# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/maria-zheleva
# Generated: 2026-08-14T22:42:49.559Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/maria-zheleva"
name: "Maria Zheleva"
slug: "maria-zheleva"
description: "Maria Ivanova Marinova-Zheleva, sometimes transliterated as Mariya Zheleva or Mariya Jeleva, was a Bulgarian historian, film editor, film director, and screenwriter who served as the First Lady of Bulgaria from 1990 until 1997. Zheleva was the wife of Zhelyu Zhelev, the first non-Communist President of Bulgaria following the fall of communism in 1989. She remains the second longest serving first lady in Bulgaria's history."
tagline: "Bulgarian film director"
gender: "female"
category:
  name: "Directors"
  slug: "directors"
profileType:
  name: "Movie Director"
  slug: "director"
  entityType: "https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q33999"
birthDate: "1942-04-03"
deathDate: "2013-12-08"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           37.01
  momentum:             4.736842105263158
  historical:           3.536645333333333
  currentAttention:     0
  sourceConfidence:     25
  profileCompleteness:  45
  trendDirection:       "STABLE"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
sources:
  - url: "https://arz.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%A7_%D8%B2%D9%87%D9%8A%D9%84%D9%8A%DA%A4%D8%A7"
    title: "ماريا زهيليڤا"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9C%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B8%D1%8F_%D0%96%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%B2%D0%B0"
    title: "Мария Желева"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%9C%CE%B1%CF%81%CE%AF%CE%B1_%CE%96%CE%AD%CE%BB%CE%B5%CE%B2%CE%B1"
    title: "Μαρία Ζέλεβα"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Zheleva"
    title: "Maria Zheleva"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q12285994"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Imported from discovery source: wikidata-relations