Nihal Tuğba Özay (born February 10, 1978) is a Turkish
model
A model is an informative representation of an object, person or system. The term originally denoted the Plan_(drawing), plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin ''modulus'', a mea ...
and singer. She was elected the first runner-up in the
Miss Model of the World
Miss Model of the World is an international model contest organized for the first time in Istanbul, Turkey, in 1988 with 42 countries participating.
Recent titleholders
Source:
List of runners-up
Continental Models
See also
* List of be ...
contest in 1995.
Early life
Özay was born in
Istanbul
Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...
on February 10, 1978. Her mother, a teacher and an author of
textbooks
A textbook is a book containing a comprehensive compilation of content in a branch of study with the intention of explaining it. Textbooks are produced to meet the needs of educators, usually at educational institutions. Schoolbooks are textbook ...
specializing in
mathematics
Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...
and
economics
Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services.
Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...
, is from
Antalya
Antalya () is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, fifth-most populous city in Turkey as well as the capital of Antalya Province. Located on Anatolia's southwest coast bordered by the Taurus Mountains, Antalya is the largest Turkish cit ...
and her father, also an award-winning author of textbooks used in
primary schools
A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...
across Turkey, as well as being a poet and a man of literature, is from
Trabzon
Trabzon (; Ancient Greek: Tραπεζοῦς (''Trapezous''), Ophitic Pontic Greek: Τραπεζούντα (''Trapezounta''); Georgian: ტრაპიზონი (''Trapizoni'')), historically known as Trebizond in English, is a city on the Bl ...
, making her, in her words "a blend of the
Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...
and the
Black Sea
The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...
".
Özay developed multiple interests since childhood, writing stories and plays for children as well as poetry, and all at the same time engaging in
performing arts
The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which are the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. Perform ...
and
sports
Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, th ...
. She started her theatre education at the age of seven in
Kadıköy
Kadıköy (), known in classical antiquity and during the Roman and Byzantine eras as Chalcedon ( gr, Χαλκηδών), is a large, populous, and cosmopolitan district in the Asian side of Istanbul, Turkey, on the northern shore of the Sea of ...
Public Education Centre's Experimental Stage, which she continued until she was fourteen. During this period she was also active in writing many
plays
Play most commonly refers to:
* Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment
* Play (theatre), a work of drama
Play may refer also to:
Computers and technology
* Google Play, a digital content service
* Play Framework, a Java framework
* Pla ...
and
screenplays
''ScreenPlay'' is a television drama anthology series broadcast on BBC2 between 9 July 1986 and 27 October 1993.
Background
After single-play anthology series went off the air, the BBC introduced several showcases for made-for-television, fea ...
.
She did her secondary studies in
Fenerbahçe High School and then registered in the Conservatory Music and Theatre Department of
Haliç University
Haliç University ( tr, Haliç Üniversitesi) is a university in Turkey, which was founded in 1998 by the Children Leukemia Foundation.
Haliç University offers 21 academic departments, with three schools: the School of Nursing, the School of P ...
, which she still attends between professional engagements.
In sports, she was a professional swimmer in
Galatasaray
Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club'') is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul in Turkey. Most notable for its association football department, the club also consists of various other de ...
for about ten years and then she became a
trainer there for a time. But since she was too young then, the ambition for becoming a swimming trainer faded soon. However, after having been discovered by
Fenerbahçe, she made a switch to
volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...
and played volleyball professionally for about five years.
Tuğba is also an accomplished
motorcycle
A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruising ...
rider. Since the age of eight she has driven a race motorcycle. She is also an expert in
paragliding
Paragliding is the recreational and competitive adventure sport of flying paragliders: lightweight, free-flying, foot-launched glider aircraft with no rigid primary structure. The pilot sits in a harness or lies supine in a cocoon-like 'po ...
and
Muay Thai
Muay Thai ( th, มวยไทย, , ), sometimes referred to as Thai boxing, is a combat sport that uses stand-up striking along with various clinching techniques. This discipline is known as the "art of eight limbs", as it is characterised ...
. She took diving training at Istanbul Sailing Club. She retained an interest in arts also through this period and attended
ballet
Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...
and
guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...
courses in
Istanbul University
, image = Istanbul_University_logo.svg
, image_size = 200px
, latin_name = Universitas Istanbulensis
, motto = tr, Tarihten Geleceğe Bilim Köprüsü
, mottoeng = Science Bridge from Past to the Future
, established = 1453 1846 1933
...
State Conservatory. During her school years she received a number of titles in art, music and writing competitions.
Career
Early career in fashion
Tuğba Özay took her first steps into the world of fashion in a non-professional manner, having been selected in 1994 for a fashion show by the designer
Ayla Eryüksel. Özay was soon remarked and shortly afterwards she started her professional career in fashion with a show by the Turkish clothing brand
Vakko
Vakko is a Turkish fashion company. It produces and retails textiles, leather goods, and accessories.
