Özay Fecht

Özay Fecht — Biography

Özay Fecht was born on November 29, 1953, in Istanbul. At eighteen she moved to Germany, and after failing the conservatory entrance exams she studied American philology while also attending a private mime school for two years. She worked with a theater company during the same period, gave her first jazz concert in Berlin in 1975, and went on to perform across Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the Netherlands.

After living in France for a time, she moved to New York, where she recorded a jazz album, before returning to Turkey in 1997. Her first leading film role, in 40 Square Meters Germany, brought her the German Film Award for Best Actress, and her performance in Erden Kıral's Blue Exile earned her the Turkish Film Critics Association's award for Best Supporting Actress. She has since appeared in numerous German and Turkish productions, including Zerre, Where Are You Going, Habibi?, Nuri Bilge Ceylan's The Wild Pear Tree, and Copilot, and wrote, directed and starred in two short films, "The Button" and "The Touch".

In the 1990s she collaborated musically with jazz artists Steve Lacy and John Betsch. Fecht speaks Turkish, German, English, French and Spanish.