Dessy Tenekedjieva

Desislava Ivanova Tenekedjieva was born in Varna to a Bulgarian father, Ivan Tenekedjiev, and a Ukrainian-Jewish mother, Tatyana Moisei Holost. She graduated from the French Language School in Varna, Bulgaria, and studied in the Krastyo Sarafov National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts, where she graduated in 1995. In her early years she was a gymnast and played tennis. She competed in numerous tennis tournaments and ski competitions, in which she won awards.^{[citation needed]} She also won first place prize in regional and national mathematical olympiads.^{[citation needed]}

Dessy was 14 years old when she made her cinema debut in the movie Forbidden for Adults, directed by Plamen Maslarov.^[2] Since then, she has been in more than 30 movies, acting in international productions, and representing Bulgaria at international cinema forums and festivals.

Some of her more famous films are: Eyes of Crystal, directed by Eros Puglielli – Official Selection at the International Venice Film Festival; Chechenia directed by Leonardo Julliano; Ventitre directed by Duccio Forzano; The Conscience Case directed by Luigi Perelly; The Most Important Things directed by Ivan Andonov; Watchman directed by Ivailo Jamabazov; Killer Rats, directed by Tibor Takach; Il Mеstiere Delle Armi, directed by Ermanno Olmi; Operation Delta Force 4: Deep Fault directed by Mark Roper; La Rivolta del Cittadino directed by Luigi Perelly; The Homecoming by Harold Pinter, directed by Stoyan Kambarev; Rosita, please directed by Ventura Ponce; Camp directed by Georgi Dulgerov.

Playing Maria Medici in the film Il Mеstiere Delle Armi, directed by Ermanno Olmi, Dessy was the first Bulgarian actress to represent her country at the Cannes Film Festival,^[3] with a main role in a movie from the official section of the fest. Il Mеstiere Delle Armi received nine David di Donatello awards, the Italian equivalent to the Oscars, including Best Italian Film of the Year.^[4]

Dessy Tenekedjieva has acted in theatre productions, including Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov, directed by Stoyan Kambarev, and The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov, directed by Teddy Moskov, presented at world theater festivals such as Avignon, Edinburgh, Moscow, Jerusalem, Zurich and others. She produced and performed the main part in "LUBOVNIKA.COM" (The Lesson) by Eugène Ionesco (directed by Boiko Bogdanov) in the Little City Theater Off the Channel in Sofia.^{[citation needed]}

Tenekedjieva has a career in music as well. Together with Nikolai Ivanov, she is an author and performer in a musical ethno project, based on Bulgarian folklore. The music videos "Dark" feat John Kaleka, "When It All Ended" feat Miro (KariZma) and her latest song "I Wonder" featuring Magga climbed to the top of the television and radio charts.^{[citation needed]} Dessy Tenekedjieva is a director of music videos, in collaboration with the cameraman Georgi Markov. For the "When It All Ended" music video she collaborated with director Ivailo Palmov.

Since 2000, Tenekedjieva and her production company NOVA Film have completed and presented musical, theater, cinema, and television projects. The official acceptance of Bulgaria in the European Union was celebrated with a concert of Dessy Tenekedjieva and the group INSIDE in the official City Hall in Berlin, Germany.^{[citation needed]} The actress' career drew the attention of the producers of Deutsche Welle’s Euromaxx, and they arrived for the first time in Bulgaria to do a piece about her.^{[citation needed]}

In 2009, she was working with Trinity Studio, music producer Magga and sound director Dimitar Ganchev-Mite on her latest album, Chillout project. From 2000 until 2005 Dessy was the face of the fashion house of Jean Paul Gaultier for Bulgaria, and from 2007 to 2008 she had an advertising contract with the Japanese giant Suzuki.^[5]

Dessy Tenekedjieva is the president of the Stoyan Kambarev Foundation, members of which include twenty Bulgarian personalities from the country's art world. The foundation was created in memory of theater director and Tenekedjieva's husband, Stoyan Kambarev. The main purpose of the foundation is awarding young artists with unorthodox and original ideas.

• Official website of Dessy Tenekedjieva