Heated Rivalry is the internet’s new television obsession, thanks in large part to its breakout leads, Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams. The rising actors play Ilya Rozanov and Shane Hollander, two hockey stars pitted against each other in a legendary sports rivalry. Unbeknownst to the public, the pair are secretly hooking up, in this gay enemies-to-lovers hockey romance based on author Rachel Reid’s #BookTok-beloved series.
25-year-old Storrie plays Ilya, a Russian phenom who’s known for the powerful skills that back up his constant trash-talking. Viewers who watch the romance series may be surprised to discover that the man behind the character is an American with a very different background. Read on to learn more about Connor Storrie, from how he perfected that Russian accent to the secret behind his chemistry with Williams.
Ilya Rosanov (Connor Storie) and Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) at a press conference, in the Heated Rivalry premiere.
(Image credit: HBO Max/Crave Canada)
Connor Storrie is a Texan actor who previously appeared in a notorious superhero movie.
Connor Storrie, 25, grew up in Odessa, West Texas, before moving to L.A. to pursue acting. Though there was a hockey team in his hometown, Storrie revealed in a MuchMusic interview that he spent his childhood training as a gymnast
Before Heated Rivalry, Storrie appeared in an episode of the Hulu series Tiny Beautiful Things; the 2023 coming-of-age movie Riley; and the 2025 thriller April X. He also had a minor role in Joker: Folie a Deux last year, where he played a character that he had to keep secret until the film’s premiere. Avoiding spoilers, I’ll just say he was an Arkham Asylum inmate who had a profound effect on Arthur Fleck (played by Oscar winner Joaquin Phoenix).
“I just couldn’t believe I was there and what I was doing,” Storrie said in an October 2024 interview with Variety. “It was so under wraps. I didn’t know anything else about the movie except that part in it. They were very serious. I didn’t say anything to anyone for two years.”
He also addressed the polarizing discourse around the film, commending director Todd Phillips, despite the sequel’s low box office. Storrie argued, “[I’d] rather things be polarizing than things be boring or squeaky clean.”
Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams at the Heated Rivalry premiere in Toronto.
(Image credit: Harold Feng/Getty Images)
Connor Storrie hadn’t studied Russian at all before ‘Heated Rivalry.’
Russian viewers have praised Storrie’s accent in the days since Heated Rivalry‘s debut, but surprisingly, the actor does not have Russian heritage and didn’t speak the language before landing the role of Ilya. According to Teen Vogue, Storrie spent three weeks taking four-hour lessons to learn the show’s Russian dialogue.
“Honestly, I’ve always just thought [the] Russian language and Russian culture was really cool. It’s so different from American culture, so it feels really exotic and out there from where I come from,” Storrie said in an interview with ETalk. “So getting to play anything that is as far away from me as possible I feel like is really enlightening.”
Speaking to Out, the actor reiterated that his fascination with the language was part of why he enjoyed the role. “Selfishly, I just love Russian language. I love any opportunity to do an accent, learn a new skill, and this had all of it.”
Shane and Ilya on a Vegas rooftop in the Heated Rivalry premiere.
(Image credit: Sabrina Lantos/Crave)
Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams’s real-life love languages helped them bring Ilya and Shane to life.
While doing press for Heated Rivalry, Storrie and his co-star Williams have shown off the easy chemistry that made their performances so magnetic. In an interview with Swooon, the pair, who became “super close, super quick” while filming, said that they both tapped into their real-life love language to embody the love story between Ilya and Shane.
“We’re both pretty tactile people in terms of love languages and how you express yourself,” Storrie explained. “We both like physical touch, whether it’s with friends, family, partners. When these characters are feeling good towards each other, I think we knew consciously to allow that to come out. The fun of that ends up being what it looks like [for Shane and Ilya] and how it is different from us, personally. That’s an impulse that is kind of naturally within us. We also became super close, super quick, so that makes it even easier, too.”
“Just with friends, I don’t feel like I am fully able to be earnest with them if I don’t establish a touch barrier with them—consensually, of course!” Williams added. “But the similarity for me and Shane is that, especially when we’re in love, there needs to be constant touching even when the scene isn’t intimate in that sort of way.”
Williams also revealed that filming one of the show’s sex scenes sometimes felt easier than one where Ilya and Shane are fighting the urge to touch each other. “It can feel like a 10-mile drive to brush a cheek,” he said. “But we had such a good relationship that I was able to express myself in that way through Shane and with Connor. That was really lovely.”
‘Heated Rivalry’ creator Jacob Tierney says there’s “no reason” for Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams’s sexuality to be public.
Since Heated Rivalry‘s debut, Storrie and Williams have been subjected to the divisive phenomenon of fans speculating on celebrities’s sexualities. Neither of the actors has spoken out on the matter, but the show’s creator, Jacob Tierney, argues that the speculation is irrelevant to the stars’s casting.
“I don’t think there’s any reason to get into that stuff,” Tierney said in an Xtra interview. “I’ll tell you something about the casting of both of these roles. You can’t ask questions like that when you’re casting, right? It’s actually against the law. So what you have to gauge is somebody’s enthusiasm and willingness to do the work.”
He continued, “And that’s what’s so impressive about both of these guys is they came into this being like, ‘Yeah, we’re here to do this, and we are here to make this story feel authentic and to be as real as possible.’ And they fucking hit it out of the park.”
Tierney added, referring to the pair’s audition, “Their chemistry was just insane. It was always going to be about chemistry. We loved both of them separately, and then seeing them together, it was just like perfection. We couldn’t ask for more.”