See “The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox” Cast Side-By-Side with Their Real-Life Counterparts
- - See “The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox” Cast Side-By-Side with Their Real-Life Counterparts
Christopher RudolphAugust 20, 2025 at 8:00 AM
Franco Origlia/Getty ; Disney/Adrienn Szabó
Amanda Knox at the Perugia courthouse on March 13, 2009 in Perugia, Italy ; Grace Van Patten as Amanda Knox in 'The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox' -
The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox tells the real-life story of the 20-year-old college student who was wrongfully convicted for the murder of her roommate, Meredith Kercher
In the Hulu show, Grace Van Patten and Anna Van Patten play real-life sisters, Amanda and Deanna Knox, respectively
The Hulu show is co-produced by Amanda Knox and Monica Lewinsky
It has been nearly 20 years since she first made headlines, and the world is still intrigued by Amanda Knox.
The latest example is The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox, a new Hulu series starring Grace Van Patten as the 20-year-old American college student, who, while studying abroad in Italy, was wrongfully accused of the murder of her roommate, Meredith Kercher, in November 2007.
The following fall, Amanda was found guilty of murder in December 2009, per The New York Times, and served almost four years in an Italian prison, before she was acquitted in October 2011 — but her ordeal didn't stop there. In March 2013, an Italian court ordered a retrial, and she was found guilty again before the conviction was overturned two years later, the newspaper later reported. More recently, Knox fought a slander conviction, according to the .
The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox follows her "16-year odyssey to set herself free," according to the official description of the eight-part series. The Hulu original is co-produced by Amanda and Monica Lewinsky, and as Grace told PEOPLE, the project is an "opportunity" for Amanda "to reclaim her story."
"I mean, I thought I knew a good amount, and it wasn't even close to the twists and turns that happened throughout those years," the actress continued. "It's new information that the public does not know — especially in that last episode."
The new limited series is based on true events, but who plays Amanda and her supportive family and friends? Here are the stars of The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox, side-by-side with their real-life counterparts.
01 of 07
Grace Van Patten as Amanda Knox
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Grace Van Patten as Amanda Knox in 'The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox' ; Amanda Knox leaves the courtroom on April 18, 2009 in Perugia, Italy.
Grace Van Patten plays Amanda Knox, an American student who was accused of murdering her roommate, Meredith Kercher, while studying abroad in Italy in November 2007.
In August 2025, Grace revealed to PEOPLE that playing Amanda was "a crazy, full-circle moment" because she could recall when the story happened.
"I remember watching the documentary, and it was around the same time I started acting, and I was so fascinated by the story and Amanda as a human being," she said. "I remember having this dream of playing her one day."
The Tell Me Lies star explained how she had "never played a real existing human in the world, so that was very new for me," adding, "The main thing for me was what involvement Amanda was going to have in it."
02 of 07
Giuseppe De Domenico as Raffaele Sollecito
Disney/Andrea Miconi ; Giuseppe Bellini/Getty
Giuseppe De Domenico as Raffaele Sollecito in 'The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox' ; Raffaele Sollecito leaves the courthouse on November 30, 2009 in Perugia, Italy.
Giuseppe De Domenico portrays Raffaele Sollecito, Amanda's boyfriend at the time, who was also accused and convicted of Meredith's murder.
Like Amanda, Raffaele spent nearly four years imprisoned in an Italian jail before being released in October 2011 after winning an appeal, per the BBC. In March 2015, Italy's supreme court overturned Amanda and Raffael's conviction, ending the legal matter.
“I am obviously very happy for Amanda, since I knew from the start that she had nothing to with it and I believed in her innocence,” he said after the verdict. “But now it is time to move on. I no longer want this tragedy to tie us together.
Raffaele continued, “I no longer want to be known as ‘Amanda Knox’s former Italian boyfriend.' I want to be known for something else than being connected by the prosecutors to a gruesome murder in which I had no part."
He added how he would "prefer to be known as Raffaele Sollecito, the guy who faced all of this and came through at the other end.”
In 2012, Raffaele released a book, Honor Bound: My Journey to Hell and Back with Amanda Knox. Today, Amanda and Raffaele appear to still be friends, per an Instagram post.
03 of 07
Sharon Horgan as Edda Mellas
Disney/Andrea Miconi ; Giuseppe Bellini/Getty
Shanon Horgan as Edda Mellas in 'The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox' ; Edda Mellas, the mother of Amanda Knox during closing arguments on November 30, 2009 in Perugia, Italy.
