8+ 'Chernobyl' Actors And Their Real-Life Counterparts

This job is awesome, really. I get to combine two of my favorite things: history and watching TV into one sweet article.

It really makes you wonder why anyone does anything else.

Today we're going to explore the world of Chernobyl, the new hit series that HBO has produced that's taking the world by storm.

Really filled that Game Of Thrones void quick, didn't you, guys?

We'll be diving into the world of Chernobyl, the real-life event where a nuclear reactor blew up and nearly devastated the entire world.

It was a big enough deal to get it's own HBO show.

We're going to be comparing the actors who played the real-life characters on the show too... well, those very real-life people.

So get ready folks, because you're in for one wacky ride!

The man Jared Harris plays, Valery Legasov, was the deputy director of the Kurchatov Institute of Atomic Energy and responsible for investigating the accident that happened at Chernobyl.

Jessie Buckley puts on a heartbreaking performance as Lyudmila Ignatenko, wife of the firefighter Vasily Ignatenko.

She is a woman who has to watch her husband die in agony for two weeks.

Boris Shcherbina was the Deputy Prime Minister during the explosion, however, he had a long and distinguished career in the СССР.

He was vice-chairman of the Council of Ministers and he held many other positions as well.

History buffs out there are well aware of who Mikhail Gorbachev is, but for those of you who don't he was the eighth and final leader of the Soviet Union.

Aleksandr Akimov was the Shift Supervisor Of The Night Crew, and at first, didn't believe that the disaster was actually happening.

However, in the end, he chose to stay behind when he could've evacuated and he paid the ultimate price for it.

Vasily Ignatenko was a Pripyat Firefighter and one of the first on the scene to douse the burning roof of the building.

However, unbeknownst to him, he was really taking in a lot of radiation posioning.

Take good, long look folks. These are the civil and military personnel who cleaned up the immediate consequences of the disaster.

They were hailed as heroes by the Soviet Union.

Viktor Bryukhanov was the Plant Director.

He arrived at 2:30 AM to an already exploding nuclear plant. He called in what was happening, and Moscow told them to feed water into the reactor.

Anatoly Dyatlov deputy chief engineer and also the supervisor of the test that lead to the explosion.

He kept on increasing the reactor's power, even ignoring objections from Akimov and Toptunov.

This man was the leader of the Chernobyl liquidators.

Impassioned speeches were given to 3,000 men who had to clear the roof of the power plant, and would inevitably risk it all doing so.

Nikolai Fomin was the Chief Engineer.

He made some bad decisions during the time of the explosion, like not believing Sitnikov that the reactor was destroyed, even after he ordered Sitnikov to go on the roof and watch it.