Some lives move along predictable paths. Others unfold like waves—rising, diving, and reappearing in unexpected places. Marina Kazankova’s life clearly belongs to the latter, a flow that carries her between cinema, art, sport, and deep philosophical exploration. An international actress, a world champion freediver, and a holder of multiple Guinness World Records, Marina has built a life that moves fluidly across disciplines and continents. But the story begins far from the glare of film sets and the trophies that line the walls.
Marina was born in Frunze, the city that is today Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan. Her childhood was shaped by two powerful forces. Her mother created a loving, accepting home, while her father, a passionate sportsman, encouraged strength, perseverance, and constant improvement. Shortly after her birth, the family moved to Estonia near the Baltic Sea, and water entered Marina’s life almost from the start. “I learned to swim even before I learned to walk,” she recalls with a smile. “My father would throw me into the sea, and I would swim back. I always felt completely at home in the water.” Yet the first spark of artistic inspiration came from another source—her grandfather. An artistic soul, he filled family gatherings with music, poetry, and theater. He played the accordion while the children sang beside him. Before every visit to the circus or theater, the family gathered flowers from their garden to offer to the performers. “It created a magical feeling,” Marina remembers. “The idea that artists give beauty to people—and the audience thanks them with flowers.” From that moment, performance became a dream. At first, she imagined herself high above the stage as a trapeze artist. Years later, destiny would fulfill that dream in an unexpected way—when she played a trapeze performer in the Italian film La Repubblica di San Gennaro.
Marina’s acting career began early. At just fourteen years old, she attended a casting for the television project Le Ragazze di Piazza di Spagna. The director saw her and made a rare decision. “He said yes immediately,” she remembers. “That almost never happens.” The filming, however, was far from glamorous. Rome experienced one of the coldest Aprils in its modern history. For four consecutive nights, the young actress filmed in summer dresses while temperatures dipped toward freezing. After each exhausting night shoot, her father would pick her up at dawn and take her home, where her mother warmed her in a hot bath. And yet something unexpected happened. After those four freezing nights, Marina woke up with complete certainty: “I realized I wanted to be an actress.”
Over the years Marina built a rich international career in film and television. One turning point was the historical series Poor Nastya, where she portrayed the Polish princess Olga Kalinovskaya—a character defined by deep and noble love. “I believe characters can become role models,” she explains. “They can inspire people to feel something beautiful.” Another memorable experience came with the Italian series Capri, filmed among the breathtaking landscapes of the Amalfi Coast. Then came an unusual challenge: performing underwater in the music video Lydia by Highly Suspect. The scene required Marina to act dramatically underwater for more than four minutes on a single breath—without editing. “It was extremely demanding physically,” she says. “But it combined everything I love.”
Long before freediving became a profession, it began as a childhood game. Training with her father in an open swimming pool, Marina challenged herself to swim longer and longer distances underwater. At nine years old she completed three full laps—75 meters—without fins. Years later, in 2004, her father made an unexpected proposal: “Would you like to participate in the first freediving world championship?” She had only one month to prepare. Trusting her father completely, she accepted. They trained every day, combining physical preparation with mental practices like autogenic training and meditation. The result was extraordinary. At the championship Marina won first place and set a remarkable record. “When I surfaced, I didn’t even know how far I had swum,” she remembers. “I was so deep in meditation that I had stopped counting.” Only when the crowd began congratulating her did she realize what had happened.
Since then Marina has set multiple records recognized by Guinness World Records, including the longest underwater walk and an extraordinary underwater dance performed on a single breath. For her, freediving is never merely sport. “Every record has an artistic dimension,” she explains. “It’s not only about distance—it’s a performance.” This philosophy naturally connects with her work in cinema. She has performed underwater scenes in numerous productions and even coordinated underwater stunt sequences. Among her projects was work on the remake of Point Break, filmed in the spectacular waters of Tahiti.
Freediving confronts the diver with powerful emotions—darkness, depth, pressure, and the unknown. For Marina, these challenges reveal something essential about human nature. “Freediving is a simplified model of life,” she says. “You meet your fears very clearly.” Her approach is simple: “My fears are my friends. I never run from them. I go toward them and understand them.” In her philosophy, physical limits are often illusions. “Most limits are mental,” she asserts. “With training and awareness, we can go much further than we imagine.”
Beyond cinema and world records, Marina’s life is also defined by family. She speaks with great pride about her daughter Angelica, who is already a talented actress in her own right. The two share not only the world of film but also a love for the ocean. Her sister Ellina has chosen an even closer relationship with the sea, living aboard a catamaran with her husband. “I love visiting them,” Marina says. “We freedive, explore the ocean, and sometimes I create underwater films there.” For her, these moments bring together the two forces that have shaped her entire life: art and water.
Today Marina continues to act in international productions (such as “Solo Amore Pierpaolo Pasolini” directed by Mauro Conciatori), while also creating poetic underwater films, leading workshops in psychological preparation, and guiding people toward healthier, more conscious lives. With a degree in psychology, she combines mental training with artistic expression—helping others discover inner strength and balance. Looking back at her journey—from a little girl swimming in the Baltic Sea to an actress performing underwater for global audiences—one idea remains constant: “Our dreams become real when we are brave enough to follow them.” In Marina Kazankova’s world, courage often begins with a single breath.
Photo credits: Alex Sher, Anatoly Beloshchin, Carolina Smolec, Denis Lagrange and Evgeny Shaman
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