By Cara Nash

When Costa Ronin was first cast in the second season of the acclaimed spy drama The Americans in 2013, the actor was under the impression his time was limited to a couple of episodes. “I remember reading each episode in Season 2 expecting a bullet,” the actor laughs, “and if Oleg was still alive at the end, it was a good day.”

Fast forward to 2016, and Ronin’s character, Oleg, is still a major part of Season 4, which is now playing in the States. Set in the 1980s shortly after Ronald Reagan is elected as President and the Cold War is intensifying, the series centres on two KGB agents (Kerri Russell and Matthew Rhys) in deep cover as every day suburban Americans. Ronin plays Oleg Igorevich, the Soviet Embassy’s new science and technology officer. He enters Season 2 as a cocky and seemingly entitled young man riding on the coattails of his father, but we gradually learn Oleg’s a much savvier and ambitious young man than he first appeared. He falls hard for a fellow Russian spy named Nina, and becomes entangled in a complicated, heartbreaking love triangle.

It’s a fitting role for the actor who was born and raised in Kaliningrad, a city on the west coast of Russia. While he was only a young child, Ronin’s time there left an indelible imprint on him, which has found its way into his performance. “When the Soviet Union disintegrated, it was a very unusual feeling,” the actor says. “Almost overnight the beliefs system changed. Priorities and values changed. I saw and felt a strong fear of uncertainty take hold of the society. Many kids started picking up work to help support their families. I was no different. I had to grow up a lot quicker than I guess I would have liked to. As a kid you don’t pay any attention to the global affairs. As you grow up, you realise that in those days the lives of so many, and not just in the Soviet Union and the United States but everywhere in the world depended on so few. If anybody would have decided to take the first step and attack, there would have been no winners… everyone would have lost.”

Leaving Russia, Ronin moved to Wellington in New Zealand before moving to Australia where he attended drama classes in Perth and Sydney, and picked up supporting roles in a handful of local films and television. After a small part in the local smash hit Red Dog, the actor decided to follow in the footsteps of many an Australian actor before him, and try his luck in Los Angeles. “I had not been there before and wanted to see what it was like,” Ronin says. “I fell in love with the place – the tremendous creative energy, the go-getter attitude, and the love for the craft, for the process and for the industry. My first acting class in LA started at 7.30 pm and finished close to 4. There were around 10 of us with the coach. I knew then that I would fit right in.”

In addition to scoring a major role in The Americans, the actor has also guest starred in a number of series including Agent Carter and Agent X and is currently working on Season 3 of Guillermo del Toro’s horror series, The Strain. Does the actor feel intimidated to step into an established world for a short period of time? “Absolutely, however it is also very inspiring. By the time I get there, most of the characters and their worlds have been established and it’s my job to make sure that my character comes in as a fully developed being, having lived for the past 30 or so years.”

While the quality and quantity of television has been turned up an exciting notch in recent years, Ronin says the competition has never been tougher. “It feels like there is a new class of shows emerging which you cannot watch while doing something else! In the past, there was a very solid number of studio and indie films with budgets between 5 and 15 million. Now that niche doesn’t really exist. On one side there are mega budget studio films and on the other low budget films. That middle niche is slowly beginning to be occupied by quality television content. This is one of the reasons you see film stars crossing into television…. Are there more jobs because of the number of shows being produced? Quite possibly, but there are also more actors. Working here has become an Olympic sport. It’s not just the skills that matter. It’s also the attitude and determination, and if you think it’s too hard and it’s not for you, you are probably right.”

The Americans is currently available to stream via Foxtel.

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