Maria Bakalova responds to her historic Golden Globe nomination for Borat 2

Within just a few short months, Maria Bakalova has gone from virtual unknown to streaming sensation, and now Golden Globe nominee.

The 24-year-old actress became the first Bulgarian actress to get a Golden Globe nomination, and the first Eastern European actress since Polish actress Ida Kaminska was nominated for the Czech film The Shop on Main Street in 1967.

Bakalova opened up about her historic nod in a new interview with Deadline, where she expressed her shock and delight about her whirlwind success.

The actress is nominated for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy for Borat 2 alongside, ‘actresses I have admired since childhood.’

Her category includes Michelle Pfieffer for French Exit, Kate Hudson for Music, Rosamund Pike for I Care A Lot and fellow 24-year-old Anya Taylor-Joy for Emma.

‘A person dreams and dreams and dreams but things are so unpredictable. It’s incredible what is happening, I’m speechless,’ she added.

She also adds that her nomination will be a ‘big step’ in giving other actresses from Bulgaria and Eastern Europe a chance to succeed in America.

‘What excites and motivates me the most is the prospect of many Eastern European actors and creators being noticed and finding opportunities in Western cinema where they have not been represented,’ she said.

Bakalova added that, ‘people who have an accent and may not be speaking perfect English but are working really hard on that. They could finally be given a chance to play multi-dimensional characters like Tutar.’

The actress was plucked from obscurity by writer-producer-star Sacha Baron Cohen to play Tuta Sagdiev, the daughter of his title character Borat Sagdiev.

She thanked Cohen and the other producers, stating, ‘To be able to build a character like that you need a great script and brave producers who would get behind you and believe that you can do it.’

Bakalova has a background in dramatic acting, though she has not decided what project she wants to take on next. 

She did add that the next movie she does, ‘would have a message, would be something that reflects the times we live in.’

‘Life is so fleeting — we are on this earth for 60, 70, 80, 90 years at the most — but the art we create could live on forever as a document of what happened,’ she added.

When asked if she would play Tutar again in another Borat movie, she responded, ‘Why not,’ adding Cohen’s films are, ‘rebelling against an injustice and showing how we can make the society better,’ noting, ‘it will also have a strong message.’