Maria Bakalova Bio
Maria Valcheva Bakalova is a Bulgarian actress who rose to international prominence in 2020 through her work in comedy and dramatic cinema. Born on 4 June 1996 in Burgas, Bulgaria, she trained at the National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts in Sofia before launching her screen career. Her performance in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm earned a Critics’ Choice Movie Award and made her the first Bulgarian actress nominated for an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a Golden Globe Award. She has since built a varied body of work spanning horror, comedy, drama, and voice acting, while co-founding Five Oceans to advance Bulgarian and Eastern European storytelling in Hollywood.
Early Life and Background
Maria Valcheva Bakalova was born on 4 June 1996 in Burgas, Bulgaria, to Valcho Bakalov and Rumyana Bakalova. She began taking singing lessons and playing the flute around age six and sang in a choir that toured across Europe. She enrolled in acting classes at age 12, majoring in drama theater and minoring in flute at the National School of Music and Stage Arts in Burgas, where she was a straight-A student. As a teenager, she developed a deep interest in literature, particularly the works of Gabriel García Márquez, Jorge Luis Borges, and Mikhail Bulgakov, and was drawn to film acting after watching The Hunt by Danish filmmaker Thomas Vinterberg.
Bakalova later moved to Sofia, where she majored in drama at the National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts. During her studies, she appeared in various stage productions, including Les Liaisons dangereuses, Sexual Perversity in Chicago, Kennedy’s Children, and The Trial. She also volunteered with filmmakers Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov, traveling to film sets to observe their work closely. Driven by her fascination with Danish cinema and the Dogme 95 movement, she used part of her university scholarship to take her parents on a trip to Denmark before graduating and relocating to Los Angeles in 2019.
Path to Actress
Bakalova made her on-screen debut with a supporting part in the 2017 comedy-drama film XIIa. In the same year, she landed her first headlining role in Transgression, playing Yana, a young girl who forms an unusual relationship with an aging rock musician. A classmate signed her up for a blind audition during her first year at university, and the film screened at European and North American festivals before being released through HBO Max in 2021. Her performance earned the award for Best Actress at Toronto’s Alternative Film Festival in 2018.
During her third year of studies, Bakalova auditioned for a role in The Father, directed by Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov, and filmed a brief flashback scene as the young version of one of the characters. The Father won the Crystal Globe award for Best Film at the 54th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival and was selected as the Bulgarian entry for Best International Feature Film at the 93rd Academy Awards. She also starred in the 2020 comedy-drama Last Call as Alexandra, a suicidal girl on the verge of ending her life, a performance that earned positive reviews from Bulgarian critics. These early roles established her range before her international breakthrough.
Maria Bakalova Career
Early Career (2017–2019)
Bakalova’s early career was rooted in Bulgarian cinema and theatre, where she quickly distinguished herself as a serious dramatic performer. Her debut in XIIa in 2017 was followed by Transgression, which brought her the Best Actress award at Toronto’s Alternative Film Festival in 2018. She also contributed a supporting role to The Father, a film that won the Crystal Globe at Karlovy Vary and represented Bulgaria at the Academy Awards. These projects gave her the exposure and credibility that would support her transition to international screen work.
Breakthrough (2020–2021)
Bakalova rose to global prominence in 2020 after portraying Tutar Sagdiyev, the daughter of fictional Kazakh journalist Borat Sagdiyev, in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm alongside Sacha Baron Cohen. Initially credited under the name Irina Nowak, her involvement in the film was later confirmed publicly. The secrecy surrounding the project caused her concern during the audition process, as she worried she might have become involved in something inappropriate. The film generated significant cultural discussion in the lead-up to the 2020 United States presidential election, particularly following a widely reported scene involving Rudy Giuliani. Critics praised her performance as among the year’s best, and she became the first Bulgarian actress nominated for an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a Golden Globe Award. She won the Critics’ Choice Movie Award for Best Supporting Actress for her work on the film.
Following that success, Bakalova starred as Sonja in the 2021 drama Women Do Cry, directed by Mina Mileva and Vesela Kazakova. The film premiered at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard section and received a Queer Palm nomination. In 2021, she also joined the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as a member of the Actors Branch.
Maria Bakalova Notable Works and Milestones
In 2022, Bakalova starred alongside Amandla Stenberg and Pete Davidson in the A24 horror film Bodies Bodies Bodies, which received generally favorable reviews. That same year, she appeared in Judd Apatow’s ensemble comedy The Bubble, voiced Cosmo the Spacedog in The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, and starred in the romantic comedy The Honeymoon, marking her first venture as a producer. In 2023, she reprised Cosmo in the Marvel Cinematic Universe superhero film Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, providing both voice and motion capture performances for the character; the film grossed $845.6 million worldwide, making it her highest-grossing project to date and the fourth highest-grossing film of that year. It premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival.
In 2024, Bakalova took on the role of Ivana Trump in The Apprentice, directed by Ali Abbasi; the film premiered at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, where it competed for the Palme d’Or. She also starred in Hala Matar’s directorial debut Electra, made a cameo appearance in Jerry Seinfeld’s directorial debut Unfrosted, and returned to Bulgarian cinema with the black comedy Triumph, reuniting with The Father directors Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov. Triumph, which she also produced, premiered at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival and was selected as Bulgaria’s official submission for Best International Feature at the 97th Academy Awards. Upcoming projects include the Apple TV+ action-adventure film Mayday, the action thriller Dirty Angels, and the sci-fi comedy drama O Horizon.
Maria Bakalova Award Nominations
Bakalova has received major award nominations across the most prestigious ceremonies in the entertainment industry. For her performance as Tutar Sagdiyev in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2021, making her the first Bulgarian actress to receive such a nomination. She received the same category nomination at the 2021 BAFTA Awards and the Screen Actors Guild Awards. She was also nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Comedy or Musical in 2021, again for Borat Subsequent Moviefilm. These nominations collectively marked a significant milestone for Bulgarian representation in international cinema.
Maria Bakalova Awards Won
Bakalova won the Critics’ Choice Movie Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2021 for her performance in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm. She won the award for Best Actress at Toronto’s Alternative Film Festival in 2018 for her role in Transgression. These wins reflect the breadth of her recognition across both international and independent film contexts.
| Award | Wins | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Critics’ Choice Movie Awards, Best Supporting Actress | 1 | 2020 |
Maria Bakalova Family
Maria Bakalova is the daughter of Valcho Bakalov and Rumyana Bakalova. Her father, Valcho Bakalov, is a chemist, and her mother, Rumyana Bakalova, is a nurse. She has credited her parents as important influences in her life and has spoken publicly about the value of her Bulgarian upbringing. She is also a co-founder of the production company Five Oceans, established alongside Julian Kostov, which aims to bring Bulgarian, Balkan, and Slavic stories to international audiences.
Personal Life
Bakalova has been an outspoken advocate for Bulgarian and Eastern European representation in Hollywood. She co-founded Five Oceans with Julian Kostov to promote Eastern European stories in international cinema. At the 27th Critics’ Choice Awards, she voiced her support for Ukraine and called for a new era of cultural and artistic exchange between Eastern Europe and Hollywood. She has collaborated with Louis Vuitton’s creative director Nicolas Ghesquière since 2021, was named one of Variety’s 10 Actors to Watch in 2020, appeared on Forbes magazine’s 30 Under 30 lists in 2021, and was featured in W magazine’s annual Best Performances issue that same year. She has twice topped Forbes Bulgaria’s Top 70 Bulgarian Celebrities list.
