Bulgarian actress Maria Bakalova gained recognition following her role in the 2020 mockumentary movie Borat Subsequent Moviefilm. She received multiple awards, including a Critics’ Choice Award, and was also nominated for an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award for her performance in the film.
Early Life & Education
Maria Valcheva Bakalova was born on June 4, 1996 in Burgas. At the young age of six, she started learning how to sing and play the flute.
When she turned 12, Bakalova joined acting classes at the National School of Music and Stage Arts in Burgas, with a focus on drama and a side interest in flute. Throughout her time there, she excelled academically, maintaining a perfect record of straight A’s.
During her teenage years, Bakalova became fascinated with literature, particularly the works of Gabriel García Márquez, Jorge Luis Borges, and Mikhail Bulgakov, to escape reality. After watching The Hunt, she was motivated to pursue a career in film acting.
She credits Thomas Vinterberg as her main source of inspiration, and Susanne Bier, Pedro Almodóvar, Paolo Sorrentino, and Andrea Arnold as other significant influences.
Later, Bakalova relocated to Sofia and pursued a degree in drama at the National Academy for Theater and Film Arts. As a student, she participated in several theatrical productions such as Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Sexual Perversity in Chicago, Kennedy’s Children, and The Trial.
Maria Bakalova’s Career
In 2017, Maria Bakalova had her first appearance on-screen in the comedy-drama XIIa, where she played a supporting role. Later that year, she took on her first leading role in Transgression as Yana, a young girl with a unique bond with an aging rock star.
She landed the part thanks to a fellow student who registered her for an audition without her knowing, during her initial year at college. The movie was showcased at multiple film festivals across Europe and North America, before its release on HBO Max in 2021.
In 2018, Maria Bakalova was recognized as the Best Actress at Toronto’s Alternative Film Festival for her exceptional portrayal.
During her third year at the academy, she offered her assistance to Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov, the sole instructors of the film acting class, with organizing and other responsibilities. She also accompanied them on a film set to observe their techniques and gain insight from their work.
After being invited by a director, she auditioned for a role in The Father (2019) and successfully secured the part. She then filmed a short scene showing the character’s younger self.
The film went on to win the Crystal Globe award for Best Film at the 54th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival and was chosen as Bulgaria’s submission for the Best International Feature Film category at the 93rd Academy Awards.
Maria Bakalova played the role of Tutar Sagdiyev, the daughter of the made-up Kazakh journalist Borat Sagdiyev, in the satirical movie Borat’s Subsequent Moviefilm with Sacha Baron Cohen in 2020.
Despite being listed as Irina Nowak at first, it was later discovered that she was part of the project. Bakalova’s portrayal earned her multiple accolades, such as the Critics’ Choice Movie Award for Best Supporting Actress.
She was also a contender for Best Supporting Actress at prestigious ceremonies such as the Academy Awards, BAFTA Awards, and Screen Actors Guild Awards, as well as for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Comedy or Musical at the Golden Globe Awards. Maria Bakalova’s nominations made her the first Bulgarian actress to be recognized by these organizations.
In 2021, Maria Bakalova took on the role of Sonja in Women Do Cry, a film directed by Mina Mileva and Vesela Kazakova. Sonja is a 19-year-old girl who learns she has HIV and struggles to accept the necessity of treatment.
In 2022, she appeared in A24’s horror flick Bodies Bodies Bodies alongside Amandla Stenberg and Pete Davidson. The movie was generally well-received, although some critics believed that her comedic abilities were underutilized in her serious role.
Following that, she joined an ensemble cast including Karen Gillan, David Duchovny, Leslie Mann, and Pedro Pascal in Judd Apatow’s The Bubble (2022).
In 2023, Maria Bakalova made her next acting appearance in Fairyland, the directorial debut of Andrew Durham. The movie was first shown at the Sundance Film Festival that same year.
She also returned to play Cosmo the Spacedog in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023), a superhero film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In addition, she did the motion capture performance for the character.
In 2024, Maria Bakalova’s year kicked off with her role in Electra, co-starring with Daryl Wein, Jack Farthing, and Abigail Cowen. She also had a brief appearance in Jerry Seinfeld’s first directing project, Unfrosted (2024), before taking on the role of Ivana Trump in The Apprentice (2024). The movie debuted at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival in 2024, where it was in the running for the Palme d’Or award.
Net Worth
Bulgarian actress Maria Bakalova’s net worth is $1 million. She gained recognition for her role in the Borat sequel movie and made her acting debut as Maria in the TV series Tipichno in 2015.
Bakalova’s most notable performance is as Tutar Sagdiyev in the 2020 film Borat: Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.
