ACTORS from Bulgaria

Top 7

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Bulgarian Actors of all time. This list of famous Bulgarian Actors is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.

1. Nina Dobrev (b. 1989)

With an HPI of 53.00, Nina Dobrev is the most famous Bulgarian Actor.  Her biography has been translated into 70 different languages on wikipedia.

Nina Kamenova Dobreva (Bulgarian: Нина Каменова Добрева, pronounced [ˈninɐ ˈdɔbrɛvɐ]; born January 9, 1989), credited professionally as Nina Dobrev ( DOH-brev), is a Canadian actress. She is best known for portraying Elena Gilbert and Katherine Pierce on The CW's supernatural drama series The Vampire Diaries (2009–2015). Born in Sofia and raised in Toronto, Dobrev made her screen debut playing minor roles in various films, before landing her breakout role as Mia Jones in the drama series Degrassi: The Next Generation (2006–2009). She later rose to prominence with her role in The Vampire Diaries, and appeared in several feature films, including the 2012 coming-of-age drama The Perks of Being a Wallflower, the comedies Let's Be Cops and The Final Girls (2014), and the 2017 science-fiction drama Flatliners. Her biggest commercial success came with XXX: Return of Xander Cage (2017). She also starred in the romantic comedies Dog Days (2018), Then Came You (2018), and Love Hard (2021), and had a leading role in the sitcom Fam (2019).

2. Nadya Nozharova (1916 - 2014)

With an HPI of 47.81, Nadya Nozharova is the 2nd most famous Bulgarian Actor.  Her biography has been translated into 23 different languages.

Nadya Mateeva Nozharova (1916-2014), also known as Countess Nadya de Navarro Farber was a Bulgarian operetta singer and actress, American entrepreneur, philanthropist and Spanish countess.

3. Stoyanka Mutafova (1922 - 2019)

With an HPI of 46.63, Stoyanka Mutafova is the 3rd most famous Bulgarian Actor.  Her biography has been translated into 21 different languages.

Stoyanka Mutafova (Bulgarian: Стоянка Мутафова; 2 February 1922 – 6 December 2019) was a Bulgarian actress. During her career, she starred in over 53 theatrical plays and 25 films Nicknamed Ms. Natural Disaster for a play she performed in and The Queen of Bulgarian comedy, she was an official applicant for a Guinness Book of World Record as the actress with the longest active professional career. At the age of 94 in 2016, she toured the theater halls in major cities of the United States, Canada, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Great Britain and Germany.

4. Katya Paskaleva (1945 - 2002)

With an HPI of 44.95, Katya Paskaleva is the 4th most famous Bulgarian Actor.  Her biography has been translated into 20 different languages.

Katya Paskaleva (Bulgarian: Катя Паскалева) was a Bulgarian film and stage actress, born in 1945, deceased in 2002. She is best known for her performance as Maria in the Bulgarian film classic The Goat Horn (1972), for which she received broad critical acclaim. Paskaleva is also known for her roles in the films The End of the Song (1971), Villa Zone (1975), Matriarchy (1977), Elegy (1982), Eve on the Third Floor (1987) as well as her numerous notable appearances on the stages of the Sofia Municipal Theatre and the Satirical Theatre "Aleko Konstantinov".

5. George Baker (1931 - 2011)

With an HPI of 42.75, George Baker is the 5th most famous Bulgarian Actor.  His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

George Morris Baker, MBE (1 April 1931 – 7 October 2011) was an English actor and writer. He was best known for portraying Tiberius in I, Claudius, and Inspector Wexford in The Ruth Rendell Mysteries.

6. Stanislav Ianevski (b. 1985)

With an HPI of 41.95, Stanislav Ianevski is the 6th most famous Bulgarian Actor.  His biography has been translated into 22 different languages.

Stanislav Yanevski (pronounced [stɐniˈsɫaf ˈjanɛfski]; born Stanislav Rumenov Yanevski, Bulgarian: Станислав Руменов Яневски; on 16 May 1985) is a Bulgarian actor best known for playing Viktor Krum in the 2005 fantasy film Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Yanevski was born in Sofia. He lived in England for five years as well as in Israel. While attending Mill Hill School in the United Kingdom with fellow Harry Potter actor Harry Melling, Ianevski had no particular acting aspirations and was not a drama student. He had only auditioned for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire after being spotted by Fiona Weir, a casting director who prompted him to attend an acting workshop, which resulted in his casting as Viktor Krum, a Bulgarian character in the Harry Potter series. He was selected from 650 others, most of whom had auditioned in Sofia. He also starred in Hostel: Part II, the sequel to Eli Roth's film Hostel.

7. Maria Bakalova (b. 1996)

With an HPI of 36.74, Maria Bakalova is the 7th most famous Bulgarian Actor.  Her biography has been translated into 43 different languages.

Maria Valcheva Bakalova ( bə-KAH-lo-və; born 4 June 1996) is a Bulgarian actress. 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).