Serenay Sarıkaya
Serenay Sarıkaya (; born 1 July 1992) is a Turkish actress and model. Sarıkaya made her acting debut with a minor part in the movie "Şaşkın" (2006) and later starred in the film "Plajda" (2008). In the same year she appeared in the television series "Peri Masalı" (2008) directed by Sinan Çetin and was later prepared by him for her first leading role in "Limon Ağacı" (2008). She later appeared in "Adanalı" (2008–10). Sarıkaya became the first runner-up at Miss Turkey 2010. She came to international attention for her roles in "Lale Devri" (2010–12) and "Medcezir" (2013–15) and  received critical acclaim and won numerous accolades, including two Golden Butterfly Awards. She continued her movie career with a role in "Behzat Ç. Ankara Yanıyor" (2013). In addition to her acting career, Sarıkaya has appeared in many advertising films and is the face of numerous brands. In 2014, she was chosen as the Woman of the Year by "GQ Turkey". Early life. Serenay Sarıkaya was born on 1 July 1992 in Ankara to Seyhan Umran and Mustafa Sarikaya. She resided with her family in Antalya until the age of 7 when her parents separated. After her father's remarriage, she  moved to Istanbul with her mother. She later described her experience of growing up without her father in an interview: "For a little girl, father is a special factor in her evolution. Growing up without your father is a big experience". At that time, when they wanted to decide about their living in Antalya or Istanbul, Sarıkaya told her mother that she wanted to become an actress and made her mother move to Istanbul. Sarıkaya later studied at Antalya Saime Salih Konca High School and although she wanted to continue her studies in university, she hasn't received any degree  yet. During her childhood, Sarıkaya wanted to become a model. She has been an avid player of volleyball and also frequently takes part in basketball. She is also interested in tennis and Latin dance. At the age 15, Sarıkaya participated in the European Junior Beauty Contest held in the Czech Republic and received a special prize from the jury. Career. 2006–12: Cinema movies and TV series. In 2006, after receiving a special prize from the jury at the European Youth Beauty Competition held in the Czech Republic, she took part in the film "Şaşkın" directed by Şahin Alpaslan and portrayed  the character Itır. In 2008, she starred in an advertising film for "Turkcell" and then acted in her second movie "Plajda" produced by Sinan Çetin and directed by Murat Şeker. She played the character Aslı in this movie. She was then prepared by Çetin for her first leading role in a TV series titled "Peri Masalı" directed by Celal Çimen. She portrayed the fairy godmother Talya. Her co-stars included Ayşen Gruda, Altan Günbay and Şahap Sayılgan. At the same year she starred in the TV series "Limon Ağacı" alongside Kaan Urgancıoğlu. It was again produced by Sinan Çetin and  directed by Deniz Ergun. After the tenth episode, Sarıkaya's character Peri was removed from the storyline. In 2008, Sarıkaya began to take part in the TV series "Adanalı", which was created by Tayfun Güneyer and directed by Adnan Güler. The starring cast included Oktay Kaynarca, Mehmet Akif Alakurt and Selin Demiratar. She played the role of Oktay Kaynarca's Greek-Turkish daughter named Sofia and received critical acclaim for mix Greek-Adana accent. She competed in the national beauty contest of Miss Turkey on 1 April 2010, representing the National Capital, Ankara. She was placed as the first runner -up to the eventual winner, Gizem Memiç, representing Gaziantep, and earned the right to represent Turkey on the Miss Universe contest. However, she dropped this chance as she wanted to continue her acting career and Gizem Memiç took her place instead. Sarıkaya left the cast of "Adanalı" at its second season and instead started to act in another TV series titled "Lale Devri", produced by Şükrü Avşar and directed by Murat Düzgünoğlu. She portrayed the character of Yeşim Taşkıran. Her co-stars included Tolgahan Sayışman and Hatice Aslan. She sang a song in an episode of this series that attracted  the audience and received proposals for making an album. Sarıkaya said that she had discovered her talent in music with the help of her friend and was trained to improve her sound. In an interview she was offered to record an album on which she replied: "The offers are correct. Fees aren't bad. But I'm not going to sing. My job is acting". She starred in a short film in 2011 titled "Hoşçakal". In 2012, after finishing the second season of "Lale Devri", she decided to leave the series and due to her contract left the series at  the beginning of the third season. 2013–present: "Behzat Ç. Ankara Yanıyor", "Medcezir" and other projects. In May 2013, Sarıkaya began shooting for "Behzat Ç. Ankara Yanıyor", a cinema movie adapted from the television series "Behzat Ç. Bir Ankara Polisiyesi". She portrayed the character Melisa. In the same year, Sarıkaya, alongside Çağatay Ulusoy, acted in the series "Medcezir", which is based on the original American series "The O.C.". The scenario was written by Ece Yörenç and the series was directed by Ali Bilgin. Sarıkaya's character Mira Beylice, was an adaptation from one of the original series' characters, Marissa Cooper . In 2014, she appeared in an advertising film for Elidor alongside her "Medcezir" co-star, Hazar Ergüçlü. In March of the same year, she appeared in another advertising film for the brand Thor directed by an Icelander. She later became the face of Mavi Jeans after signing a two-year contract. For the promotion of the spring-summer collection of this brand, Sarıkaya shot commercials alongside the famous Brazilian model Francisco Lachowski. At the September of the same year, she again appeared in an advertising film for the same brand. The action scenes involved in the advertising film was shot  in three days. Sarıkaya, filmed another advertisement in 2016 for Mavi with Barbara Palvin. For the promotion of 2015 spring-summer collection of the Mavi Jeans, Sarıkaya went in front of the camera with Kerem Bürsin. Sarıkaya and Bürsin's joint singing in the commercials received a positive response from the audience. In 2017–18, Sarıkaya played the character Duru in the series "Fi", which is based on a series of novels by Azra Kohen. Fi was one of the first major television productions in Turkey to be streamed online by puhutv. In a radio program she joined, Azra Kohen, announced  that she decided to stop the series that was supposed to be four seasons at the second season, as she believed the show was telling a different story portrayed in the book. From 2017 to 2018, Sarıkaya was the brand ambassador for Head and Shoulders, filming various campaigns and awareness projects with the brand. In 2019, she made her theatrical debut as Alice with the musical "Alice Müzikali", an adaptation of Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland". The show first went on stage in February 2019 and returned for a second season in September 2019.After a break due  to the pandemic, Alice once again returned to the stage on 7 February, 2022, with Serenay Sarikaya as the main character, Alice. Serenay was cast to film a biographical movie called Bergen, detailing the life of singer Belgin Sarilmiser. However, due to filming difficulties from the coronavirus and other factors she had to leave her role as Bergen. In 2021, Serenay became the first ever Turkish brand ambassador for the Bvlgari brand.