İlkay Özdemir (born 1981) is a Turkish stage magician.

Early years

In 2001, during her study of Economics at the university, she jobbed for

psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry. Psychiatrists are physicians who evaluate patients to determine whether their symptoms are the result of a physical illness, a combination of physical and mental ailments or strictly ...

Dr. Selim Başarır. Her employer, an experienced amateur magician, inspired her in

stage magic A stage illusion is a large-scale magic trick. As the name implies, stage illusions are distinct from other types of magic in that they are performed a considerable distance away from the audience, usually on a stage, in order to maintain the illu ...

. She amazed her friends with

card tricks Card manipulation, commonly known as card magic, is the branch of Magic (illusion), magic that deals with creating effects using sleight of hand techniques involving playing cards. Card manipulation is often used in magical performances, especia ...

she learned from Başarır. She improved her

repertoire Repertory or repertoire () is the list or set of works a person or company is accustomed to performing. Whether the English or French spelling is used has no bearing, but it was the French word, with an accent on the first e, , that first took ho ...

of card tricks with more tricks her mentor taught her. Some time later, he encouraged her to participate at international competitions. She won a first place in the card tricks category. In 2009, Selim Başarır would be honored with the Merlin Award of ''Best Magic Mentor''. Although earned success in many magic competitions, she hesitated a while to continue with a professional magician career because she felt she drew no sufficient attention in public. However, she abandoned the idea to pursue her mother's profession in

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. Pu ...

, and decided to devote herself wholly to

Career

İlkay Özdemir began her professional career in 2004. She took part in the Sinan Çetin's television show with magician

Uri Geller Uri Geller ( ; ; born 20 December 1946) is an Israeli-British illusionist, magician, television personality, and self-proclaimed psychic. He is known for his trademark television performances of spoon bending and other illusions. Geller use ...

. She regrets her participation because the illusion show of spoon bending by Uri Geller turned into a supposed psychic effect. She won the first prize at the 2004

Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

magic competition with the trick "Flames and Birds", which brought her the 2011 Merlin Award in the category "Best Female Magician of the Year", a prize given to a woman in the USA and Asia only. During a ceremony at the Turkish Patent Institute in November 2006, she amazed then Prime Minister

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician who is the 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as the 25th prime minister of Turkey, prime minister from 2003 to 2014 as part of the Jus ...

with her magic performance of cards, banknotes and doves. In December 2013, she performed an under-water escape show, in which she freed her chained hands and feet, and escaped in one minute and three seconds from a cage in a huge tank full of sharks at Istanbul Aquarium. The show was held in order to draw public attention to the endangered fish stock through pollution in the

Marmara Sea The Sea of Marmara, also known as the Sea of Marmora or the Marmara Sea, is a small inland sea entirely within the borders of Turkey. It links the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea via the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits, separating Turkey's E ...

. İlkay Özdemir is Turkey's first and the only female illusionist. Özdemir is considered the best performer of card tricks in Turkey. She used to perform magic shows every two weeks in a bar in

İstiklal Avenue İstiklal Avenue () is a 1.4 kilometre (0.87 mi) pedestrian street in the historic Beyoğlu (Pera) district in Istanbul, Turkey. It is one of the most famous avenues in the city. It acquired its modern name after the declaration of the Repub ...

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ozdemir, Ilkay 1981 births People from Amasya Turkish businesspeople Female magicians Turkish magicians Escapologists Living people 21st-century Turkish businesspeople 21st-century Turkish businesswomen