Maria Kalinina

Maria "Masha" Fedorovna Kalinina (, born 1971) is a Russian-American model, actress, and yoga instructor.

At the age of 16, Kalinina became famous for winning "Moscow Beauty ", often called "Miss Moscow", the first beauty contest held in the capital of the Soviet Union. After winning, she toured Europe, modeling, appearing on television, recording a French language record, and playing in an Italian film. In 1990, Kalinina moved to the United States, where she became an actress in minor roles, and married a fellow emigrant. Her role as the villainess in the 2006 horror film Stay Alive affected her enough that she gave up dark roles and became a vegetarian and a yoga instructor; she taught yoga classes in the US, Russia, and internationally.

Early life Maria "Masha" Fedorovna Kalinina was born in Moscow, in September 1971. On her father's side she is a descendant of politician and diplomat Prince Boris Alekseevich Kurakin via Prince ,

Moscow Beauty '88

The Perestroika liberalization movement within the Soviet Union of the late 1980s allowed the country's first beauty pageants. "Miss Irkutsk" and "Miss Odessa" were held in 1987, "Vilnius Beauty" and "Miss Riga" in the spring of 1988.

The final judging was a three-day event, held at the Luzhniki Palace of Sports, from June 10 through 12, with 12,000 spectators attending in person, and millions more watching via television. 12 judges included musician Muslim Magomayev, actress Anastasiya Vertinskaya, and author Yuri Polyakov; Her talent demonstrations included sewing a dress in 20 minutes, and an aerobics workout; Another, Elena Durneva, had an undesirable last name (Дурнева – similar to the Russian words for stupid, bad, or foolish); she also later became an actress, and a presenter on the 2×2 Russian television channel. Yet another had a husband and child. A fourth was too vampish, so not qualifying to represent the common Moscow woman. Kalinina was awarded the title for being pretty, yet typical, having an acceptable name, a sense of humor, and a winning smile. She also got a one year contract with Burda Moden, at the low salary of 110 rubles per month; The first chapters of her book were serialized in Russian magazine Студенческий меридиан under the title Из дневника королевы (From the Diary of a Queen) in early 1991. Kalinina appeared on a 1988 episode of German television show Wetten, dass..?. She modeled for French fashion designers, and voiced a French record, Fais moi l’amour (literally Make Love to Me, but usually translated Love Me), in 1989, and in 1990, she acted in an Italian comedy film, (Watch out for Perestroika),

Also in 1989, Kalinina was photographed by Lord Patrick Lichfield for the cover of the 1990 Unipart British automotive calendar, appearing in a white fur coat and hat. She was offered 500,000 pounds or 51 million rubles to pose nude for the calendar but refused; when the calendar was printed with a similar model appearing nude inside, Kalinina sued and won an apology. She met US president George H. W. Bush, and California US Representative Christopher Cox at a meeting of Republicans in Washington. She refused offers to pose nude for magazines Penthouse and Playboy,

In 1996, and in 1998, she met with future US president Donald Trump, then owner of the Miss Universe beauty pageant. In 2020, Volume V of the redacted Senate Intelligence Committee report on Russian interference in the 2016 United States presidential election reported speculation that Trump had an affair with "a former Miss Moscow" in 1996, which international news sources explicitly connected with Kalinina. Kalinina, in interviews, stated that Trump had feelings for her, but denied any affair. She says he asked her to abandon her boyfriend, to which she replied that then he should leave his wife, and they parted as friends. The film was critically panned. Kalinina herself decided not to play dark roles any more. She says that after performing killing and torture on screen, she needed to cleanse herself.

Yoga

In 2006, Kalinina took up yoga and meditation, became a vegetarian, stopped wearing fur, or leather, or items made with feathers. She began teaching yoga classes, and often visited Russia to do so. In 2008, Kalinina became an honorary president of the Krasa Rossii beauty pageant, and taught yoga classes to the contestants.

Kalinina held yoga classes in Santa Monica, and Moscow,