Coordinates: 42°40′N 23°40′E / 42.667°N 23.667°E / 42.667; 23.667

Sofia Province (Bulgarian: Софийска област, Sofiyska oblast) is a province (oblast) of Bulgaria. The province does not include Sofia in its territories, but Sofia however remains its administrative center. The province borders on the provinces of Pernik, Kyustendil, Blagoevgrad, Pazardzhik, Plovdiv, Lovech, Vratsa, Montana and "Sofia-Capital" (which is in a separate oblast, see Sofia Administration), to the northwest there is border with Serbia.

The province has a territory of 7 059 km² and has 254,996 inhabitants. The land is predominantly mountainous. To the north are the southern slopes of the Balkan Mountains and to the south rises Rila with the highest point in the peninsula Musala. There are also several smaller mountains and spacious valleys. One of the most important ski resorts in Bulgaria, Borovets, is located here close to Samokov.

Industry is well developed. Mining and ferrous metallurgy are the backbone of the economy with the largest copper refinery in South Eastern Europe in Pirdop and important copper mines at Chelopech and Etropole. Machinery is well developed in Botevgrad (buses, car components, electronics), Pravets (computers), Etropole, Samokov, Elin Pelin, Ihtiman, Slivnitsa, Godech. The centre of food and sugar industry is Svoge. This is also the birthplace of bass/baritone opera singer and musician Boris Damianov.

Sofia (Bulgarian: София, pronounced [ˈsɔfijɐ] ( listen)) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 15th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.2 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.

Prehistoric settlements were excavated in the centre of the present city, near the royal palace, as well as in outer districts Slatina and Obelya. The well-preserved town walls (especially their substructures) date back before the 7th century BC, when Thracians established their city around a mineral spring, which exists to the present day. Sofia has had several names in the different periods of its existence. Its ancient name, Serdika or Serdica, derives from the local Celtic tribe of the serdi who inhabited the region since the 1st century BC. Serdica was a Roman capital during the tetrarchic system of government. During the Middle Ages, it was one of the major commercial centres of the Bulgarian Empire, along with Tarnovo. Sofia's population remained small until 1879, when it was declared a capital of the Principality of Bulgaria after the Liberation of Bulgaria from Ottoman rule.

Sylvie Vartan (born 15 August 1944) is a French singer known as one of the most productive and tough-sounding yé-yé artists. Her performances often featured elaborate show-dance choreography, and she made many appearances on French and Italian TV. Yearly shows with then-husband Johnny Hallyday attracted full houses at the Olympia and the Palais des congrès de Paris throughout the 1960s and mid-1970s. After a break in performances, she began recording and giving concerts of jazz ballads in French-speaking countries in late 2004.

Vartan was born in Iskretz, Sofia Province, Bulgaria. Her father, Georges Vartan, was born in France to an Armenian father and a Bulgarian mother. He worked as an attaché at the French embassy in Sofia. Her mother, Ilona (née Mayer), was Hungarian. The original family name was Vartanian, but her parents shortened it to Vartan after they fled to France. In September 1944, when the Soviet Army occupied Bulgaria, the Vartanian family house was nationalised and they moved to Sofia. In 1952, Dako Dakovski, a film director and her fathers' friend offered Sylvie a role of a schoolgirl in the movie Pod igoto. The film was about Bulgarian rebels against the Turkish occupation. Being a part of the film had a lasting impression on her and made her dream of becoming an entertainer.

Sofia Mykhailivna Yevdokymenko-Rotaru (born August 7, 1947) known as Sofia Rotaru (Ukrainian: Софiя Ротару [sɔˈfijɑ rɔˈtɑru]) is a Soviet and Ukrainian pop singer of Romanian/Moldavian heritage.

Born to a large, impoverished family in Marshintsy, Rotaru, nicknamed Bukovinsky Solovey (Nightingale from Bukovina), emerged in 1966 as a pop folk star in the movie Solovey iz sela Marshintsy (Nightingale from Marshintsy) in the Romanian and Ukrainian-speaking world after her manager and future husband Anatoliy Jevdokymenko made her change her music style from folk to pop music with Chervona Ruta.

In 1972, Sofia released the multilingual album Sofia Rotaru, re-released three times and covered by numerous singers, establishing herself as a viable pop artist in the countries of the former Soviet Union. Rotaru had first gained international recognition after participating in 1968 in the International Youth Song Festival in Bulgaria and winning first prize at the Golden Orpheus in 1973 and second prize in the category of Polish songs at the Sopot International Song Festival in 1974. In the former USSR her career was marked by her stage success and numerous controversies. Rotaru is recognised by the Kiev Patriarchate. Xenia Minosyan has named her a Ukrainian Show Queen and the edition of Postimees in Russian has called her a queen of pop music., Lithuanian "Litovskii Kurier"^{[dead link]} Ukrainian news portal "openbiz", newspapers - Russian "Vechernaya Moskva", United Arab Emirates' "The National" call her "Queen of Pop".^{[dead link][dead link][dead link][dubious – discuss]}

Sofia Hayat is a British Asian actress, and singer who was born in 1984 . She has worked on both British and Indian projects.

Hayat first came to public attention on Satellite Channel, Zee TV, where she hosted her own TV show for 3 years starting in 2000. The show became a cult favourite amongst young British Asians. Later, Hayat was in the UK TV talent show Bollywood Star, in which she lost out on the first prize by about 3 places. She holds a BA (Hons) in Music and Performing Arts. She has been instructed under David Schwimmer, famously from the American TV show Friends.^{[citation needed]}

Sofia has appeared in TV Advertising campaigns for big international brands like Walkers Crisps, McDonalds, and was the first model/actor who featured in the campaign for Timotei hair shampoo. A brand well known for hair products for blondes. This was the first time they shot with a brunette from Indian origin.

She started acting professionally at 16, where she landed her first role with the BBC on the hit show, "Absolute Power", where she starred alongside Stephen Fry. (V for Vendetta)