24-year old Maria Bakalova is the first Bulgarian actor with an Oscar nomination – for her role as Tutar Sagdiyev, daughter of a fictional Kazakh reporter in the comedy “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm”. Hours after her nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role was announced, she took questions from Bulgarian journalists online, among them the Bulgarian National Radio’s Silvia Velikova.

This was made possible thanks to Julian Kostov, a Bulgarian actor, director and producer and former professional swimmer who has been living between London and Los Angeles for years. Asked to help organize the casting for the high-budget comedy he found 70 suitable actresses. One of them was Maria Bakalova, and as he says, she stood out from the very start. She then went to a casting in London while she was shooting “Last Call”, a film screened a few days ago at the 25^th edition of Sofia Film Fest.

Bakalova found out about her nomination while she was on the set of Judd Apatow’s new film “The bubble”. She says she never expected anything like this and even thinking about it seemed presumptuous to her:

“Even the fact of being mentioned alongside the names of Olivia Colman, Glenn Close, Amanda Seyfried or Youn Yuh-jung was enough,” Maria Bakalova says.

The actress was born in Burgas, and she studied performing arts and played the flute at school. She graduated from the National Academy of Theatre and Film Arts in 2019. Before the film that shot her to stardom she starred in memorable roles in seven Bulgarian productions.

Here is what the star of Borat 2 Sacha Baron Cohen wrote on Twitter: “Congratulations Bulgaria!! You gave us the incredibly talented and brave @MariaBakalova96, who is the beating heart of BORAT SUBSEQUENT MOVIEFILM. We are so excited about your history-making Oscar nomination!”

As to the message of the film which polarizes audiences and critics, the Oscar nominated Bulgarian actress says:

“Though it raises some very American problems it is actually a film that is a protest against inequality. We really ought to treat one another better, whatever the religion, gender, or the country one may come from. Actually, we ought to be proud of these things. I think people have grown up sufficiently in recent years to be capable of laughter. Because self-irony is the highest degree of intellect. I very much hope that people really have come to understand that behind the satire and the mask of these silly jokes, this ridiculous humour, there is a very important message about the function of women in the 21^st century – should patriarchal culture exist, should we change to fit in the norm? Why? Can a woman be a mother and have a career at the same time? Of course she can.”

Maria says that what is happening to her now is a chance for other Bulgarian actors to get a break in other countries. Her plans include working with Julian Kostov on a project about the Russo-Turkish war which brought about the liberation of Bulgaria: “Topics which we think would be interesting to foreigners, to the world, and which haven’t been done – so, why not do them?”

“I would be happy if people were tolerant of one another, if they treated one another with respect, despite their differences, thanks to their differences,” Maria Bakalova says. 

Asked how big her ambitions are after this nomination Maria Bakalova says:

“I don’t want to sound self-important. I believe in the process without thinking about the result. I will go on being disciplined and will work as hard as I can. I will keep my feet on the ground because we have to know how to walk before we learn how to fly. We’ll see how it goes.”

The Academy Award ceremony is to take place in the small hours of 26 April, Bulgarian time.

Editing by Elena Karkalanova