Anamaria Marinca

Anamaria Marinca, whose mother is a violinist and father a drama teacher, was at home with the arts from an early age. She studied violin as a child, but gave up music to pursue a career in acting, studying at the Georges Enesco University of the Arts in Jassy.

At the age of twenty-five she made an outstanding impression at an audition, which led to her being cast as Elena Vișinescu in the Sex Traffic miniseries on CBC, a rôle that marked the beginning of her successful international career. Her performance in miniseries was highly acclaimed and in 2005 she won the award for Best Actress at the British Academy Television Awards and the Royal Television Society Awards, as well as the Golden Nymph Award at the 45th Television Festival, held in Monte Carlo.

In 2007, she appeared in Francis Ford Coppola’s feature film Youth Without Youth, based on a novella by Romanian writer Mircea Eliade. The same year, she was cast in Cristian Mungiu’s 4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days, which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes. For her performance as Otilia in Mungiu’s film she won the Best Actress award at the 2007 Stockholm International Film Festival. In 2008, she appeared in Radu Muntean’s feature film Boogie, and the following year she was cast alongside William Hurt and Julie Delpy in The Countess, a film inspired by the life of Elizabeth Bathory.

Marinca has appeared on stage in both Romanian and international productions, including Measure for Measure at the National Theatre in London.