Russia’s Hottest American Actor Comes Out, Putting His Career at Risk

Photo: Press still from Gazprom-Media

One of the stars of Russia's hit sitcom, Interns (think Scrubs), is an American actor named Odin Biron. He is the most popular American actor on Russian television. He also just came out in an article in New York magazine.

The 30-year-old Minnesotan has found great success playing Phil on the Gazprom-Media medical comedy, which is watched by 3.7 million people per episode. In a time when 71 percent of Russians have a negative or somewhat negative attitude toward the United States, coming out--granted in the pages of an English-language, American magazine--puts it all at risk.

Though he says he's considered quitting his job and making a statement, openly aggressive actions like that are "just not the way I want to operate."

"That's the way things operate in the States," Biron explains. "That's not what this country needs. This country needs dialogue."

Funnily enough, the TV show that Biron stars in is probably the first to address homosexuality on Russian television. Mostly a compendium of stereotypes and hoary tropes, Brion's character, Phil, is an American exchange medical trainee who has two gay dads (he's even got two gay uncles). This reinforces the preposterous Putin-promoted idea that homosexuality is not something naturally found in Russia, but is the byproduct of Western moral decay.

Though Biron's thought about quitting the whole thing and moving back stateside--last year he sublet his Moscow apartment and enrolled in culinary school in Minneapolis--he's still gearing up to shoot the sixth season of Interns, which begins production in a few weeks. He's even been told by the network that they're considering him for a new series about an American spy who infiltrates Gazprom. He's unsure if he'll sign on.

Read the full article here.