Maria Una

Maria Una (born Orlova) is a Russian actress who has worked in Cairo, Egypt for more than a decade and appeared in numerous films and TV productions. She was born in Archangelsk, a city in northern Russia and lived there until age seventeen with her mother, Tatiana Orlova, a lawyer. She completed high school and art school in Archangelsk and then moved to St. Petersburg, Russia to continue her education and graduated from St. Petersburg State University of Culture and Art with a degree in Art History. Maria started her acting career in 2010 on the set of the film "Aswar Al-Qamar" directed by Tarek El Larian. It was a role she obtained by chance while on vacation in Egypt and after the film moved purposefully to Cairo, Egypt to pursue an acting career. It was the beginning of many notable successes and roles in significant Egyptian films and TV productions. These included in 2012, a role in "Naji Attallah's Squad", directed by Rami Imam. In 2013, a role alongside Mohamed Heneidy in "Mosalsaliko". In 2014, a role with Khaled El Sawy and Karim Abdel Aziz in "The Blue Elephant", directed by Marwan Hameed. In the same year, Maria undertook contemporary dance training at the Cairo Opera House and training for a theatrical performance by Mohamed Ramadan. In 2015, she worked on the independent film "Oil: The Three Appearances", directed by Fady Gamal Atallah. In 2016, the film won Best Short-film Jury Award at the National Egyptian Cinema Festival. Her great contribution to the film and exceptional performance were recognized and she received a certificate from the Cultural Fund of the Egyptian Ministry of Culture. In 2017, she worked on three television productions for Ramadan and played the role of Olga in the series "Wad3 Amny", directed by Magdi Ahmed Ali and had a chance to work with Amr Saad again. Other roles of note that year included an episodic role in the series "Ard Gaw" and in the series "Demons of Adly Allam" which also included notable Egyptian actors such as Adel Imam. It was the second time she worked with Imam on a film.