Irina Petrescu was noticed one day by director Savel Știopul [ro], who came to her table in the Continental restaurant and asked her to audition for his film.

The film has not done, but the audition was shown to Liviu Ciulei, who searched for – and found – an interpreter for Ana's role in "Waves of the Danube".

For the Institute she also prepared with Știopul, who insisted to give the exam, and she had gotten in reciting lyrics of Mihai Eminescu and a fable by Marcel Breslașu [ro].

[6] In 2000, Petrescu was awarded by Romanian President Emil Constantinescu the Order of the Star of Romania, Officer class.

[7] She died in 2013 at Elias Hospital [ro] after a long battle with breast cancer, and was buried at the Reînvierea Cemetery in the Colentina neighborhood of Bucharest.