have been used as part of social engineering scams, fooling people into thinking they are receiving instructions from a trusted individual.[28]
In 2019, a UK based energy firm's CEO was scammed over the phone when he was ordered to transfer €220,000 into a Hungarian bank account by an individual who used audio deepfake technology to impersonate the voice of the firm's holding company's chief executive.[29]
The combination advances in deepfake technology, which can clone an individual's voice from a recording of a few seconds to a minute, and new text generation tools, has enabled automated impersonation scams that can target victims using a convincing digital clone of someone known to the person.[30]
Celebrity impersonation has been conducted using deepfake technology, for different purposes. For entertainment purposes, deepfake celebrity impersonation has been used.[31] A number of cases were reported that involved scam victims believing they were communicating with celebrities.[32][33][34]
See also
- Fake memoir
- Impressionist
- Look-alike
- Personation
- Police impersonation
- Shi (personator), in the Chinese ancestor ritual: a figure impersonating ancestors
- Soundboard, victim soundboard
- Tribute act
- Wannabe
- Identity fraud
- Identity theft
References
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- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Impersonator". The Free Dictionary. Retrieved 2010-01-03.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Town of the Living Dead". LA Review of Books. 15 October 2013. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
He is a Ralph Waldo Emerson reenactor. This man gets paid to dress like, act like, and speak like Ralph Waldo Emerson. He's 63 years old and wears a black frock coat...'I use the term 'historic interpreter' or 'living historian.' But when people say 'impersonator,' that doesn't bother me.'
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Identity fraud and identity theft". Action Fraud. Retrieved 2025-07-21.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Morris, Chris. "Identity theft is on pace to set a new record in 2025". Fortune. Retrieved 2025-07-21.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Chavez, Elias. "7 global leaders who used body doubles to avoid dangerous, or uncomfortable, situations". Business Insider. Retrieved 2025-07-21.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Catfishing: How I hunted down the gang impersonating me online". 2023-10-20. Retrieved 2025-07-21.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.D'Rozario, Denver; YANG, GUANG (2019-12-01). "The History and Evolution of the Market for 'Delebs' (Dead Celebrities)". Atlantic Marketing Journal. 8 (1). ISSN 2165-3887.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Baker, Bob (3 March 2005). "King of Pop impersonator star of E! trial re-enactment". The Seattle Times. Archived from the original on 9 July 2009.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.John, Alex. "Damn Salvatore Rule". Retrieved 13 August 2021.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Column: Golden Knights give Vegas a real sense of community". Los Angeles Times. 2018-04-12. Retrieved 2024-03-19.
- ^ Billboard, 9 May 1998 - Page 60 Newsmakers, Now The Real Thing.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.MICHAEL, STUART. "Warren makes time for grandson". The Star. Retrieved 2024-03-19.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Stars shine for Sam Sorono at hospice fundraiser - VIDEO - The Star". 2018-04-19. Archived from the original on 2018-04-19.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Ferris, Kerry O. (2010-01-01). "Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing, Baby: Framing Celebrity Impersonator Performances". Text and Performance Quarterly. 30 (1): 60–80. doi:10.1080/10462930903367249. ISSN 1046-2937.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Crime and Courts Act 2013". www.legislation.gov.uk. Expert Participation. Archived from the original on 2025-02-10. Retrieved 2025-07-19.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: others (link) - ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Justice Manual | 1470. False Personation -- Elements Of The Offenses | United States Department of Justice". www.justice.gov. 2015-02-19. Retrieved 2025-07-19.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Olivares, José (2025-06-28). "US sees spate of arrests of civilians impersonating Ice officers". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2025-07-20.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."FBI to probe effort to impersonate top Trump advisor". BBC News. 2025-05-30. Retrieved 2025-07-21.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."People v. Gutierrez". Justia Law. Retrieved 2025-07-20.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Using false S.S. number not impersonation". UPI. October 28, 2010.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Courts: Using another's SSN not a crime". NBC News. 2010-11-30. Retrieved 2025-07-20.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Government fraudster sentenced to jail". Australian Taxation Office. 30 May 2025. Retrieved 21 July 2025.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Marr, Bernard. "The Dark Side Of Technology: Navigating The Threat Of Digital Impersonation". Forbes. Retrieved 2025-07-21.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Simmons, Mariah; Lee, Joon Suk (2020). "Catfishing: A Look into Online Dating and Impersonation". In Meiselwitz, Gabriele (ed.). Social Computing and Social Media. Design, Ethics, User Behavior, and Social Network Analysis. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Vol. 12194. Cham: Springer International Publishing. pp. 349–358. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-49570-1_24. ISBN 978-3-030-49570-1.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Anti-Bullying Pro". www.antibullyingpro.com. Retrieved 2025-07-21.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Booth, Callum (2024-06-07). "Mandatory ID for social media would solve some problems — but create a lot more". TNW | Data-Security. Retrieved 2025-07-21.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Liang, Lu-Hai (2025-02-26). "Social media use requires ID verification in Nepal and Vietnam | Biometric Update". www.biometricupdate.com. Retrieved 2025-07-21.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Statt, Nick (5 Sep 2019). "Thieves are now using AI deepfakes to trick companies into sending them money". Archived from the original on 15 September 2019. Retrieved 13 Sep 2019.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Damiani, Jesse. "A Voice Deepfake Was Used To Scam A CEO Out Of $243,000". Forbes. Archived from the original on 14 September 2019. Retrieved 2019-11-09.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Schwartz, Christopher; Wright, Matthew (17 March 2023). "Voice deepfakes are calling – here's what they are and how to avoid getting scammed". The Conversation.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Heritage, Stuart (2023-01-09). "Behind the scenes of TV's first deep fake comedy: 'None of it is illegal. Everything is silly'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2025-07-20.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.BÎZGĂ, Alina. "Jennifer Aniston Deepfake Romance Scam: Victim Fooled by AI Impersonation". Hot for Security. Retrieved 2025-07-20.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Gold, Hadas (2025-03-08). "Celebrity AI deepfakes are flooding the internet. Hollywood is pushing Congress to fight back | CNN Business". CNN. Retrieved 2025-07-20.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Keanu Reeves deepfake scam highlights rise in AI celebrity impersonation fraud". The Express Tribune. 2025-07-10. Retrieved 2025-07-20.
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