Saadet Işıl Aksoy[pronunciation?] (born 29 August 1983) is a Turkish actress, who received critical acclaim with her portrayal of Aska, a red-haired punk trumpet player in Italian actor-director Sergio Castellitto's film Twice Born, in which she co-starred with Penélope Cruz and Emile Hirsch. Christy Lemire described her as "the striking Saadet Aksoy" in her Twice Born review,[3] and film critic David Rooney stated, "Saadet Aksoy brings a subdued fieriness to her scenes as a Bosnian woman" in The Hollywood Reporter.[4] In his article on Variety, Boyd Van Hoeij wrote, "Turkish thesp Saadet Aksoy impresses in a supporting role as a spunky Yugoslav local" about her performance in Twice Born.[5]
Sergio Castellitto explained his first encounter with Aksoy in an article on Vogue Turkey with these words: "Saadet, the first time I met you it was through the internet. I had accidentally 'fallen' on a movie trailer. I actually don’t remember anything of that trailer, of that movie. Yet I remember that I saw a woman turning her head abruptly to the camera, her blue eyes burning everything in that framing, blasting the reverse shot."[6]
Her recent performance as Remziye in the 2018 movie Saf was described on Filmuforia as "SAF is carried forward by the sheer brilliance of Saadet Isil Aksoy whose Remziye acts in an enlightened and humanitarian way when the chips are down."[7] In his article about Saf on The Film Stage, Jared Mobarak wrote: "Aksoy carries the rest of the film through an authentic progression from indignation to shame and ultimately to clarity.[8]
Aksoy was born in Istanbul to İnci Aksoy, a retired chief police inspector,[12] and Anıl Aksoy, a retired police chief.[13] She talks about the strong female figures in her family in an interview saying: "My mom and grandma have been my two role models. Both have stood out in life not only with their physical beauty but they have also been successful in their careers and been respected in life thanks to their identities and personalities."[14] Her grandmother Münire Şahinbaş was one of the first female business magnates in Turkey.[15][16]
Aksoy has two older brothers.[13] In an interview she described her childhood and what cinema meant for her even at a young age: "There were always certain rules in the family. Even though my brothers and I were having so much fun together, I was also quite introverted. Movies were what took me away to completely different lands, and cinema has always amazed me since my childhood."[17]
She takes her first name Saadet from her paternal grandmother who died before she was born.[18] The word saadet means 'bliss' in English.[19]
Education and career
Saadet Aksoy studied English language and literature at Boğaziçi University in Istanbul.[citation needed] She took part in such TV projects in Turkey as Güz Yangını, Esir Kalpler, Senden Başka, Kalpsiz Adam, Sınıf, Balkan Düğünü and Muhteşem Yüzyıl.[20] Her theatre appearances include the Turkish version of Steel Magnolias staged by the theatre director Mehmet Ergen[21] and the Turkish version of Shoot/Get Treasure/Repeat originally written by British playwright Mark Ravenhill.[22]
Aksoy's latest projects include Saf by Ali Vatansever, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2018,[28]Passed by Censor by Serhat Karaaslan, which was released in 2019, and Iguana Tokyo by Kaan Müjdeci, recently in post-production.
^Lemire, Christy (6 December 2013). "Twice Born". Roger Ebert. Archived from the original on 24 September 2024. Retrieved 29 January 2014.
^Rooney, David (18 September 2012). "Twice Born: Toronto Review". Hollywood Reporter. Toronto. Archived from the original on 16 March 2014. Retrieved 29 January 2014.
^Van Hoeij, Boyd (23 September 2012). "Review: 'Twice Born'". Variety. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 8 December 2017.
^"Saadet Isil Aksoy". L'Oreal Paris Turkey (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 6 February 2015. Retrieved 21 January 2014.
^Umar, Leyla (4 January 2011). "Polis kızı olmak zor!". Gazete Vatan (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 1 February 2014. Retrieved 29 January 2014.
^ abArman, Serkan (3 August 2012). "Turizmde Saadet Var". Ekonomi. Milliyet (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 3 February 2014. Retrieved 29 January 2014.
