Jeyan Mahfi Ayral Tözüm

Jeyan Mahfi Ayral Tözüm — Biography

Born on 6 August 1928 in Istanbul, Jeyan Mahfi Ayral Tözüm was the daughter of stage and screen actor Necdet Mahfi Ayral, who drew her unusual first name — meaning a lion's roar in Persian — from the Kamûs-ı Türkî. After graduating from Beyoğlu Girls' High School, she devoted herself to acting; she had in fact first stepped on stage at the age of three, cast by Muhsin Ertuğrul in Ibsen's Peer Gynt, and she remained with the Istanbul City Theatres until her retirement.

Tözüm began dubbing at ten and became one of the defining voices of Yeşilçam, lending her voice to stars such as Türkan Şoray, Filiz Akın, Fatma Girik, Hülya Koçyiğit and Müjde Ar. In 1954 she stepped away from cinema to concentrate on theatre and voice work, also spending some years as a radio commercial announcer. In 2005 she received the Bilge Olgaç Achievement Award at the Flying Broom International Women's Film Festival. Married to sound engineer Rauf Tözüm, with whom she had a daughter, İris, she died in Istanbul on 29 October 2023.