Biography
Nurgül Yeşilçay was born on 26 March 1976 in Afyonkarahisar and grew up in İzmir, where she studied painting. She then moved to the theatre department of Anadolu University in Eskişehir and graduated in 2001. She was still a student when she played Gülsüm in İkinci Bahar, and her role as Bahar Karadağ in Çağan Irmak’s Asmalı Konak (2002) made her known to a wide audience.
In film she won Best Actress at the 12th Adana Golden Boll Film Festival as Kostak Emine in Atıf Yılmaz’s Eğreti Gelin. She later won Sadri Alışık, Antalya Golden Orange and SİYAD awards for Adem’in Trenleri and Vicdan. Fatih Akın cast her as Ayten Öztürk in The Edge of Heaven, which won Best Screenplay at Cannes in 2007.
On television she led Aşk ve Ceza, played Gülseren in Paramparça and Kösem Sultan in Muhteşem Yüzyıl: Kösem. She was married to the actor Cem Özer from 2004 to 2010 and has a son, Osman Nejat. In 2026 she leads NOW‘s Ömür Usta, the Turkish adaptation of Fina Estampa, as Ömür Uçar, a repairwoman trying to keep her family afloat.
Photo: Tims Prodüksiyon Film, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
