Sanem Çelik

Sanem Çelik — Biography

Sanem Çelik is an actress who came to acting from ballet and made her name from the late 1990s as one of Turkish television's most memorable villainesses, Yasemin Saylan in Kara Melek. Her most decorated work came in cinema with Filler ve Çimen and on television with Aliye; in recent years she has returned to the screen as Dilşah in Aşk ve Gözyaşı and as Kumru in the web series Leyla Hâli.

She started ballet school at eight and spent about twelve years at the Istanbul University State Conservatory as a soloist and company dancer. She then moved to the theater department of the same school, studied under Yıldız Kenter and Haldun Dormen, and graduated in 1999. She appeared in commercials, voiced animated films and in 1998 danced and sang in a musical.

She entered cinema in 1996 as Emine in Yaban and won best supporting actress at the Adana Golden Boll festival. Kara Melek (1997) made her a household name. Derviş Zaim's Filler ve Çimen (2001) brought her best actress awards at five competitions, the Golden Orange among them, and in 2003 she played Queen Puduhepa in the documentary Hititler. Aliye (2004-2006) earned many further awards. After courses in Los Angeles she came back in 2008 with Güldünya, followed by Balık, Behzat Ç. Ankara Yanıyor, İnadına Yaşamak, Eşkıya Dünyaya Hükümdar Olmaz and Bir Litre Gözyaşı.