This 'The Middle' Star Cameos in the Model U.N. Episode of 'Never Have I Ever'
Apr. 30 2020, Updated 2:49 p.m. ET
Netflix’s new teen drama Never Have I Ever is equal parts quirky, hilarious, and truly touching. With only 10 30-ish-minute-long episodes, there’s a good chance that as soon as you start watching it, you’ll want to finish the entire first season in one sitting. Maybe two. As you binge-watch the show, you may notice a familiar face in the Model U.N. episode (Episode 5). Who plays the representative from Russia in Never Have I Ever? We’re glad you asked!
Who’s the ‘Never Have I Ever’ Russia Model U.N. actor?
The actor who plays the Russian representative in Never Have I Ever is none other than Atticus Shaffer! If you recognized him in the scene but just couldn’t place him, we’ll help you out. Atticus played Brick Heck on the ABC sitcom The Middle. In Episode 5 of Never Have I Ever, he plays the representative from Russia in Model U.N.
Russia plays a big role in the Model U.N. episode, as Devi uses the fact that the representative wants to cozy up to her as a way to get nuclear weapons for her country, Equatorial Guinea, and thus start a very unexpected and very uncalled-for nuclear war. Devi promises to give the Russian representative her real email address in exchange for the (fake) nuclear weapons, and suddenly, everyone starts chanting “World War 3!” It’s bananas.
Atticus Shaffer has been acting since 2007.
Atticus was born in 1998 and was discovered by his manager in 2006. Shortly thereafter, he landed a guest-starring role in the show The Class. That role eventually lead to him playing Brick in The Middle, though he has also appeared in My Name Is Earl, Days of Our Lives, Carpoolers, and Out of Jimmy’s Head.
Atticus has played plenty of different characters, but he has said that Brick is the character he most resembles in real life. In a 2013 interview with Wired, Atticus said, “I’m a huge nerd in real life. [...] For this character, I've more or less just changed my clothes, but it's me. I am a big reader in real life and I nerd out over the weirdest stuff. That's just how I am. I would just rather march to the beat of my own drummer and not have to worry about what's popular. If it's cool to me, I'm good.”
That makes Atticus’ Model U.N. role in Never Have I Ever all the more perfect if you ask us. It’s easy to imagine someone like Brick growing up and joining Model U.N. in high school. However, we doubt he’d act exactly like the representative from Russia did in the show — Brick may have been an agent of chaos from time to time, but he’d hardly start a world war in the interest of getting a girl to like him, right?
Atticus is just as nerdy in his personal life as ever these days.
Now that The Middle is no longer on the air, Atticus has plenty of time to explore his many nerdy interests. He recently uploaded a fan film for the video game The Last of Us Part II to YouTube. Oh, Atticus. Never change! We’re definitely hoping Never Have I Ever gets a second season. If we’re extra lucky, maybe we’ll get another Model U.N.-centric episode, too!
