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 WitchesonSky One,^[9] Sergei Basarov in Berlin StationonEpix, 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 portrayed Vladimir MakarovinCall Of Duty: Modern Warfare III.^[12] He next starred in the superhero splatter film The Toxic Avenger (2023), directed by Macon Blair.^[13] In 2024, Kostov starred in the Belgian period drama The Last Front,^[14] and was cast in season 3 of The White Lotus.^[15][16] He is also slated to co-produce and lead Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov's Triumph,^[10] and star alongside Josh HartnettinJames Madigan's upcoming film Fight Or Flight.^[17]

In 2014, Kostov founded JupiterLights Productions, a Bulgaria-based production and talent management company. Their debut feature film The Dare was released in 2019.^[18] JupiterLights represents Bulgarian actress Maria Bakalova in the United Kingdom.^[19] Kostov is also the co-founder of the production company Five Oceans alongside Bakalova.^[10]

• Early Birds (2015) – writer, producer
• The Dare (2019) – producer, second unit director
• What Stays After (2024) – producer
• You Don't Exist (2024) – producer
• Triumph (TBA) – producer, actor

• Julian KostovatIMDb
• Julian KostovatRotten Tomatoes

•  Media from Commons
•  Data from Wikidata