Uğurkan Erez

Uğurkan Erez — Biography

Uğurkan Erez was born on August 24, 1954, in the Vize district of Kırklareli; because his mother, Zekiye Adalet Erez, worked at the district's Atatürk Primary School, he lived in Vize until age six. He lost his father, Nüzhet Erez, at nine, and has an older brother and sister. He attended Gazi Mustafa Kemal Paşa Primary, Kadıköy Kemal Atatürk Secondary and Fenerbahçe Lisesi, then graduated from the Faculty of Political Sciences at Şişli Academy of Commercial Sciences in 1975.

He interned in statistics in Amsterdam, worked in accounting at Beymen, served as cost-accounting chief at Philips after his military service, and rose to public-relations manager at Vepa; then opened his own agency to enter fashion, founding a choreography-modeling agency in 1998.

Regarded as one of Turkey's leading choreographers for Best Model, Miss Turkey and Elite Model Look, Erez has judged Huysuzla Dans Eder misin?, Bugün Ne Giysem, Bu Tarz Benim and İşte Benim Stilim, and sat on the jury of Fox TV's Stil Avcıları with Hakan Akkaya and Demet Şener.

Diagnosed with lung cancer in 2008, caught early and treated, Erez moved from İstanbul to the Kordonboyu neighborhood of İzmir after major surgery, returning a year later at friends' urging. He divorced his architect wife in 1990; they have a daughter.