Ksenia Daniela Kharlamova Talks ‘Heated Rivalry,’ Authenticity, and the Future She’s Chasing
Ksenia Daniela Kharlamova hopped on Zoom with a contagious smile and bright energy. The timing, however, almost didn’t work out. Minutes before our planned chat, Kharlamova found herself unexpectedly dealing with maintenance at her condo. “They come in kinda whenever they want to do stuff, like vacuum vents. And I was just like, ‘Damn, right now?’ she laughed as she recalled the moment that pushed our interview back by an hour. The minor chaos made for a fitting introduction to an actress whose candid, down-to-earth approach to life mirrors the realness she brings to her work on screen.
That authenticity is a big part of why Crave TV’s Heated Rivalry works. What was originally expected to find a devoted cult following online exploded almost overnight following its two-episode premiere in November. The series follows professional hockey players Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie) in their messy, slow-burning will-they-won’t-they romance and emotional vulnerability off the ice.
A catalyst in their romance comes in the form of Kharlamova, whose performance as Svetlana Vetrova has quickly made her one of the show’s breakout stars. In our conversation, Kharlamova opens up about her breakout role on Heated Rivalry, multicultural heritage, future ambitions, and the importance of authenticity.
Roots and Realness
Staying true to herself and representing her roots is everything to Kharlamova. The 23-year-old actress was born in Toronto and spent the first six or seven years of her life there before moving to Russia. For several years, she “ping-ponged” between the two countries but lived in Russia full time with her family. She has always felt closely tied to her Russian side, Russian was the first language she spoke at home, and she even attended Russian Sunday school while growing up in Toronto.
“It was really interesting to grow up between those two [places] because I feel like, especially as a mixed-race person, sometimes you don’t feel as connected to certain aspects of your culture,” Kharlamova shared. “But I never had that with at least my Russian side.”
She is also half Trinidadian on her father’s side and though she has never been to the island, it’s somewhere she has always wanted to visit.
That multicultural identity carries over into Heated Rivalry, where Kharlamova plays Svetlana, a Russian-born elite and Rozanov’s best friend. In the novels the show is adapted from, Svetlana is depicted as a white, blonde, blue-eyed woman with limited page time, but the show reimagines her as a biracial woman with a larger presence in the story. All of Svetlana’s lines are delivered in Russian, which made the role especially meaningful for Kharlamova.
“It meant a lot because I’ve always wanted to play a character who speaks Russian,” she said. “But for some reason, I did think the opportunity was going to take a while longer to get.” She explained that casting directors don’t often assume she speaks the language, even when there are cultural cues she believes make it obvious, such as her name. For Kharlamova, the role also became a way for her to challenge narrow depictions of Russian identity. “Russia has like 200 different ethnic groups and I feel like in Western media, they only kind of always show one type of person,” Kharlamova said. “And it’s such a big country with so many different cultural influences. So I was very happy to show a different side.”
Bringing Svetlana to Life
When Kharlamova auditioned for the role of Svetlana in February of 2025, she didn’t know the script based on novels. But she immediately connected with the character’s heritage, confidence, and sense of self. As soon as Kharlamova was offered the part, she dove headfirst into building her character’s Pinterest boards and visual references to map out Svetlana’s style, makeup, and presence.
“If you are playing a confident character, it’s important for the actor to feel confident in themselves,” she explained. Kharlamova brought a sense of maturity to Svetlana that she says she wouldn’t have had just a few years ago. Back in high school, and even until she was about 20, “fake it ’til you make it” was her mantra. By the time she stepped into Svetlana’s shoes, that confidence felt more natural than forced.
“I’m glad I’m playing Svetlana now, and not like maybe five years ago,” Kharlamova said. “Because I don’t think 18-year-old me would be confident to play a character like this, or even womanly enough to play a character like this because she’s like an adult woman who carries so much experience.”
What really sold her on the show was its honesty: how it wasn’t afraid to show love as messy, imperfect, and deeply human. “I liked how the women were really portrayed in the show as well,” Kharlamova said. “I thought it was very real because often gay men come out to women first, or their female friends, or women in their family. It was just beautiful to see.”