Bad Sisters star Sharon Horgan plays Amanda's mother, Edda Mellas.
Edda was married to Curt Knox, but according to Oprah.com, they divorced when Amanda was 3 years old. She later married Chris Mellas, an IT professional.
Edda strongly supported her daughter, constantly traveling to Italy during the trial.
In August 2011, Edda, who was a teacher in Seattle, told The New York Times that she couldn't "remember what life was like before Amanda got arrested."
Edda gave interviews during the ordeal, helping keep Amanda's story in the headlines.
“The media has been a curse, but it means that Amanda hasn’t been forgotten; she’s not rotting away,” she said to the publication. “The day I don’t have to speak to another reporter or do another interview can’t happen soon enough. But if it means helping Amanda, then it’s something I will continue to do.”
04 of 07
Joe Lanza as Chris Mellas
Disney/Andrea Miconi ; Franco Origlia/Getty
Joe Lanza as Chris Mellas in 'The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox' ; Chris Mellas, Amanda Knox's stepfather, during Knox's appeal hearing on December 11, 2010 in Perugia, Italy.
Joe Lanza portrays Chris Mellas, who, according to The Guardian, was a present stepfather to Amanda.
Chris was always a staunch supporter of Amanda and her innocence during the trial.
"The stress on my family is excessive," he said in a March 2009 interview with The Independent. "The trial dominates your life completely. You wake up and it's the first thing on your brain, and it's the last thing when you go to sleep, and frequently it also bothers you while you're sleeping."
05 of 07
Anna Van Patten as Deanna Knox
Amy Sussman/Getty ; Oli Scarff/Getty
Anna Van Patten attends The Business of Fashion and Self-Portrait cocktail party on May 14, 2025 in Los Angeles, California ; Deanna Knox, the sister of Amanda Knox, on October 4, 2011 in Rome, Italy.
Grace's real-life sister, Anna Van Patten, plays Amanda's sister, Deanna.
After her acquittal in October 2011, Amanda returned home to Seattle, where she reconnected with Deanna.
“I got to experience all the things that I missed with her,’’ Deanna told Today in September 2013. “Just going out to lunch and grabbing a quick coffee.”
She also shared that she was trying to help Amanda acclimate to life in America. “She's a little tense now, so that's where I come in. We're working on it," Deanna added.
Amanda and Deanna have two younger half-sisters, Ashley and Delaney, per Oprah.com.
06 of 07
Crosby Fitzgerald as Madison Paxton
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Crosby Fitzgerald at the premiere of "Palm Royale" on March 14, 2024 in Beverly Hills, California ; Amanda Knox's friend Madison Paxton in Perugia's court of Appeal on December 18, 2010 in Perugia, Italy.
Crosby Fitzgerald portrays Madison Paxton, Amanda's outspoken college friend.
Speaking to the Today show in June 2009, Madison said (via CBS News) that Amanda is "one of the few people I actually trust with my life."
"I will never stop sticking up for her," she added. "I know she's innocent."
Two years later, in September 2011, Madison told Today that she moved to Italy to support Amanda during the trial and visit her in prison.
07 of 07
Jared Canfield as Christopher Robinson
Jamie McCarthy/Getty ; TIZIANA FABI/AFP via Getty
Jared Canfield attends "MacBeth" Broadway Opening Night on April 28, 2022 in New York City ; Christopher Robinson at the courthouse on June 5, 2024 in Florence, Italy.
Jared Canfield plays Amanda's husband, Christopher Robinson, whom she married in December 2018.
The two met at a book launch party in March 2015, and as Christopher recalled to PEOPLE in August 2017, “I was probably the only person at the party who didn’t really know who she was."
"I knew [about] Italy and some legal stuff and something that shouldn’t have happened. But I didn’t really know her story," he said.
Christopher is a writer who has co-authored two novels, War of the Encyclopedists and Deliver Us, with his friend, Gavin Kovite. He also wrote a book of love poems with Amanda, The Cardio Tesseract.
"I don’t know how I got lucky to end up with Chris, because it’s kind of outrageous how well-matched we are," Amanda told PEOPLE in March 2025. "The thing that really distinguished him was how not interested he was in the worst experience of my life."
They share two children: a daughter, Eureka, born in 2021, and a son, Echo, whom they welcomed in 2023.
on People
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