Chris Ashworth

Chris Ashworth, best known for his work as the character of Sergei Malatov, aka 'The Russian' on HBO's critically acclaimed television program "The Wire", was born and raised in the Virginia countryside. Growing up, he enjoyed doing impersonations and accents, and making people laugh. While he thought about becoming an actor, he also thought of going into law enforcement, or becoming a pastor or baseball player. Upon finishing college, where he earned associate degrees in Administration of Justice and General Studies and a bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice, he made the decision to pursue the entertainment business. He began his career in New York City. While trying to figure out exactly how to get into the entertainment business, he dabbled in modeling, which led to commercial work. After landing several roles in indie films and driving everywhere he could think of to audition and/or work, he received a call from Baltimore, Maryland casting director Pat Moran. She was doing local casting for HBO's "The Wire". NYC and Los Angeles casting were having a hard time finding someone to play the volatile Ukrainian thug Sergei Malatov, aka 'The Russian'. Pat asked Chris if he could do a Russian accent and he replied "I'm sure I can". Pat then said, "Good, I told HBO that you're from the Ukraine and that you've been here for two weeks." Chris responded, "I don't want to lie to them." Pat told him it was his job as an actor to convince them. So he did. Having no training, nor ever having been to Russia or the Ukraine, Chris used his God-given accent and dialect ability to convince HBO that he was actually Ukrainian. He quickly became a fan favorite. He appeared in eleven episodes, ten of which were in season two. He's also appeared in many other television shows and films and currently as of July 2014, he has two of his own feature film scripts in development. Chris spends most of his time in Los Angeles; however, he travels back to Virginia often. Some of his passions are MMA, the UFC, salt-water fishing, hiking, the outdoors, baseball, and college football. His charity work ranges from helping the homeless and less fortunate to fighting sex-trafficking.