When it comes to Ilya’s relationship with Shane (or Jane), Kharlamova admires Svetlana’s approach. “She never really pressured him to say anything. It’s like ‘Hey, this door is open if you want to walk through it, but I’m not going to grab you and make you walk through the door,’” she said. That was especially relatable to Kharlamova, who shared her own experience with a bisexual friend, who didn’t have to formally come out to her because, as she puts it, “that’s kind of how it is with a lot of people, especially if you’ve grown up together or known each other for a long time.”
She pointed out the funeral scene in episode five as emblematic, “Even when Svetlana says, ‘I hope Jane knows how lucky he is,’ she never presses, never asks, ‘Who is Jane?’ or insists, ‘I know he’s a man.’ She just says it in a gentle, almost polite way, signaling, ‘If you’re uncomfortable even acknowledging this, you don’t have to. I know, and I want you to know that I know, but we don’t have to do anything about it.’ And I really like that.”
It was also the very first scene she filmed as Svetlana, a tough introduction with almost no time to settle in. She was called in two days early for fittings and filming, which left her a bit off-kilter at first. But as soon as the cameras rolled, her castmates’ professionalism and the immersive set helped everything click into place.
“Connor’s acting was so beautiful, and the actor who played his brother, Slavic [Rogozine], did such a good job,” Kharlamova said. “I was like, ‘Okay, if they’re doing such a good job, it makes me feel confident that I’m going to do a good job as well.’”
The cast and crew quickly became her anchor on set as everyone clicked almost immediately. Show creator Jacob Tierney hosted a candlelight dinner for the cast and producers a few days before shooting began, which Kharlamova said was fun and helped break down those initial walls among everybody.
Stage Door Dreams
Before landing her breakout role of Svetlana, Kharlamova’s path to acting was a slow, steady climb. She spent nearly a decade working background roles, immersing herself in the life on set and learning from everyone around her. There wasn’t a single “aha” moment that made her decide acting was her path; that passion just naturally progressed. By 16, she was ready to get signed by a principal agent.
“I just had so much fun doing auditions and portraying characters. And I guess it just kind of happened from there, because I kept getting more work,” she said. “It just kind of happened and I’m so glad it’s worked out because it’s so much fun.”
Her first role was a silent “Girl In Classroom” on season two of Prime Video’s The Boys. “I didn’t even speak; I was like the scared girl in the classroom. And I remember that being so much fun because the director of that episode directed an episode of Game of Thrones. And I remember thinking like, ‘Oh my god, that is such a cool connection.’”
In 2022, she landed her first series-regular role on Robyn Hood as Much, a mechanical genius and the band’s vocalist. She spent three months on set, using the time to hone her approach to acting. “I just learned by doing it. I never approach acting as, ‘Oh, I’m playing a character.’ I just approach it as: this is a person, and I’m just going to treat [them that way] and act out their nuances,” Kharlamova shared. “I guess, though, the training just came from just being on set.”
Kharlamova’s fascination with character and craft started before she ever stepped in front of a camera. As a child in Russia, she participated in kids’ theater, singing, and helping her mother with productions. “It was more that I loved observing theater actors because I think it’s such a different craft than acting on camera,” Kharlamova said. “To me, it’s a completely different world and I am just so amazed by people who do theater.”
She recently saw a performance of The Woman in Black in Toronto, and it reminded her of her admiration for theater. “I was just thinking, ‘Wow, you are just giving yourself into this character for like two and a half hours straight.’ That’s so intimidating just being up there. I would love to get back into it. I think I have a little bit of a mental block because I’m kind of scared of it now as an adult, but I do want to get back into it.”
From Circus to Screen
Kharlamova’s creative journey started before acting even caught her attention. As a child, she took dance classes and even trained in the Russian circus. “I can’t do cool circus tricks anymore,” Kharlamova laughed. “That was a long time ago, and I’m really not flexible. That’s one of my New Year’s resolutions: I’m trying to be more flexible.”
