Why Fedyor Kaminsky From Shadow And Bone Looks So Familiar
The highly-anticipated fantasy TV series Shadow and Bone is due to premiere later this month, and fans are hyped. Based on Leigh Bardugo's popular Grishaverse novels that include the Six of Crows dyad and the Shadow and Bone trilogy, the show is set to pull from all of the books to create one stunning fantasy adventure. It will follow orphan Alina Starkov, who realizes she has an amazing power that may be able to save her country from darkness. When she's brought to train with an elite army known as Grisha, she finds that people often aren't what they seem, and she struggles to hone her powers as well as discover who her true allies are.
The cast features a mix of established and lesser-known actors, including Jessie Mei Li (All About Eve), Ben Barnes (The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian), Freddy Carter (Free Rein), and Archie Renaux (Voyagers), among others. One of the recurring characters is Fedyor Kaminsky, a Grisha Heartrender with the power to damage people's internal organs. The actor who plays Kaminsky is a Bulgarian actor named Julian Kostov, with several film and TV roles to his name. Here's where you may have seen him before.
Julian Kostov starred in Another Mother's Son
One of Julian Kostov's first lead roles was in the 2017 war drama Another Woman's Son, based on the true story of Louisa Gould, who hid a Russian prisoner of war from the Nazis during World War II. Kostov played Feodor "Bill" Burriy, the young man whom Gould saves. Though he had been in several other movies prior to that, including Code Red as Harold Miller and Ben-Hur as a wounded soldier, Another Woman's Son was his first main part in a feature film.
In an interview with London Live, Kostov explained how it felt to work alongside huge stars like Ronan Keating and Jenny Seagrove (A Woman of Substance) in his first big role. "All of them are amazing," he gushed. "Most of them are British heavyweight actors, been around for ages. And I've also been a fan of John Hannah for a long time, and also Ronan as a singer. [...] When I heard that he was gonna be playing Harold, I was like 'oh my God, oh my God — act cool, act cool!'" He went on to reveal that he got to record a song with Keating for the movie and was recognized for it in the end credits, making his first big part that much more special.
Julian Kostov is no stranger to television
Before landing his recurring role on Shadow and Bone, Julian Kostov had appearances on a wide range of shows, from dramedies to action. His first TV role was in the action crime drama 24: Live Another Day, where he played Agent Harwell. Following that role, he went on to portray Marcus in the docudrama miniseries Barbarians Rising, based on the men who aimed to take down the Roman empire. Additionally, he played a Russian sniper named Sergei Basarov in Berlin Station, and a soccer player named Juan in an episode of the comedy series Flack.
Kostov has also appeared in multiple episodes of A Discovery of Witches as Timur, a daemon who is part of the Congregation that keeps supernatural creatures safe from humans. The fantasy series is based on the All Souls trilogy of novels by author Deborah Harkness, much like his upcoming role in Shadow and Bone. In a recent Instagram post, Kostov shared that he's "the biggest fantasy nerd," which adds another layer to his two fantasy-novel adaptation roles. Fans will undoubtedly love to know that he probably had just as much fun being a part of the series as we will watching them.
Julian Kostov played a KGB officer in Treadstone
Aside from his other TV roles, Julian Kostov also played the young version of the primary antagonist in the show Treadstone, which takes place in the world of Jason Bourne. His scenes as Yuri Leniov came as flashbacks to the year 1973, where he was depicted as a powerful officer loyal to the USSR. He primarily interacted with Petra Andropov (Emilia Schüle), his subordinate in the KGB with whom he had a sexual relationship, but also threatened with violence when she didn't do her job correctly. Though Kostov only appeared in two episodes, his portrayal of the stern officer was memorable and made for some intense scenes.
While his role in Treadstone was fairly serious, Kostov had fun making jokes on Instagram in a screencap from one of his episodes. He captioned a steamy flick of himself and Andropov embracing with the silly line: "This is why The Russians lost the Cold War 🔥😂 too distracted!" We're glad he was able to add some of his cheeriness into such a brutal character, even if it was only behind the scenes.