Maria Karnilova

Maria Karnilova was an American dancer and actress. She was initially known legally as Maria Karniloff. She was born in Hartford, Connecticut, the daughter of Filip and Stefanida Dovgolenko, emigrants from Tsarist Russia. The family later moved to Brooklyn, New York. She started her professional career in 1927 in the Children's Ballet of the Metropolitan Opera and joined the corps when Ballet Theater, now American Ballet Theater, was founded in 1939.