When it comes to acting, Kharlamova is inspired by some of film and television’s most captivating performers. “Whenever I watch their performances — like Mads Mikkelsen, James Spader, Margaret Qualley — they just have this almost unexpectedness to them, but it’s very natural,” she said. She loves not knowing what an actor will do next, how they’ll deliver a line, move, or interact with their environment. “I think people don’t really like predictability when they’re trying to be entertained and I just find that [Mikkelsen, Spader, and Qualley] are just so natural. LaKeith Stanfield is also one of those actors that I find has that captivating quality.” She strives for the same authenticity and sense of surprise in her own acting.
Early in her career, one of the most important lessons she’s learned was to not over-rehearse. She recalled a callback for Ari Aster’s Beau Is Afraid, where she realized that too much preparation can backfire. The night before the call, she practiced the “tiny scene” for hours, despite her being able to quickly learn dialogue. In the Zoom, he asked her to deliver the lines in a different way, but “I’ve said it so many times that I physically can’t say it any different way, like it was so just stuck in one form. And I remember I obviously didn’t get the role and I was so upset at myself. I think it’s because I over-rehearsed.”
“I just need to know the words and I can come to set and be completely malleable, so I can change how I say it, or do this, or how I mean those words,” she said. Playing Svetlana taught her to relax into a role, to move and respond instinctively, and to not overthink every detail.
Modeling became a way to channel those same performance skills. “It’s almost like acting in an image, like still acting, because I feel like I embody a character,” Kharlamova said. Her favorite jobs have been creative editorial shoots, including a feature for Fashion Mag Canada for sustainable clothing. She added, “I surprisingly haven’t had a lot of hair-related shoots or campaigns, and I’d love to do more of that because [my hair] is such a big part of me and I would love to be able to showcase that more.”
Modeling, she said, was another way she built confidence for Svetlana. “She was just so confident and sexy and such an adult woman. I feel like the last couple years, I’ve been playing either masculine women or younger, teen characters. So there isn’t that inherent confidence and comfortability with sexuality and stuff like that. So, I think the modeling definitely helped for this character, with the confidence and the look.”
Skating into Our Hearts
As Heated Rivalry continues its meteoric rise, two weeks after the season one finale, Kharlamova is taking it all in. The show’s impact has been global in just a few weeks, but for her the most rewarding part has been the connections it’s sparked.
“The amazing thing has just been all the messages,” Kharlamova said. Fans have sent direct messages saying, “It’s so beautiful to see queer representation,” “Seeing your hair on screen has made me more comfortable about my hair,” and “I’ve just had a really tough year and the community that the show has built has been so wonderful and accepting.” She said reading them makes her feel like she is a part of something bigger.
That sense of belonging solidified at the show’s Canada premiere, where she met fans who became online friends through the show. One even flew in from Eastern Europe and gifted Kharlamova fan art. “That’s when it kind of clicked,” she said. “If people are doing this before the show is out, what’s going to happen when it is? It’s been beautiful to see the community it’s created and the acceptance.”
With all this momentum and a devoted fanbase behind her, she is looking forward to what comes next. “I’m very ambitious and I kind of want to do everything,” she said.
“I hope the people who watch the show support me as an actor, and support my endeavors and whatever I [and the rest of the cast] do next,” Kharlamova said. “We have such a talented group of people, and I see all of these people going so far and doing so many beautiful things.”
7 Things: Fun Facts to Get to Know Ksenia Daniela Kharlamova
With the way Heated Rivalry blew up so quickly, it’s no surprise that false facts and rumors about the cast have been floating around online. “People will just say the craziest stuff about [the cast] that’s not true! Like, someone said I was Cuban or that I was 32 — I just turned 23 this month,” Kharlamova said. “It’s funny to see all the misinformation because that’s just the internet: things are going to be incorrect.”
To set the record straight and have a little fun, here are seven things you should really know about Kharlamova:
If she wasn’t a model or actor, Kharlamova would be a cinematographer or a director of photography. After years of observing film crews at work, she became fascinated with the creative chaos/collaboration on set. She described it as “a crew on a pirate ship” where the director is the captain and the crew is, well, the crew.
