Meet ‘Game of Thrones’ & ‘White Lotus’ star Yuri Kolokolnikov
The owner of a brutal appearance plays the role of eccentric heroes, fairy tale characters and charismatic Russians with equal success. And, from February 16, the Russian actor can be seen in the third season of the Netflix series ‘The White Lotus’.
Yuri was born in 1980 in Moscow. At the age of five, he moved with his older brother and mother, translator and writer Marina Sonkina, to Canada and would go on to live in two countries. Since childhood, he surprised those around him with his ability to portray something, he staged the play ‘Sherlock Holmes’ at school. Therefore, when his father saw an advert for the enrollment in the Moscow International Film School, he decided that this is a chance to channel his son's boundless energy in the right direction.
While studying, Yuri made his movie debut playing a cameo role in Savva Kulish's movie ‘Iron Curtain’ (1994). So, the choice of profession was obvious: after graduating from school, he entered theater school.
In 2001, the then young man played the lead role in the military drama ‘In August of ‘44…’. In the “noughties”, he played on the stages of Moscow theaters, but increasingly gravitated towards cinema. His filmography at that time included the TV war drama ‘In June of ‘41…’ (2008), the TV and movie adaptations of Lermontov’s ‘Hero of Our Time’ (2006) and Dostoevsky’s ‘Demons’ (2006), as well as a whole scattering of comedies and melodramas.
At the time, Yuri was still spending part of the year in Canada and would often travel to the U.S. – trying to land a role. He worked part-time and when the money ran out, he slept on the beach at night. And, finally, luck smiled upon him: in 2014, Kolokolnikov got the role of the ‘Thenn’ leader Stir in the TV show ‘Game of Thrones’.
He himself said that he was chosen… thanks to the role of poet Vladimir Mayakovsky. The day before the casting, the actor spent the whole day rehearsing, working on the most difficult scenes of the movie ‘VMayakovsky’, including the episode of the poet’s suicide. He came to the meeting with the ‘Game of Thrones’ casting director in an excited state. This won him the opportunity to try out for the role of Styr. “My character has quite a heavy energy, he is a cannibal, he has a black emptiness inside him and all this had to be conveyed somehow. But, I felt very comfortable working. It was cool to feel like a cannibal,” Kolokolnikov said.
The brutal-looking Russian drew attention to himself and soon landed a role in Joe Weisberg's TV show ‘The Americans’ (2013-2018) about KGB agents working undercover in the U.S., the action movies ‘The Transporter Refueled’, based on a script by Luc Besson, ‘Stratton: First Assignment’ (2017) by Simon West, ‘The Hitman's Bodyguard’ (2017) by Patrick Hughes, and ‘6 Underground’ by Michael Bay.
In 2020, he starred in Christopher Nolan’s movie ‘Tenet’. "Chris somehow collects all the energy around himself and, after filming, you can only go to bed, nothing more. He sucks you into a black hole, into his singularity," he once recalled.
For Kolokolnikov, it makes no difference whether he films in Russia or in Hollywood: "They are just different territories and different creative units with which I work." He prepares seriously for each role: for example, for filming in the series ‘Ozabotchennye’ (‘Concerned’), he mastered rock climbing, while, for ‘Amura’, he learned phrases in Japanese.
His filmography includes melodramas, comedies, action films, fantasy and detectives. “I think any artist wants some [sic] radical, sharp… Well, not even roles, but when you yourself walk on the razor's edge and encounter some dangerous energies. What else can you do in the profession? Just walk in front of the camera and smile? You want to test yourself, what you are capable of.”
In 2023, Kolokolnikov played the role of Koroviev in the hit Russian film adaptation of Bulgakov's novel ‘The Master and Margarita’ and Lord Rothman in the fantasy based on the Russian folk tale ‘The Wish of the Fairy Fish’.
The year 2024 was a big one for the actor: the post-apocalyptic movie ‘The Last Ronin’ was released, where he plays the lead role of the avenger. In the movie ‘Kraven the Hunter’, meanwhile, Kolokolnikov played alongside Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Russell Crowe. He also managed to star in Darren Aronofsky’s film ‘Caught Stealing’, based on the book by Charlie Huston.
And, on February 16, 2025, the third season of the Netflix TV show ‘The White Lotus’ with his participation will be released. It is known that the action of the third season takes place in Thailand, but the content has not yet been revealed. Viewers are promised “a satirical look at death, spirituality and enlightenment”. The actor himself responded briefly about his role: “The faint of heart should not watch!”
The actor has two daughters – Taisia and Sophia. He does not disclose details of his personal life, but, at the end of last year, information appeared that he had married actress Vilma Kutaviciute. Several years ago, they starred together in the detective series ‘Voskresensky’ (2021).
To all questions about how he manages to film on both sides of the ocean, Kolokolnikov answers that he never complains: “I enjoy it.” In his free time, he prefers to “lie down and pet cats”: the actor has three Maine Coons – Miyazaki, Meow and Lebowski.
