Saadet Aksoy

Saadet Işıl Aksoy^{[pronunciation?]} (born 29 August 1983) is a Turkish actress, who received critical acclaim with her portrayal of Aska, a red-haired punk trumpet player in Italian actor-director Sergio Castellitto's film Twice Born, in which she co-starred with Penélope Cruz and Emile Hirsch. Christy Lemire described her as "the striking Saadet Aksoy" in her Twice Born review,^[3] and film critic David Rooney stated, "Saadet Aksoy brings a subdued fieriness to her scenes as a Bosnian woman" in The Hollywood Reporter.^[4] In his article on Variety, Boyd Van Hoeij wrote, "Turkish thesp Saadet Aksoy impresses in a supporting role as a spunky Yugoslav local" about her performance in Twice Born.^[5]

Saadet Aksoy
Aksoy at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival
Born	Saadet Işıl Aksoy (1983-08-29) 29 August 1983 (age 41) Istanbul, Turkey
Education	Boğaziçi University
Occupation	Actress
Years active	2003–present
Known for	Twice Born
Spouse	Pamir Kıraner ​ (m. 2014)​ [1]
Children	1[2]
Website	saadetaksoy.com

Sergio Castellitto explained his first encounter with Aksoy in an article on Vogue Turkey with these words: "Saadet, the first time I met you it was through the internet. I had accidentally 'fallen' on a movie trailer. I actually don’t remember anything of that trailer, of that movie. Yet I remember that I saw a woman turning her head abruptly to the camera, her blue eyes burning everything in that framing, blasting the reverse shot."^[6]

Her recent performance as Remziye in the 2018 movie Saf was described on Filmuforia as "SAF is carried forward by the sheer brilliance of Saadet Isil Aksoy whose Remziye acts in an enlightened and humanitarian way when the chips are down."^[7] In his article about Saf on The Film Stage, Jared Mobarak wrote: "Aksoy carries the rest of the film through an authentic progression from indignation to shame and ultimately to clarity.^[8]

Saadet Aksoy has been in the juries of such film festivals as Cairo International Film Festival,^[9] Sarajevo Film Festival^{[citation needed]} and Istanbul Film Festival.^[10] She became the spokesperson for L'Oreal Paris in Turkey in the year 2013.^[11]

Early life

Aksoy was born in Istanbul to İnci Aksoy, a retired chief police inspector,^[12] and Anıl Aksoy, a retired police chief.^[13] She talks about the strong female figures in her family in an interview saying: "My mom and grandma have been my two role models. Both have stood out in life not only with their physical beauty but they have also been successful in their careers and been respected in life thanks to their identities and personalities."^[14] Her grandmother Münire Şahinbaş was one of the first female business magnates in Turkey.^[15][16]

Aksoy has two older brothers.^[13] In an interview she described her childhood and what cinema meant for her even at a young age: "There were always certain rules in the family. Even though my brothers and I were having so much fun together, I was also quite introverted. Movies were what took me away to completely different lands, and cinema has always amazed me since my childhood."^[17]

She takes her first name Saadet from her paternal grandmother who died before she was born.^[18] The word saadet means 'bliss' in English.^[19]

Education and career

Saadet Aksoy studied English language and literature at Boğaziçi University in Istanbul.^{[citation needed]} She took part in such TV projects in Turkey as Güz Yangını, Esir Kalpler, Senden Başka, Kalpsiz Adam, Sınıf, Balkan Düğünü and Muhteşem Yüzyıl.^[20] Her theatre appearances include the Turkish version of Steel Magnolias staged by the theatre director Mehmet Ergen^[21] and the Turkish version of Shoot/Get Treasure/Repeat originally written by British playwright Mark Ravenhill.^[22]

