Diana Dobreva, the breakthrough of the artistic genes

When you meet her in person Diana Dobreva looks even more beautiful than on the screen. One is stunned by the large dark eyes, the lovely white skin and the expression of a sad madonna. In fact Diana entered the world of cinema when well past her 30s despite the fact she is the fourth generation actress.

Her parents were against her becoming an actress and this is how she ended up graduating French studies at the St. Clement of Ochrida University in Sofia, after which she studied art history at la Sorbonne in Paris, but returned to Bulgaria to marry the love of her life and give birth to their son. After a while she enrolled the Lyuben Grois theatre college in Sofia. After completing the first year she auditioned for the Sfumato theatre workshop and was accepted. She played in some of their productions and toured Europe with the company, and went as far as Japan. She also did some work for French directors. Recently Diana Dobreva staged her own production, “Medea” on the stage of Sfumato theatre in which she also performed the title role and won the two theatrical distinctions for best debut in Bulgaria. She has been invited to stage “Macbeth” at the theatre in Smolyan, Southern Bulgaria.

However she became very popular because of the part of Lucretia that she played in the film “Monkeys in Winter” of director Milena Andonova. Lucretia was a young woman, whose dreams and ambitions collapsed.

“This role was my debut in cinema. It was extremely difficult having no previous experience and all, but owing to the wonderful director we managed to bring this to a very successful end. The love that she put in her work and the calmness helped me a great deal and this is how we ended with this wonderful film, one of the most successful Bulgarian films in recent years.”

The film was adorned with a host of prestigious international distinctions at festivals across Europe, and Diana Dobreva snatched the Bulgarian Golden Rose cinema prize for best actress for her work in two films. She also snatched the award of the National Film Centre for Best Actress.

“After ‘Monkeys in Winter’ I’ve been invited to take part in a French-Italian production directed by Nora Hoppe, a US director working in Berlin. I played the female lead alongside Miki Manojlovic, famous for his Kusturica films. The title of the film is the “End of the Sea”, so I am pretty busy right now. And I have my theatre work.”
On May 24 Diana Dobreva was awarded the annual Culture Ministry distinctions for achievement in art on the occasion of the Day of Slavonic Letters and Bulgarian Education and Culture.
“Our generation had to live through some hard times. We had to sit and wait. Things have shifted and have started improving in the theatre and in cinema. Let us all hope more Bulgarian films be made each year and more of our wonderful Bulgarian actors and filmmakers have something to do.”