Selma Ergeç

Selma Ergeç — Biography

Selma Ergeç was born on 1 November 1978 in Hamm, Germany, the first child of a Turkish doctor father from Adana and a German nurse mother; the family moved to Mersin and then Ankara in 1983, returning to Germany during her last year of primary school. She studied psychology and philosophy at Hagen University, then began a medical degree at the University of Münster, but left in her third year, while on a placement in Turkey, after an acting opportunity turned her toward modelling; she won the runway category at the Best Model of Turkey pageant in 2001. She made her screen debut in Böyle mi Olacaktı?, gained wider recognition as Mine in the 2007 film Sis ve Gece, and appeared in Reha Erdem's critically acclaimed Beş Vakit; she played Defne Kozcuoğlu in the series Asi. Years after playing Azize in Kalp Ağrısı, a series adapted from a Halide Edip Adıvar novel, she went on to portray the author herself in Vatanım Sensin. She achieved international fame as Hatice Sultan, sister of Sultan Süleyman, in Muhteşem Yüzyıl, and has also appeared in Yarım Elma, Gönül İşleri, Kırımlı, Yaşamayanlar and, as Umut, in the Netflix series Atiye. More recently she played Piraye Salacak in İnci Taneleri. She married Can Öz in Germany in 2015, and the couple had a daughter, Yasmin, in 2016.