Ayşenil Şamlıoğlu

Ayşenil Şamlıoğlu — Biography

Ayşenil Şamlıoğlu was born on 20 March 1956 in Istanbul's Ortaköy district, the daughter of tax official Servet Şamlıoğlu, later head of the Turkish Court of Accounts, and primary-school teacher Nezahat Şamlıoğlu; she grew interested in theatre while at Üsküdar Girls' High School. In 1974 she enrolled at Istanbul University's journalism faculty but left partway through to study languages in Frankfurt, where she performed with amateur theatre groups. Back in Turkey she studied architecture at METU before abandoning that too and completing the theatre department of Hacettepe University's Ankara State Conservatory in a single external year. She joined Adana State Theatre in 1982 and soon moved to Ankara State Theatre, winning a best-supporting-actress prize in 1988 for Afife Jale. From 1995 she also turned to directing, earning several director-of-the-year honours for productions such as Benimkinin Adı Regine and Pazartesi-Perşembe. A play she wrote, Kaçıklık Diploması, was adapted for film by Tunç Başaran. On television she first became known through Ferhunde Hanımlar and Bizim Evin Halleri, and reached a wider public as Hafize in Yol Arkadaşım. She led the Istanbul City Theatres as general art director from 2009 to 2012, later working in series such as Jet Sosyete, Hizmetçiler, Menajerimi Ara and Yargı, and now teaches acting at Istanbul Aydın University.