Pretty much everyone has heard about Heated Rivalry, the gay hockey show based on a book series that has gained a large amount of popularity since it’s been released. The show is based on a book series and is centered around two main male characters who are navigating their secret relationship in a hockey setting. It’s become one of the most popular shows in the US, bringing popularity to the books, the author, and most of all, the actors that are in the show.
Heated Rivalry was released on November 28th, 2025 on the Canadian streaming channel Crave and HBO Max. The show was filmed over 36 days in April of 2025 at different locations in Ontario and Quebec. The premise of the show was based on the Game Changers book series by Rachel Reid. Hopes for the show were originally very low and the show didn’t gain most of its attention until December of that year. Since then it has continued to gain more fans and popularity. Some of the show’s starring actors include Connor Storrie (Ilya Rozanov), Hudson Williams (Shane Hollander), François Arnaud (Scott Hunter), and Sophie Nélise (Rose Landry). Most of these actors had a small acting career before the show, or no prior acting at all prior to Heated Rivalry. This show has given a lot of popularity to its actors and opened numerous opportunities for them, especially for Williams and Storrie.
Connor Storrie, who plays Ilya Rozanov on Heated Rivalry, was born on February 22nd, 2000 in Colorado. He grew up in Texas, where he participated in gymnastics and had a YouTube channel. On his channel, he talked about wanting to be an actor. Storrie attended a performing arts school, took classes at The Groundlings in Los Angeles, and acted in underground “clown scene.” Prior to Heated Rivalry, he appeared in Tiny Beautiful Things (2023) and Joker: Folie a Deux (2024). He had most recently been working at a restaurant called Tommy’s Hamburger in La Palma when he was cast in his breakout role as Ilya Rozanov in Heated Rivalry. Storrie had told his boss at the restaurant that he’d be back in 6 weeks after filming and initial press events, but he never went back to that job and has since made moves to further his acting career. He was given the chance to host an episode of the popular show SNL on February 28th of 2026 where he was joined by co-stars for the show as well as US hockey Olympians. Along with co-star Hudson Williams, Storrie also presented the award for Best Supporting Female Actor at the Golden Globes in 2026 and made an appearance at the Actor Awards wearing a standout $500,000 diamond choker around his neck. In the future, Storrie is set to guest star in Season 19 of Criminal Minds (May 28th, 2026), April X (Sept. 2026), and Heated Rivalry Season 2 (2027). A fun fact about Storrie is that to prepare for his role as Ilya Rozanov, he studied the way Russian people hold their facial muscles to better emulate the look and get a better grasp of a Russian accent.
Hudson Williams plays Shane Hollander on Heated Rivalry. Williams was born on February 13th, 2001 in Kelowna, British Columbia where he also spent most of his childhood. He was raised by a Korean mother and a Dutch and British father. Williams attended Langara College with a degree from their film arts program in 2020. Before Heated Rivalry, Williams acted in and directed many short films, a notable one being Super Support, where he played the Land Leopard and was dressed in a ridiculous leopard print outfit. He also appeared in Tracker, Nobody Dumps my Daughter, and Allegiance. Like Storrie, Williams also worked at a restaurant before filming and said he’d be gone for 6 weeks. He worked as a server at the Old Spaghetti Factory in British Columbia. After his quick rise to fame, Williams had the opportunity to be in a fashion show in Milan, and wielded the Olympic torch with Connor Storrie. In the future, Williams is set to be in Apparatus, his co-star is none other than Dylan O’Brien. Filming for this movie begins in spring of 2026 in Toronto, along with the production of Heated Rivalry Season 2 (2027). A fun fact about Hudson Williams is that similar to his character Shane, he also struggled with finding role models that are Asian actors.
Heated Rivalry gave Storrie and Williams nearly all of their current popularity, which is impressive for a show that wasn’t originally made to do well. But it all goes to show how amazing the show is and how talented the actors are.
