Defne Joy Foster

Defne Joy Foster — Biography

As a Turkish television personality, Defne Joy Foster came up as a music-channel VJ in the mid-1990s and spent the next fifteen years combining presenting with acting. She was best known for playing Eda in the series Sihirli Annem, which began in 2003. The daughter of a Turkish mother and an American NATO officer, she died in Istanbul on 2 February 2011, aged 35.

Born at İncirlik Air Base, Foster stayed with her mother in İzmir after her parents separated, graduated from Fatih High School in 1992 and did not continue her studies. She appeared on screen for the first time in 1996 as a VJ on Kral TV, then hosted music programmes on a range of channels. Acting came next: a guest part in Ruhsar, then supporting roles in Beyaz Yalanlar and Dadı. She kept presenting alongside it, fronting Bir İş İçin Lazım on TV8 with Cemil Büyükdöğerli, Çeyiz Şov on TRT 1 and Zula on Kanal 7, and in 2002 she was a team captain on the game show Altıncı His.

Her widest recognition as an actor came with Sihirli Annem; later she played Pandora in Selena and Gizem in Hayal ve Gerçek. In 2008 she married a cinematographer she had met at work, and the couple had a son in 2009 and ran a hotel in Assos for two seasons. Her final television project was the dance competition Yok Böyle Dans, presented by Acun Ilıcalı: she joined in 2010 and was eliminated in fourth place in January 2011. She died in Istanbul on 2 February 2011, aged 35.