Vakko also operates luxury department stores under the Vakko name at Zorlu Center, İstinye Park, Akmerkez, Vadi Istanbul, and Akasya malls ...
. In the same year, she also appeared on the
TV series
A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed betw ...
"Sonradan Görmeler" (''The Upstarts'') broadcast on
TRT
The Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT; Turkish : ) is the national public broadcaster of Turkey, founded in 1964. TRT was for many years the only television and radio provider in Turkey. Before the introduction of commercial radio i ...
, the national public broadcaster of Turkey.
In 1995, she was elected "Miss Model of Turkey", and then became the first runner-up to the
Miss Model of the World
Miss Model of the World is an international model contest organized for the first time in Istanbul, Turkey, in 1988 with 42 countries participating.
Recent titleholders
Source:
List of runners-up
Continental Models
See also
* List of be ...
in the final contest. She was also chosen in the contest as the contestant who had the best body. She pursued her modelling career in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
for seven months in 1996 but later chose to concentrate on a more Turkey-oriented career. Following her return to Turkey, she made a contract with the
panties
Panties (in American English; also called pants, undies, or knickers in British English) are a form of women's underwear. Panties can be form-fitting or loose. Typical components include an elastic waistband, a crotch panel to cover the genita ...
brand Müjde Parizien and became the "Parizien Leg Girl" for three years.
TV series
In 1997 and 1998, Tuğba Özay starred in the TV series ''Hemşerim'' (''My Countryman'') and ''Aynalı Tahir''. At the end of 1999 she was noticed by the Turkish film director
Türker İnanoğlu
Türker İnanoğlu (born May 18, 1936) is a Turkish screenwriter, film director and producer.
Life
He married first the film actress Filiz Akın, and after his divorce Gülşen Bubikoğlu, another former Turkish movie star. He has two children, ...
and through his advice and suggestions, she played important roles in such TV series as ''Zehirli Çiçek'' (''Poisoned Flower''), ''Yapayalnız'' (''All Alone''), ''Bizim Otel'' (''Our Hotel'') and ''Çiçek Taksi'' in the following years. Pursuing her modelling career at the same time as starring in TV series, she soon became one of the wealthiest in her profession in Turkey. She also received numerous awards as a model. It was around this time that her biography and lifestyle was covered by a team from
BBC Television
BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 193 ...
for a programme in the cycle of ''
This World'' series in which she was the representative from Turkey, alongside prominent political figures from other Islamic countries.
Another landmark of her television career came when she took part in the
Turkish
Turkish may refer to:
*a Turkic language spoken by the Turks
* of or about Turkey
** Turkish language
*** Turkish alphabet
** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation
*** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey
*** Turkish communities and mi ...
version of the
game show
A game show is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment (radio, television, internet, stage or other) where contestants compete for a reward. These programs can either be participatory or Let's Play, demonstrative and are typically directed b ...
''
The Wheel of Fortune'' assisting the presenter
Mehmet Ali Erbil
Mehmet Ali Erbil (born 8 February 1957) is a Turkish comedian, actor and talk show host of Kurds, Kurdish descent.
Biography
Mehmet Ali was born in Istanbul, Turkey, as the son of Sadettin Erbil, a theatre and film actor, in 1957. He is the gran ...
. She also presented two other entertainment shows of her own.
She resumed theater acting, somewhat neglected since her school years, in the 2000s. She had a part in ''Dün Gece Ormanda Çok Komik Birşey Oldu'' (''Something funny happened in the woods yesternight'') under the theater director
Ferhan Şensoy
Osman Ferhan Şensoy (26 February 1951 – 31 August 2021) was a Turkish actor, playwright and director.
Private life
Şensoy was born in Çarşamba district of Samsun Province in northern Turkey on 26 February 1951. After attending Galatasaray ...
and the play was a success. She pursued her theatre career with the play ''Tanıştırayım, Burası Türkiye'' (''Let Me Introduce You to Turkey''), a
cabaret
Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or d ...
for which she had chosen the title herself and in which she also sang a song. The play was performed by the private group Abdullah Şahin Nokta Theatre and it was also well received by the audiences.
2007 ordeals
At the peak of her career in 2007, complicated series of events led to her being sentenced to imprisonment. She spent five and a half months in Istanbul's Paşakapısı Prison for Women and Juveniles. She was productive even in prison, where she kept a regular diary, on the basis of which she published her prison souvenirs in novelized form, titled "Bedel" (''The Pay Off''), soon after her release in June 2008. The book was a
bestseller
A bestseller is a book or other media noted for its top selling status, with bestseller lists published by newspapers, magazines, and book store chains. Some lists are broken down into classifications and specialties (novel, nonfiction book, cookb ...
in Turkey.
