Ana Ularu

An acclaimed performer in her native Romania, actress Ana Ularu's intensity and magnetism propelled her to stardom in the United States via projects like "Inferno" (2016) and the series "Emerald City" (NBC 2017) Born June 26, 1985 in Bucharest, Romania to production designers Mihaela and Nicolae Ularu, she made her screen-acting debut at the age of nine in "Passion Mortelle" (1995), a French TV-movie by director Claude-Michel Rome. Eight years would pass, during which Ularu earned her bachelor's and master's degrees from the National University of Theatre and Cinematography in Bucharest, before she returned to acting on stage and in a string of well-regarded features by some of her country's leading independent filmmakers, including Calin Peter Netzer ("Maria," 2003) and Napoleon Helmis' comedy-drama "Italiancele ("Italian Girls," 2004). She made her English-language feature debut in Francis Ford Coppola's "Youth Without Youth" (2007), and soon became a fixture of both American and European features and television. Most notable among the latter was "Outbound" (2010), an intense drama about a woman released from prison for a 24-hour pass who attempts to right the emotional and personal damage in her life. Her performance earned several acting awards at international festivals, including a "Shooting Star," given to actors with promising careers, from the Berlin International Film Festival and led to roles in high-profile projects like "The Borgias" (Showtime, 2011-13) and Susanna Bier's "Serena" (2014) with Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence. In 2016, she earned two of her most substantial English-language showcases, first as an assassin in Ron Howard's "Inferno" (2016) and later, as a opium-addicted witch on "Emerald City" (NBC 2017), a dark retelling of L. Frank Baum's "Oz" books.