Age: 30
female
Maria Valcheva Bakalova (/bəˈkɑːləvə/ bə-KAH-lə-və; born 4 June 1996) is a Bulgarian actress. She has received various accolades, including a Critics' Choice Movie Award and nominations for an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award and a Golden Globe Award. Born and raised in Burgas, Bakalova began her career in Bulgarian cinema while attending the National Academy for Theatre 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. Bakalova has since starred in films of various genres, including Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022) and The Apprentice (2024). She has also had voice roles, including in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023) as Cosmo the Spacedog and in the DC Universe series Creature Commandos (2024). Description above from the Wikipedia article Maria Bakalova, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
In this rom-com about rom-coms, in the spirit of Kasie West and Jenn Bennett, a hopeless romantic teen attempts to secure a happily-ever-after moment with her forever crush, but finds herself reluctantly drawn to the boy next door. Perpetual daydreamer Liz Buxbaum gave her heart to Michael a long time ago. But her cool, aloof forever crush never really saw her before he moved away. Now that he’s back in town, Liz will do whatever it takes to get on his radar - and maybe snag him as a prom date - even befriend Wes Bennet. The annoyingly attractive next-door neighbor might seem like a prime candidate for romantic-comedy fantasies, but Wes has only been a pain in Liz’s butt since they were kids. Pranks involving frogs and decapitated lawn gnomes do not a potential boyfriend make. Yet, somehow, Wes and Michael are hitting it off, which means Wes is Liz’s in. But as Liz and Wes scheme to get Liz noticed by Michael so she can have her magical prom moment, she’s shocked to discover that she likes being around Wes. And as they continue to grow closer, she must reexamine everything she thought she knew about love - and rethink her own ideas of what happily ever after should look like.
