Maria Bakalova is a Bulgarian actress and producer. She is the recipient of various accolades, including a Critics' Choice Award, in addition to nominations for an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award.

Born and raised in Burgas, Bakalova began her career in Bulgarian cinema by starring in film productions while attending the National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts in Sofia. She mostly portrayed dramatic roles in films such as Transgression (2017), The Father (2019), Last Call (2020) and Women Do Cry (2021). Bakalova rose to prominence after starring as the character Tutar Sagdiyev in the 2020 mockumentary Borat Subsequent Moviefilm. Her performance in the film earned her a nomination for an Academy Award, a first for a Bulgarian actress. She subsequently had starring roles in the comedy The Bubble (2022), the slasher film Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022) and the coming-of-age drama Fairyland (2023), and voiced Cosmo the Spacedog in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (2022) and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023).