Who was Maria Callas? True story behind Angelina Jolie’s Oscar contender

In a crowded Oscars race for Best Actress, packed with big names like Nicole Kidman and Demi Moore, Angelina Jolie definitely stakes a claim for a spot on the shortlist. She plays opera legend Maria Callas in Pablo Larrain's biopic Maria, which follows the star through the final week of her life — while also flashing back through her remarkable career.

Larrain doesn't make ordinary biopics, as anybody who saw Jackie — starring Natalie Portman as Jackie Kennedy — or Spencer, in which Kristen Stewart played Princess Diana, can tell you. His portraits of famous women are unconventional, emotionally complex, and delivered through a unique stylistic approach. Maria, in which Larrain reteams with Spencer screenwriter Steven Knight, is no different.

But who was the woman at the centre of this story? Maria Callas was a truly fascinating figure of the 20th century, so it's no surprise that Larrain and Knight have chosen to tell her story — with Jolie's most acclaimed performance in years at the heart of it.

Maria Callas' rise to fame

Callas was born in New York City to Greek immigrant parents, with whom she had a complex relationship. By the time she was three, her talent for singing became clear and her mother pressed her to perform for money as often as possible — something the young Callas hated doing.

She would later tell Time Magazine: "I'll never forgive [my mother] for taking my childhood away. During all the years I should have been playing and growing up, I was singing or making money."

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Callas's mother moved back to Greece with her daughters and, at this time, Callas received her formal musical education. There, her raw talent was recognised and she worked on becoming a dramatic soprano following the advice of her tutor. In 1941, she made her professional debut and it took only a year before she played the lead role in Tosca — earning the moniker "The God-Given" with her amazing vocal range.

During the war, Callas's relationship with her mother degraded further and, after a trip to Mexico in 1950, they never spoke to each other again. Callas's most influential opera moment occurred in 1949 when she performed Brünnhilde in Die Walküre and Elvira in I puritani within the space of weeks. London Opera Society founder Michael Scott explained that it was almost impossible for any performer to sing roles as different as this within the same career, let alone the same few months.

In the early 1950s, Callas lost more than five stone in weight, believing that she needed a slimmer figure to take on the high-profile leading roles she was being offered. Some experts believe that this rapid and dramatic weight loss led to an increased strain on her voice, which degraded in the latter part of her life.

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A controversial figure

Her unusual voice divided opera critics and also led to a rumoured rivalry with fellow soprano Renata Tebaldi, whose sound was more traditional. Both women would later speak admiringly of each other, despite their rivalry being over-egged in the press.

But it wasn't just her voice that made Maria controversial. Early in her career, she found herself dogged by rumours that she was "difficult" behind the scenes — the epitome of the term "prima donna". Several stories of late-in-the-day performance cancellations placed the blame upon Callas, not helping her reputation as an artist who, despite prodigious talent, was difficult to work with.

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She also became a tabloid fixation in the late-1950s when she began an affair with the famous, wealthy shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis — despite her marriage to Giovanni Battista Meneghini. Their affair continued for a decade, during which time Callas left her husband, until Onassis married Jackie Kennedy — making him a two-time supporting player in the Larrain biopic universe — in 1968.

The singer's later years

Callas gave her final stage performance in 1965 and, a few years later, she played the lead role in Pier Paolo Pasolini's movie Medea — her only non-operatic acting role. Reviews were good, but the film was a commercial failure.

In her final few years, Callas spent most of her time in isolation at her home in Paris. She died at the age of just 53 in 1977 after suffering a heart attack. It is in the period immediately before this that Jolie's movie takes place, albeit with regular flashbacks through the journey of her life.

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Jolie will be a big fixture in the very crowded race for Best Actress, having already scored nominations at the Golden Globes and the Critics Choice Awards. She did, however, miss out on the Best Actress shortlist at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, which is a big dent to her Oscar hopes.

But she's still getting some of the best reviews of her career for playing Maria Callas — a complex woman with a fascinating place in the history of 20th century music.

Maria is in UK cinemas from 10 January.