Fitness video
Another step in Özay's career was the release of a
fitness video called ''"Fitness with Tuğba Özay"'' which sold around 30,000 copies. After a while she published a catalogue named ''"Best of Tuğba Özay"'' to mark her tenth anniversary in her modelling career. With the catalogue's revenues, Tuğba Özay financed the reconstruction of a school in the town of
Çubuk near
Ankara
Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...
which was destroyed by a 2004 hurricane disaster. For this action she was honoured and awarded by Turkey's
Minister of National Education of the time.
''Saddam's Soldiers''
Her first feature movie, ''Saddam's Soldiers'' (''Saddam'ın Askerleri), in which she plays the leading role was released in 2009. Back in 2003, Özay had already made the headlines in relation to
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
when she became the first international artist to have succeeded in obtaining a permission for shooting a
video clip
Video clips refer to mostly short videos, most of the time called memes, which are short videos of silly jokes and funny clips, most of the time coming from movies or any entertainment videos such as YouTube. The term is also used more loosely to ...
in one of the palaces of the country's ex-dictator.
In the first month of the same year she was back on television, representing Turkey in a documentary prepared by SF (
Schweizer Fernsehen
Schweizer Fernsehen (SF; "Swiss Television") is the German-language division of SRG SSR, in charge of production and distribution of television programmes in Switzerland for German-speaking Switzerland. It has its head office in Zürich. ...
), the
Swiss
Swiss may refer to:
* the adjectival form of Switzerland
* Swiss people
Places
* Swiss, Missouri
* Swiss, North Carolina
*Swiss, West Virginia
* Swiss, Wisconsin
Other uses
*Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports
*Swiss Internation ...
television network. She has also been invited to
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
to play a role in television ads and for interviews.
Music album
Her first album, called ''Harmony'', was released in February 2010 after one year in preparations and contains sixteen songs, fourteen of which she wrote. The two other songs were written by her father İlhan Özay.
Personal life
Marriage
She married Italian businessman Ludovic Fattizzo on 12 May 2009 in
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
. They divorced in 2019.
Also in 2009, she made a notable appearance on the
catwalk
A fashion show ( French ''défilé de mode'') is an event put on by a fashion designer to showcase their upcoming line of clothing and/or accessories during a fashion week. Fashion shows debut every season, particularly the Spring/Summer and Fa ...
as the head model during a night organized by
Prince Albert of Monaco
Albert II – Website of the Palace of Monaco (Albert Alexandre Louis Pierre Grimaldi; born 14 March 1958) is Prince of Monaco, since 2005.
Albert was born at the Prince's Palace of Monaco, and he is the second child and only son of Prince Rai ...
featuring works by the
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
n clothes designer
Terrence Bray, in an event which was widely covered by the press.
Political views
Tuğba Özay is a member of
CHP, from Turkey's center-left political spectrum, and declares her left leaning opinions openly, as well as her strong views on hot topics in Turkey's political agenda such as the
headscarf controversy and
secularism
Secularism is the principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on Secularity, secular, Naturalism (philosophy), naturalistic considerations.
Secularism is most commonly defined as the Separation of church and state, separation of relig ...
.
Conviction
In 2004, Özay was sentenced to three months in prison for insulting police officers at the
full body scanner
A full-body scanner is a device that detects objects on or inside a person's body for security screening purposes, without physically removing clothes or making physical contact. Unlike metal detectors, full-body scanners can detect non-metal o ...
in
İzmir Adnan Menderes Airport
İzmir Adnan Menderes Airport ( tr, İzmir Adnan Menderes Havalimanı) is an international airport serving İzmir and most of the surrounding province in Turkey. It is named after former Turkish prime minister Adnan Menderes.
Overview
İzmir's ...
as she was returning form a presentation abroad. The court converted the imprisonment into a fine of 1,481.
In 2007, Özay was detained for five and half months during a trial with 51 suspects accused of forming an armed criminal organization for financial profit. She was released from detention on January 24, 2008. The trial concluded on December 7, 2012. The court convicted her of
criminal threatening
Intimidation is to "make timid or make fearful"; or to induce fear. This includes intentional behaviors of forcing another person to experience general discomfort such as humiliation, embarrassment, inferiority, limited freedom, etc and the victi ...
and sentenced her to one year and eight months in prison. She was acquitted of a hierarchical membership in the criminal organization or lending any assistance.
Discography
;Albums
;Singles
Filmography
Books
*
See also
*
Turkish women in sports
Turkish women have an active participation in many sports branches and have several important trophies, especially in athletics, weightlifting, combat sports, volleyball and basketball.
Participation in Olympics Pioneers
The first Turkish ...
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ozay, Tugba
Living people
1978 births
Models from Istanbul
Istanbul University alumni
Turkish female models
Turkish women's volleyball players
Fenerbahçe S.K. (women's volleyball) players
Turkish female swimmers
Galatasaray Swimming swimmers
20th-century Turkish actresses
Turkish prisoners and detainees
Turkish television actresses
Turkish film actresses
Actresses from Istanbul
Singers from Istanbul