Gülşen Bubikoğlu

Gülşen Bubikoğlu — Biography

Gülşen Bubikoğlu was born on 5 December 1954 in Istanbul; after her father's early death she left Fatih Girls' High School and trained in modeling and dance at the LCC Cultural Center. In a 1973 Ses Magazine contest she placed second, though it later emerged that three production companies had deliberately steered the vote to Necla Nazır to avoid being obliged to make films with the winner. She made her screen debut that year in the lead role of Yaban, directed by Türker İnanoğlu, and married him secretly in 1974; the couple's daughter, Zeynep, was born in 1977.

Paired with Tarık Akan in a string of romantic comedies that made them one of Yeşilçam's most memorable screen couples, Bubikoğlu appeared in films including Baş Belası, Ayrı Dünyalar, Vahşi Gelin and Mücevher Hırsızları, some of them Turkish-Italian co-productions, and represented her country at festivals in Hungary, Moscow, Kuwait and Cannes. She won the Golden Orange award for best actress for Kurtar Beni in 1988 and its Lifetime Achievement award in 2010.

Active on screen from 1973 to 2004, she has remained a figure of interest in the Turkish press since retiring from acting. Her husband, Türker İnanoğlu, died on 2 April 2024 at 88; their daughter, Zeynep İnanoğlu, is known as an inventor.