Tuğçe Kazaz (born 26 August 1982) is a Turkish actress, model and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned

Miss Turkey The Miss Turkey () is a national beauty pageant in Turkey. The pageant was founded in 1929, where the winners titled as Miss Turkey World, and Miss Turkey Supranational. History The Miss Turkey pageant was initially promoted by the newspa ...

2001.

Biography

Kazaz was born in Edremit,

Balıkesir Province Balıkesir Province () is a Provinces of Turkey, province and Metropolitan municipalities in Turkey, metropolitan municipality in northwestern Turkey with coastlines on both the Sea of Marmara and the Aegean Sea, Aegean. Its area is 14,583 km ...

. She was educated in

international relations International relations (IR, and also referred to as international studies, international politics, or international affairs) is an academic discipline. In a broader sense, the study of IR, in addition to multilateral relations, concerns al ...

at the

Yeditepe University Yeditepe University () is a private non-profit university situated in Istanbul, Turkey. Established by the Istanbul Education and Culture Foundation ('', İSTEK Vakfı'') in 1996, Yeditepe University now claims to be the largest of the 74 priva ...

in Istanbul. She acted as Arzu in the youth series ''Kampüsistan'' and period series "Son Yaz Balkanlar 1912" alongside Hazal Kaya,

Furkan Palalı Furkan Palalı (born 27 October 1986) is a Turkish actor and model who was chosen as the Best Model of Turkey in 2011. Since 2010, he has worked in both the national and international fashion industry and has pursued a career in acting, starting ...

. He had leading role in period film ''Uzun Hikaye'' alongside Kenan İmirzalıoğlu. She played in the Greek movie '' Loafing and Camouflage: Sirens in the Aegean'' where she met her ex-husband, George Seitaridis. Before her marriage in September 2005, she converted to

Orthodox Christianity Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pag ...

to be of the same religion as her husband, an act that caused some negative reaction in her country. She also said about her change of religion "only God can judge me". After 3 years of marriage she ended up divorcing and came back to her homeland. Kazaz became a

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

again. Kazaz stated that she quit smoking, drinking and night life, and claimed that she rejected an offer to be one of

Victoria's Secret Victoria's Secret is an American lingerie, clothing and beauty products, beauty retailer. Founded in 1977 by a Stanford graduate student and his wife, Roy Raymond, Roy and Gaye Raymond, the company's five lingerie stores were sold to Les Wexner i ...

's angels, according to a Turkish media. She was a keynote speaker in the anti-

LGBT LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...

protest in Istanbul, where she declared war on

LGBT rights Rights affecting lesbian, Gay men, gay, Bisexuality, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the Capital punishmen ...

Filmography

* '' Kampüsistan'' (2003), TV series *'' Loafing and Camouflage: Sirens in the Aegean'' (2005) * '' Uzun Hikâye'' (2012), Film * '' Son Yaz'' (2012), Film * '' Kafkas'' (2014), Film

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kazaz, Tugce 1982 births Living people Miss Turkey winners Miss World 2001 delegates People from Edremit, Balıkesir Deputies of Balıkesir Turkish film actresses Turkish female models Yeditepe University alumni Turkish Sunni Muslims Converts to Eastern Orthodoxy from Islam Converts to Sunni Islam from Eastern Orthodoxy Turkish people of Bosniak descent