Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams in the hit sports drama Heated Rivalry

Heated Rivalry has already become one of the most talked about shows of the year.

The romantic Canadian sports drama centres around a secret relationship between professional hockey players Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov, and has quickly made international household names of its stars Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams.

Based on Rachel Reid’s Game Changers novel series, the show premiered across the pond last year, and is the most-watched on the Canadian network Crave to date, as well as one of the US streaming platform HBO Max’s most popular series ever.

Following its debut on UK screens earlier this month, the romantic Canadian sports drama has now won over even more fans, with British viewers becoming obsessed with both the characters and the actors who play them.

Here’s where you might have seen the stars of Heated Rivalry before…

Connor Storrie

Connor Storrie in his big scene in Joker: Folie À Deux

Connor may showcase a Russian accent in Heated Rivalry in his role as Ilya Rozanov, but the actor is actually from Odessa, Texas.

He started his career in 2018, appearing in adverts and short films, before landing a tiny, nameless role in Kathryn Hahn’s TV show Tiny Beautiful Things.

In 2024, his big break came when he was cast in Joker: Folie À Deux, in which he played an Arkham Asylum inmate who is later implied to be the “real” Joker in one of the movie’s key scenes.

Hudson Williams

Hudson Williams in the American drama Tracker

Heated Rivalry is Hudson’s breakout role, but the Canadian actor has been appearing in short films since 2020.

As well as minor roles in the shows Allegiance and Tracker, Hudson played TJ in the festive TV movie All I Need For Christmas.

More recently, he also played Court Orlok in Love Lucille’s music video for Lights On.

François Arnaud

François Arnaud on the set of........

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