The Most Famous

ACTORS from Bulgaria

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This page contains a list of the greatest Bulgarian Actors. The pantheon dataset contains 13,578 Actors, 7 of which were born in Bulgaria. This makes Bulgaria the birth place of the 67th most number of Actors behind Uzbekistan, and Ghana.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 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. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Bulgarian Actors.

Photo of George Baker

1. George Baker (1931 - 2011)

With an HPI of 60.64, George Baker is the most famous Bulgarian Actor.  His biography has been translated into 19 different languages on wikipedia.

George Morris Baker (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.

Photo of Nina Dobrev

2. Nina Dobrev (b. 1989)

With an HPI of 58.18, Nina Dobrev is the 2nd most famous Bulgarian Actor.  Her biography has been translated into 72 different languages.

Nikolina Kamenova Dobreva (Bulgarian: Николина Каменова Добрева; born January 9, 1989), known professionally as Nina Dobrev ( DOH-brev), is a Canadian actress. She is known for portraying Elena Gilbert and Katherine Pierce in 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).

Photo of Nadya Nozharova

3. Nadya Nozharova (1916 - 2014)

With an HPI of 57.83, Nadya Nozharova is the 3rd most famous Bulgarian Actor.  Her biography has been translated into 24 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.

Photo of Stoyanka Mutafova

4. Stoyanka Mutafova (1922 - 2019)

With an HPI of 55.20, Stoyanka Mutafova is the 4th most famous Bulgarian Actor.  Her biography has been translated into 25 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.

Photo of Katya Paskaleva

5. Katya Paskaleva (1945 - 2002)

With an HPI of 53.80, Katya Paskaleva is the 5th most famous Bulgarian Actor.  Her biography has been translated into 20 different languages.

Katya Paskaleva (Bulgarian: Катя Паскалева; 18 September 1945 – 23 July 2002) was a Bulgarian film and stage actress. 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".

Photo of Stanislav Ianevski

6. Stanislav Ianevski (b. 1985)

With an HPI of 50.19, Stanislav Ianevski is the 6th most famous Bulgarian Actor.  His biography has been translated into 22 different languages.

Stanislav Rumenov Yanevski (Bulgarian: Станислав Руменов Яневски, pronounced [stɐniˈsɫaf ˈjanɛfski]; born 16 May 1985) is a Bulgarian actor. He is best known for playing Viktor Krum in the 2005 fantasy film Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

Photo of Slavi Trifonov

7. Slavi Trifonov (b. 1966)

With an HPI of 47.23, Slavi Trifonov is the 7th most famous Bulgarian Actor.  His biography has been translated into 14 different languages.

Stanislav Todorov Trifonov (Bulgarian: Станислав Тодоров Трифонов; born 18 October 1966), known as Slavi Trifonov (Bulgarian: Слави Трифонов), is a Bulgarian TV host, tambourine and viola player, singer and politician. Trifonov is mainly active in the traditional Bulgarian folklore music genres, but he has experimented with other genres such as hip-hop in collaboration with the Australian-based producer Yasen Subev, and pop-rock and punk as a part of Ku-Ku Band (Bulgarian: Ку-Ку Бенд). His name is associated mainly with the Slavi's Show, Exiles, Canaletto and KU-KU.

Photo of Maria Bakalova

8. Maria Bakalova (b. 1996)

With an HPI of 46.83, Maria Bakalova is the 8th most famous Bulgarian Actor.  Her biography has been translated into 43 different languages.

Maria Valcheva Bakalova ( bə-KAH-lə-və; born 4 June 1996) is a Bulgarian actress. She is the recipient of various accolades, including a Critics' Choice Movie Award, in addition to nominations for an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a Golden Globe. Born and raised in Burgas, Bakalova began her career in Bulgarian cinema while attending the National Academy for Theater and Film Arts. She mostly portrayed dramatic roles in films such as Transgression (2017), The Father (2019), Last Call (2020), and Women Do Cry (2021). She rose to prominence after starring in the 2020 mockumentary-film Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, which earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Maria Bakalova has since had starring roles in films of various genres, including Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022) and The Apprentice (2024), portraying Ivana Trump in the latter. She also had voice-roles, including in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023) as Cosmo the Spacedog, the DC Universe series Creature Commandos (2024) and The Bad Guys 2 (2025).

Photo of Yana Marinova

9. Yana Marinova (b. 1978)

With an HPI of 40.50, Yana Marinova is the 9th most famous Bulgarian Actor.  Her biography has been translated into 14 different languages.

Yana Marinova (Bulgarian: Яна Маринова, born 17 August 1978) is a Bulgarian actress.

Photo of Irmena Chichikova

10. Irmena Chichikova (b. 1984)

With an HPI of 36.85, Irmena Chichikova is the 10th most famous Bulgarian Actor.  Her biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Irmena Chichikova (born Ирмена Чичикова; 22 May 1984) is a Bulgarian actress in theater, television and film.

People

Pantheon has 10 people classified as Bulgarian actors born between 1916 and 1996. Of these 10, 6 (60.00%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Bulgarian actors include Nina Dobrev, Stanislav Ianevski, and Slavi Trifonov. The most famous deceased Bulgarian actors include George Baker, Nadya Nozharova, and Stoyanka Mutafova. As of April 2024, 3 new Bulgarian actors have been added to Pantheon including Slavi Trifonov, Yana Marinova, and Irmena Chichikova.

Living Bulgarian Actors

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Deceased Bulgarian Actors

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Newly Added Bulgarian Actors (2025)

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Overlapping Lives

Which Actors were alive at the same time? This visualization shows the lifespans of the 3 most globally memorable Actors since 1700.