Tuba Büyüküstün

Tuba Büyüküstün — Biography

Tuba Büyüküstün was born in İstanbul on July 5, 1982. She studied stage design and costume design at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, appeared in commercials during her student years, and turned to acting at the encouragement of director Tomris Giritlioğlu. She debuted on screen in 2003 in the final episodes of Sultan Makamı, made her name in 2004 as Zarife in Çemberimde Gül Oya, and that same year won a Best Actress prize at a festival held in Serbia-Montenegro for the television film Gülizar.

She broke through in both television and film in 2005 with Ihlamurlar Altında and Babam ve Oğlum, then built a large following across the Middle East as the lead of Asi from 2007 to 2009, a series shortlisted for best drama at a Monte-Carlo television festival. Her role in 20 Dakika (2013) made her the first Turkish actor nominated for an International Emmy, and her performance in Kara Para Aşk (2014) brought her a women's-acting prize at Italy's Giuseppe Sciacca awards; that same year she took on the role of UNICEF's goodwill representative in Turkey. After roles in Cesur ve Güzel, Sefirin Kızı, and Rise of Empires: Ottoman, the first Turkish series recorded in English, she starred in the Netflix series Zeytin Ağacı, which set viewership records among Turkish productions on the platform.

Büyüküstün married actor Onur Saylak in Paris in 2011; the couple had twin daughters, Maya and Toprak, in 2012, and divorced in 2017.