Maria Bakalova
Biography
Maria Bakalova is a Bulgarian actress who started in her country's cinema while studying at the National Academy for Theater and Film Arts. Born and raised in Burgas, she first took dramatic parts in films including Transgression (2017), The Father (2019), Last Call (2020), and Women Do Cry (2021). Her Hollywood breakthrough came with Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (2020), where she played Tutar Sagdiyev. For that role she won a Critics' Choice Movie Award in the best supporting actress category and earned nominations for an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a Golden Globe. She became the first Bulgarian actress nominated for those honors. She went on to appear in Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022), The Apprentice (2024) as Ivana Trump, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023), voicing Cosmo the Spacedog. She also voiced the character in The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (2022) and appeared in The Bad Guys 2 (2025).
30years old
Turns 31 on June 4in 234 days
- Born Burgas
- Star sign: GeminiThe sign runs May 21 to June 20
- Maria Valcheva Bakalova (birth name)Also credited as Irina Nowak and Mariya Bakalova
Movie Career
- Films
- 12
- Career span
- 10 years2016 to 2026
First and latest
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First role
While in her third year of studies, Bakalova volunteered with filmmakers Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov, handling scheduling and other tasks. One director asked her to try out for a small role in their film The Father, and she got it.
Behind the camera
Bakalova is a co-founder of Five Oceans, a production company. Alongside Julian Kostov, she started it to share Bulgarian, Balkan, and Slavic stories with audiences worldwide.
Maria Bakalova movies on Netflix
Best known for
The films on Netflix they are best known for, with the part played in each.
- Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan2020 Comedyas Tutar Sagdiyev
IMDb rating 6.6167K votes
Most often with
James Gunn directed two of these films. Karen Gillan appears in three of them, more than any other actor. Pick a number on the chart or a name in the list to see the films they share.
Films together
Karen Gillan's page
Bradley Cooper's page
Dave Bautista's page
Chris Pratt's page
Vin Diesel's page
Pom Klementieff's page
All films by James Gunn
Also two films together2 more actors
Online
Official profiles and reference pages.