The actor was informed by an extra on set that a woman believed he was “an actual Russian speaker.”

Connor Storrie fooled a Heated Rivalry actor into believing that he spoke fluent Russian: ‘I don’t do that’

The actor was informed by an extra on set that a woman believed he was "an actual Russian speaker."

By Emlyn Travis

Emlyn Travis is a news writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2022. Her work has previously appeared on MTV News, Teen Vogue, and *NME*.

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January 13, 2026 11:27 a.m. ET

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Connor Storrie as Ilya Rozanov in 'Heated Rivalry'. Credit:

Sabrina Lanto/HBO Max

If you were surprised to learn that Connor Storrie wasn’t a native Russian speaker after watching *Heated Rivalry*, you’re not alone. **

The 25-year-old actor, who portrays Russian hockey star Ilya Rozanov on the hit Crave drama, revealed that he once delivered his lines so convincingly on set that he fooled a Russian extra on set into thinking he actually spoke the language fluently. **

“Oddly enough, a lot of the scenes that took place in Russia, almost all the background [actors] were Russian,” Storrie said on Monday’s episode of *Late Night With Seth Meyers.* “The scene where after my dad’s funeral — spoiler — I’m with my brother, everyone at that table was actually Russian.”

Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams on 'Heated Rivalry'.

Sabrina Lantos/HBO Max

The scene, he explained, sees Ilya step away from the reception to argue with his older brother Alexei (Slavic Rogozine) about finances and their late father. When Storrie returned to the dining table for another take, he caught the attention of one of the background actors. **

“This Russian lady, this older lady, I came back in to reset and she starts [speaking Russian],” Storrie recalled. “And then I’m like, ‘No, I don’t... I don’t do that.’”

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Which seemingly took the woman by surprise. “Then she told the person next to her,” he said. “She was [speaking in Russian] and then this man was like, ‘Oh, she thought you were an actual Russian speaker.’” **

Storrie quickly clarified that the woman didn’t think he was actually Russian, but rather “she thought that my parents were Russian and I speak Russian at home with a pseudo-American accent.” **

The *Joker: Folie à Deux *alum added that he has had to learn a very important Russian phrase amid the fervor surrounding the series. “I always say in Russian, ‘I speak Russian really poorly,’” he added.

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Based on Rachel Reid’s 2019 novel of the same name, *Heated Rivalry* follows the slow-burn relationship between rival hockey stars Ilya and Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) over the span of several years. The series, which became an overnight sensation, also stars François Arnaud, Sophie Nélisse, and Ksenia Daniela Kharlamova. **

The series was renewed for a second season last month, with creator Jacob Tierney confirming to ** that it will continue to follow Shane and Ilya’s romance, adding, “That’s not gonna be a shock.”

Storrie told EW that he is interested in exploring the dynamic between Shane and Ilya that’s depicted in Reid’s follow-up book, *The Long Game*. **

“Now that we've established we're together and we're choosing this, what does that look like to consistently choose through new obstacles, new self-realizations?" he said. "We're in the real leagues now, and it's cool to watch these people that have been in this heightened reality for so long. The other shoe drops that deepens the love, but that also tests some of their personal limits."

Watch Storrie discuss speaking Russian in the clip above. *Heated Rivalry *is streaming on HBO Max.

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Source: “EW Talk”