We expect to see wild antics from Sascha Baron Cohen these days, especially after his jaw-dropping performance in the original Borat film. However, the second-coming of Borat had a secret weapon that nobody expected. The secret weapon you ask? Borat’s daughter, played by Maria Bakalova.
The question is, who is the actress that stayed in character throughout some pretty insane situations and helped catch Giuliani in a strange and potentially illegal circumstance?
Maria Bakalova is one of those overnight sensations that you rarely hear about. After receiving praise for her breakout performance in Borat 2, Bakalova is taking the next step in her acting career with a signing from CAA with all-around representation.
CAA is set to begin procuring roles for the 24-year-old Bulgarian actress, setting he up with creators, casting directors, and filmmakers throughout Hollywood, hoping that the public will get to see her beyond her incredibly hilarious role as Tutar, Borat’s daughter.
Amazon Prime Video released Borat 2 just a few days leading up to the United States’ electron. While most of the headlines focused on Rudy Giuliani’s potentially perverse appearance, many said that Bakalova made the greatest impression.
She goes beyond with Sascha Baron Cohen in his proactive world to create one of the most jaw-dropping, cringe-worthy characters we have seen all year. Of course, Bakalova didn’t just pop out of thin air.
She studied acting at the National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts in Sofia, Bulgaria’s capital, and the National School of Arts in Burgas. So yes, she is both a classically-trained actress and a talented flutist. Bakalova hit the nail on the head performing improv alongside Cohen, making what may have been one of the most unforgettable comedic performances of the 2010s next to Melissa McCarthy’s Bridesmaids role.
While we’re on the subject of Melissa McCarthy, it should be noted that she earned an Oscar nomination for her Bridesmaids role. Many movie fans and Oscar lovers predict Bakalova will pick up an Oscar nomination as well, especially considering the fact that there haven’t been many studio movies this year.
in a recent interview with Stephen Colbert on the Late Show, Cohen discussed the long process that went on before casting Bakalova as his daughter, even though she eventually landed the role.
“It’s a tough order because you have to be an incredible improviser; you have to be able to stay in character for many, many hours; you have to be able to play emotionally in the reality of the scenes; and you have to be hilarious. So we interviewed 500 different actors, and we eventually found this woman who had just come out of drama school. She was 22 at the time,” he told Colbert.
“It’s a really rigorous process, but she was … I mean, if she doesn’t win an Oscar, then I don’t know what the Academy’s for.”
The news of Bakalova signing came from Deadline, which reported that she would be represented by Julian Kostov at JupiterLights and Tom Jeggo at Insight Management.
