“Rethink What’s Possible”: Julian Kostov and Maria Bakalova Take the Stage at myPOS in Varna
Varna, 3 October 2026
Actor and filmmaker Julian Kostov came home to Varna on 3 October to deliver the keynote at the myPOS conference. He spoke to more than 700 myPOS employees from 10 European countries, along with the company’s clients. He was then joined on stage by his long-time collaborator, Oscar-nominated actress Maria Bakalova, for an honest conversation about ambition, setbacks, and building a career from the ground up.
The conference theme was Rethink What’s Possible. Few people embody it better than two Bulgarian actors who made it in Hollywood when the industry told them people like them didn’t.
A story that started in Varna
“Welcome to Varna, my hometown!” Kostov opened, introducing himself as “Yuli from Varna.” He took the audience back to his youth there. He was a national champion swimmer with over 50 medals and 10 national team appearances, and a student at the city’s Spanish High School. At 19, he had no idea what to do with his life.
He told the room about studying business in the Netherlands, quitting swimming, and falling into a depression. The unlikely spark came from recording himself performing the Joker’s monologue from The Dark Knight on his phone. His inner voice told him no Bulgarian had ever made it in Hollywood. His answer gave the conference its theme: “Well, maybe we should rethink what’s possible. If nobody’s done it, I guess I’ll just have to be the first.”
He moved to London with no roadmap and was rejected again and again. On the day he received his business diploma, he burned it and shouted “Burn the boats! No Plan B!”
Building his own door, then holding it open
Kostov described founding JupiterLights Media in 2015 to create the opportunities that didn’t exist for Eastern European actors. The company has since grown into a mentoring, management, casting and production company with one mission: to break Eastern European stereotypes. His breakthrough came when an acting coach pushed him to drop his American accent and embrace “this kid from Varna.” That same week he booked a lead role in the British WWII feature Another Mother’s Son.
He then told the story of discovering Maria Bakalova. He watched 80 Bulgarian self-tapes overnight for a major studio comedy, and one stood out: a recent drama school graduate. Before flying to London, Bakalova told him that things like this “don’t happen to people like us.” She went on to star in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, earning an Academy Award nomination and a Critics’ Choice Award. Today the two are producing partners at Five Oceans, the company behind Triumph, Bulgaria’s official Oscar submission.
Where you’re from can be the centre of the world
Kostov drew a direct parallel with the company in the room. myPOS was founded in Varna in 2014 and grew from there into a fintech serving businesses across Europe. Kostov from Varna, Bakalova from Burgas, and Eurovision 2026 winner Dara, also from Varna, all prove the same point. Success doesn’t depend on where you come from, as long as you realise that your hometown can be the centre of the world, because it’s the centre of your world. From there, you can conquer the rest.
Technology, he argued, means talent no longer has to live in the world’s megacities. That’s as true for developers and musicians as it is for actors. What matters is the talent or the idea, and the ability to execute it. His message to the audience was not to listen to the voice that says it’s never been done before. Instead, create your own blueprint.
“I opened a door for her, she opened a door for me,” Kostov concluded, telling the story of how James Gunn centered Creature Comandos, the first show to reboot of the DC Universe around Maria and therefore made everyone (from the fictional country Pokolistan) speak Bulgarian language in the show. “Courage gets you to the starting line, but lifting others up is how you change the world.” He then welcomed Maria Bakalova to the stage.
“Things like this can happen to people like us”
Maria Bakalova then took the stage and gave her side of the story: how she and Julian met, and how the whole Borat adventure began.
The dream started early. As a young student, Bakalova wanted only to be an actress. She wrote a line from Marilyn Monroe on her school desk, “I’m going to be a great movie star someday,” and drew the Hollywood sign beside it. She still has a photo of that desk today. It’s a vivid example of manifesting the impossible. Bakalova had the direction, the ambition and the discipline, and she gave everything to it. She trained for years at the National School of Arts in her hometown of Burgas, and then at NATFA, Bulgaria’s National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts in Sofia.
The two then sat down with the host and answered questions about perseverance, the setbacks they’ve faced and how they handle them, and what their dreams look like today.
