Julian Kostov

Kostov was born on 25 August 1989 in Varna, Bulgaria.[1] At the age of 12, Kostov became a pentathlon champion for his age group. He was a 10-time National Swimming Champion from 2005 to 2009. In 2008, he earned the Master of Sport title in Swimming. Kostov holds over 60 medals as a professional swimmer, including a bronze medal at the 2007 Balkan Games.[2] He attended the Spanish-language Frederic Joliot-Curie School in Varna,[3] before entering post-secondary studies at Tilburg University, where he majored in international business.[4]

After two years in the Netherlands, Kostov decided to move to the United Kingdom and pursue a career in acting, inspired by Heath Ledger's performance in The Dark Knight.[5] He transferred to Cardiff Metropolitan University to finish his studies, graduating with a bachelor's degree in Business Studies in 2011. He was admitted to the National Youth Theatre that same year.[4] Kostov began auditioning for agents, eventually signing with one. He later switched to a different agent and landed a Gillette commercial. During that period, he also took classes at Anthony Meindl's Actor Workshop in London.[5]

Kostov began his acting career in Bulgarian and British productions, including a two-episode guest arc on 24: Live Another Day in 2014. In 2016, he had minor roles in the films Ben-Hur and London Has Fallen.[6] He began doing motion capture and voice acting for video games.

In 2017, Kostov starred as Feodor "Bill" Burriy in the independent British war film Another Mother's Son.[7] That same year, he appeared in the American horror film Leatherface.[8] Kostov landed a number of television roles such as Timur in A Discovery of Witches on Sky One,[9] Sergei Basarov in Berlin Station on Epix, and Yuri Leniov in Treadstone.[10] In 2021, Kostov played Fedyor Kaminsky in the first season of the Netflix fantasy series Shadow and Bone.[11]

In 2023, Kostov voiced Vladimir Makarov in Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare III.[12] He next starred in the superhero splatter film The Toxic Avenger (2023), directed by Macon Blair,[13] and is slated to co-produce and lead Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov's Triumph.[10]

In 2014, Kostov founded JupiterLights Productions, a Bulgaria-based production and talent management company. Their debut feature film The Dare was released in 2019.[14] JupiterLights represents Bulgarian actress Maria Bakalova in the United Kingdom.[15] Kostov is also the co-founder of the production company Five Oceans alongside Bakalova.[10]

• Julian Kostov at IMDb
• Julian Kostov at Rotten Tomatoes