Charlie Gillespie joins Heated Rivalry season 2 as Troy Barrett
The Julie and the Phantoms actor said he had wanted a role in the series before being cast and has played hockey since childhood.
Charlie Gillespie will play hockey forward Troy Barrett in the second season of Heated Rivalry. The 28-year-old actor, known for Julie and the Phantoms, told Swooon he had been interested in joining the show before landing the part.
The Crave series adapts Rachel Reid’s Game Changers books. In Role Model, Barrett moves from the Toronto Guardians to the Ottawa Centaurs and begins a relationship with team social media manager Harris Drover, played by Justice Smith.
Speaking while promoting his upcoming Tubi film Sidelined 3: End Game, Gillespie said he had played hockey since he was young and was comfortable taking a check. He also said people had encouraged him to pursue the series and that he has now read all the books.
Gillespie described a personal connection to the Canadian setting, recalling that jerseys on the locker-room set carried the surnames of two childhood friends. He previously portrayed a high school hockey enforcer in the independent drama Shattered Ice, which he filmed in 2024.
