impersonate vs portray

impersonate and portray both are verbs.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
impersonate	No	No	Yes	No
portray	No	No	Yes	No

As verbs, impersonate and portray are synonyms defined as:

impersonate (verb)	portray (verb)
pretend to be someone you are not; sometimes with fraudulent intentions	portray in words
represent another person with comic intentions	make a portrait of
assume or act the character of	assume or act the character of
	represent abstractly, for example in a painting, drawing, or sculpture