She made her film debut with Semih Kaplanoğlu's Egg, which premiered at Directors' Fortnight at Cannes Film Festival in 2007^[23] bringing her several awards at many film festivals such as Valdivia International Film Festival and Sarajevo Film Festival. In 2008, she took part in the following film by Semih Kaplanoğlu, Milk, which was at Venice Film Festival Official Selection. She later worked with Argentinian director Alejandro Chomski in A Beautiful Life, and in 2009, she was in Bulgarian director Kamen Kalev's Eastern Plays, which premiered also at Directors' Fortnight at Cannes Film Festival.^[24] Film critic Jay Weissberg praised her performance in Eastern Plays in his article on Variety saying, "All performances are strong, but it’s Christov and Aksoy who linger in the memory."^[25]

Her 2009 Turkish film Love in Another Language brought her other Best Actress awards at Ankara International Film Festival and Bursa Silk Road Film Festival. Again in 2009, she took part in the Istanbul scene of The Rebound with Catherine Zeta Jones and Justin Bartha by the director Bart Freundlich. Her international breakthrough was after she co-starred with Penélope Cruz and Emile Hirsch in Sergio Castellitto's Twice Born adapted from the novel with the same title by Margaret Mazzantini. The movie premiered at Toronto International Film Festival in 2012. In 2013, Aksoy played a Greek girl Eleni in the Turkish movie Sürgün^[26] and in 2015, Rania in Ragion di Stato directed by Marco Pontecorvo for Italian TV network RAI.^[27]

Aksoy's latest projects include Saf by Ali Vatansever, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2018,^[28] Passed by Censor by Serhat Karaaslan, which was released in 2019, and Iguana Tokyo by Kaan Müjdeci, recently in post-production.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2007	Egg	Ayla	Directors' Fortnight
2008	Milk	Semra	Venice Film Festival
2008	A Beautiful Life	Denise
2009	Eastern Plays	Işıl	Directors' Fortnight
2009	Love in Another Language	Zeynep
2009	The Rebound	Turkish girl in Istanbul
2012	Twice Born	Aska	Toronto International Film Festival
2013	Sürgün	Eleni
2018	Ailecek Şaşkınız	Elif
2018	Saf	Remziye	Toronto International Film Festival
2019	Passed by Censor	Selma
2019	Iguana Tokyo[29]

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2005	Güz Yangını	Pınar
2006	Esir Kalpler	İrem
2007	Senden Başka	Elif
2008	Kalpsiz Adam	Feraye
2008	Sınıf	Duygu
2009	Balkan Düğünü	Zehra
2011	Muhteşem Yüzyıl	Victoria (Sadıka)
2014	Ragion di Stato[30]	Rania
2016	Kördüğüm[31]	Eylül
2017	Vatanım Sensin	Lucy
2024	Shahmaran (TV series)	Lilith

Awards

^[20]

Year	Organisation	Award	Work	Result
2007	Sarajevo Film Festival	Best Actress	Egg	Won
2007	Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival	Best Newcomer	Egg	Won
2007	Valdivia International Film Festival	Best Actress	Egg	Won
2008	Siyad Awards	Best Actress in a Leading Role	Egg	Won
2008	Yeşilçam Film Awards	Young Talent	Egg	Won
2008	Ankara International Film Festival	Best Female Newcomer	Egg	Won
2008	İsmail Dümbüllü Awards	Best Film Actress	Egg	Won
2009	Ankara International Film Festival	Best Actress	Love in Another Language	Won
2009	Bursa Silk Road Film Festival	Best Actress	Love in Another Language	Won
2019	Ankara International Film Festival	Best Actress	Saf	Won

