Tuğçe Güder

Tuğçe Güder — Biography

Tuğçe Güder is a model best known for being chosen Best Model of Turkey in 2005 and often described as the country's first Black model. Born to a Sudanese family, she was adopted as a baby by a Turkish couple and grew up in Turkey. Today she is remembered both for her modelling and for the public interest her own life story has drawn.

Her career began in her university years: while studying at Boğaziçi University she entered and won a beauty contest, which opened the way to the runway. Her real breakthrough came in 2005, when she was named Turkey's best model in an annual international competition and represented her country at the Best Model of the World final. She did not stay with modelling alone and tried acting as well, appearing in a short role in Cem Yılmaz's 2004 comedy G.O.R.A. and, in later years, in the series Love Is in the Air.

In 2008 she married restaurant owner Uğur Karas, used the surname Karas for a time and became a mother at the end of 2009. She supports charity work aimed at raising awareness for neglected children.