She has also written her own short film and tried to make it with a friend, though she admitted that it’s quite a difficult process. “I really enjoy [writing] but it’s such a different thing to actually bring those words to life and have an image evoke the same emotions as words. So it’s a little intimidating.” Still, Kharlamova hopes to take on more behind-the-scenes roles in the future and rallies for more women behind the camera.
She’s a gamer! Kharlamova said she’s currently really into Call of Duty: War Zone and Fortnite. She is also a longtime Overwatch player; when she was a teenager, she would play for eight hours a day. Her go-to character is Moira, a healer, but can also play as a tank role when her team needs protection. She hasn’t played in a while, so she’s not sure of her rank, but “I think the game is biased toward healers and it always puts them in a lower rank.” She also enjoys playing more “cute” games such as Animal Crossing. She wants to get into more story-based games and will start Red Dead Redemption 2 this winter.
Kharlamova got into comics last year, specifically Absolute Batman and Absolute Wonder Woman. “Bruce Wayne isn’t a billionaire in this he’s actually just your average Joe construction worker and all the villains are the ones who are really rich,” she explained. “I just love how the tropes got turned around.” She’s especially a fan of artist Nick Dragotta, adding, “Anytime I see that one of the issues is, like, illustrated by him, I get so happy.”
Fans have even fancast her as Starfire online, which excites her. “I think it’s just such a fun genre.” She described “a certain sense of wonder” and the feeling of being less alone but also inspired after watching a superhero movie. “It’s just so beautiful and I would love to be in a movie that evokes that feeling from people,” Kharlamova said. She added that she would love to play Starfire and has also been reading X-Men comics, noting there are plenty of cool characters she would jump at the chance to play if the opportunity ever came.
Kharlamova co-hosts a podcast with her close friend Siera Salmond. Their friendship started on set when they were both background actors and quickly turned into marathon gaming sessions of Paladins and long FaceTime calls. Eventually, they realized, “We talk so much anyway, we might as well record some of what we say and post it online,” Kharlamova laughed. Then, The Pretenders Podcast was born! The podcast became “a nice, creative outlet” where they discuss their views, swap funny stories, and let listeners in on their real personalities. Listen to the podcast here!
When the topic of dream genres comes up, Kharlamova immediately lights up. While she wants to do it all, her top three are psychological thrillers, drama, and action. “I love the whole horror genre. I think horror is just an underrated genre,” she said, citing the Australian filmBring Her Back as a recent watch that genuinely stuck with her. For herself, she’s especially drawn to psychological thrillers, the kind that feel a little too realistic and feel way more terrifying. She is just as interested in grounded dramas that dig into messy, real emotions.
But she’s not skipping action either. Kharlamova is itching to take on roles that push her physically as much as they do emotionally. “While I’m young, I kind of need to do something physical…I want to run. You know that ‘Tom Cruise run’ in Mission: Impossible? I want to run like that, I just want to fly.”
In 2025, Kharlamova watched all of the Mission: Impossible films for the first time. Thanks to her boyfriend, she fell down the franchise rabbit hole fast.
“My boyfriend showed them to me, and I was like, ‘Oh my God, these are so fun. Wait, you guys, these are really fun movies.’” She laughed, joking that the series might have been quietly gatekept: “I feel like the men have kind of been gatekeeping Mission: Impossible.”
The binge came with a deadline as the two made it through the entire franchise just in time to see Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning in theaters. It officially turned Kharlamova into a late but enthusiastic Mission: Impossible convert.
Kharlamova revealed she’s a Sagittarius, something she fully leans into. “I like being adventurous and on the move and taking risks,” she said, laughing about the recent buzz around a so-called “13th zodiac sign.” After spending her entire life as a Sagittarius, she’s not about to switch teams now.
When it comes to the little things that instantly set her mood, it turns out the weather is a major player. “I guess I’m someone whose mood is very influenced by the weather,” she admitted. Toronto’s long gray winters can be tough, but “whenever there’s sunshine outside, I just wake up in such a better mood.”
Keep up with Ksenia Daniela Kharlamova by following her on Instagram, X and TikTok.
Missing Heated Rivalry? Check out which queer romances to watch during the off season here!