References

1. "Saadet Aksoy'un eşi Pamir Kıraner kimdir? Saadet Işıl Aksoy kimdir, kaç yaşında". Akşam (in Turkish). 6 March 2018. Archived from the original on 24 September 2024. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
2. "Saadet Işıl Aksoy anne oldu". Hürriyet. 27 February 2020. Archived from the original on 28 February 2020. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
3. Lemire, Christy (6 December 2013). "Twice Born". Roger Ebert. Archived from the original on 24 September 2024. Retrieved 29 January 2014.
4. Rooney, David (18 September 2012). "Twice Born: Toronto Review". Hollywood Reporter. Toronto. Archived from the original on 16 March 2014. Retrieved 29 January 2014.
5. Van Hoeij, Boyd (23 September 2012). "Review: 'Twice Born'". Variety. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 8 December 2017.
6. "Sergio Castellitto-Saadet Işıl Aksoy". Hurriyet (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 5 November 2013.
7. Taylor, Meredith (10 September 2018). "SAF (2018)". Filmuforia. Archived from the original on 24 September 2024. Retrieved 18 January 2019.
8. Mobarak, Jared (19 September 2018). "SAF Tiff 2018 Review". The Film Stage. Archived from the original on 19 January 2019. Retrieved 18 January 2019.
9. "Star-studded Cairo Film Festival Opens Today". Ahram Online. 26 November 2010. Archived from the original on 19 August 2013. Retrieved 15 December 2012.
10. "Istanbul Film Festival Closes With Award Ceremony". Hurriyet Daily News. 15 April 2013. Archived from the original on 1 February 2014. Retrieved 21 January 2014.
11. "Saadet Isil Aksoy". L'Oreal Paris Turkey (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 6 February 2015. Retrieved 21 January 2014.
12. Umar, Leyla (4 January 2011). "Polis kızı olmak zor!". Gazete Vatan (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 1 February 2014. Retrieved 29 January 2014.
13. Arman, Serkan (3 August 2012). "Turizmde Saadet Var". Ekonomi. Milliyet (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 3 February 2014. Retrieved 29 January 2014.
14. Yülek, Güzide (April 2013). "Bulunduğum Yeri İki Kadının Mirasına Borçluyum". Seninle (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 7 August 2018. Retrieved 21 April 2014.
15. "Türkiye'nin İlk Kadın Sanay". Hürriyet.
16. "Aşkta Herşey Zamanlama". Marie Claire (in Turkish). October 2015.
17. "Saadet Işıl Aksoy (Hakan Gence 2013)". Hürriyet (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 13 March 2014.
18. Altuntaş, Bi̇rsen (20 December 2012). "Hayallerimin peşinde gitmek için risk aldım". Magazin. Milliyet. Archived from the original on 3 February 2014. Retrieved 29 January 2014.
19. "bliss". Cambridge Dictionary. Archived from the original on 24 September 2024. Retrieved 24 September 2024.
20. "Saadet Işıl Aksoy". SinemaTürk (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 5 April 2014. Retrieved 29 January 2014.
21. "Çelik Manolyalar". Biletix (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 1 February 2014. Retrieved 29 January 2014.
22. Tiyatro Dünyası (8 September 2008). "Dotbilsar'da Projesi" (in Turkish).
23. "Yumurta". Quinzaine des réalisateurs (in French). Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 21 January 2014.
24. "Eastern Plays". Quinzaine des réalisateurs (in French). Archived from the original on 24 March 2016. Retrieved 21 January 2014.
25. Weissberg, Jay (17 May 2009). "Review: 'Eastern Plays'". Variety. Archived from the original on 9 October 2018. Retrieved 8 December 2017.
26. "Oyuncular". Surgun Filmi. Archived from the original on 22 April 2016. Retrieved 21 January 2014.
27. "Latina, si gira a Sabaudia una fiction Rai con Luca Argentero". Il Messaggero (in Italian). Archived from the original on 6 January 2019. Retrieved 21 January 2014.
28. Craddock, Kerri. "Saf". TIFF. Archived from the original on 24 September 2024. Retrieved 18 January 2019.
29. Habertürk. "Iguana Tokyo'nun Görkemli Yeni Yıl Partisi". Archived from the original on 24 September 2024. Retrieved 18 January 2019.
30. Radio Luna (13 November 2013). "Luca Argentero a Sabaudia". Archived from the original on 3 February 2014. Retrieved 29 January 2014.
31. Milliyet (16 May 2016). "Saadet Işıl Aksoy Kördüğüm Kadrosunda". Archived from the original on 17 November 2016. Retrieved 16 November 2016.

External links

• Official website
• Saadet Aksoy at IMDb