Maryam d’Abo (born December 27, 1960) is an English film and television actress. Her first notable performance was as Kara Milovy in the 1987 James Bond film, The Living Daylights.

Maryam d’Abo with Emmanuelle Beart in ‘L’Enfer’.

Raised around Paris and Geneva, Maryam decided she wanted to be an actress at the age of 11 based on her love of the James Bond films. She studied at London’s Drama Center while working as a model in commercials. In 1983 she made her screen debut in the low-budget British SF horror film Xtro, playing a French au pair who becomes an alien breeding chamber (or a human incubator). Xtro was briefly vilified as a so-called video nasty, and it is often mentioned in the same breath as many other video nasties of the early 80s, but in fact it was granted an uncut video certificate by the BBFC, shortly after its successful cinema run. Talking to Femme Fatales magazine in 1994, d’Abo remembered it as “a terrible film”.

She remains best known for her role as Kara Milovy, the innocent and vulnerable Czechoslovakian cellist who falls for James Bond in The Living Daylights. It remains her personal favourite film, and she did a Playboy cover in September 1987 to coincide with the film’s release. After that she had a well-received role as Ta’Ra, an alien medical officer in the science fiction TV miniseries, Something is Out There, which was followed by a short-lived (six episode) NBC series by the same name.

She played Keira Knightley’s mother in the 2002 TV miniseries version of Doctor Zhivago, and she was Queen Hecuba in the Emmy-nominated miniseries Helen of Troy. In 2005 she had a small role in the dark, but well-received French film L’Enfer (Hell), co-written by the late Krzysztof Kieslowski and starring Emmanuelle Beart and Carole Bouquet.

In 2002, d’Abo co-wrote the book Bond Girls Are Forever, a tribute to an elite club of women who have played the role of a “Bond Girl”. The book later became a DVD exclusive documentary featuring d’Abo and other famed Bond girls, including Ursula Andress.