Maria Bakalova Wanted To Portray Ivana Trump As “Not Just A Trophy Wife” In ‘The Apprentice’

deadline.com:

For her first nonfiction role, Maria Bakalova had quite the undertaking. The Apprentice actress recently opened up about portraying the late Ivana Trump in the Ali Abbasi-helmed film about former president Donald Trump‘s early ’80s rise, which is now playing in theaters. “I was nervous.

I was actually very nervous, mostly because I’ve never played a real person before,” Bakalova told Collider. “I knew that Sebastian [Stan] and Jeremy [Strong] have both played real people before, and they did a great job.

I just wanted to be on their level. I wanted to not disappoint them. I was trying my best to listen to as many recordings of her, watch as many videos of her, and know as much about her story as possible so I could deliver what they deserve.” Donald’s first wife from 1977 to 1990, Ivana was the mother of his children Donald Jr., Ivanka and Eric, and she served as president and CEO of Trump’s Castle casino resort.

Ivana died at age 73 when she fell down the stairs in her Manhattan home in 2022. “I honestly didn’t know a lot about her,” admitted Bakalova. “I knew that she’d been a model.