One of the most prominent and best Croatian actors (Rade Serbedzija) claims he has made a career for himself in Hollywood and yet is always typecast as East-European/Russian mafiosos. I think that after staring in beautiful, poetic movies, and being one of the best Shakespearean actors in this area, that's a bit of a reversal. But yeah, I suppose the guy's gotta feed his family, too... And actors salaries in our country are laughable indeed. Unless you're acting in soaps. If you can call that horror "acting". :P

P.S. I'm sorry, I totally forgot about that aspect of Carnivale. I suppose it simply didn't register with me. :/