Biographie
Hülya Avsar is a Kurdish-Turkish actress, pop folk singer, entrepreneur, columnist, fashion designer, magazine editor, amateur tennis player, and former beauty pageant winner.
She graduated from Ankara Cumhuriyet High School and began competitive swimming for DSI. In 1982, she and her family relocated to Istanbul. Avsar participated in a beauty contest organized by Bulvar magazine, where she was initially crowned the winner. However, her title was later revoked upon discovery that she had been briefly married. In 1983, she made her acting debut in the film Haram. Over the years, she appeared in more than 70 films and received the Best Actress award at the 18th Moscow International Film Festival. Additionally, she launched a singing career, performing a nationwide concert tour and releasing eight albums along with two singles.
In 2000, Avsar received the Best Female Singer award from Kral TV. That same year, she contributed as a columnist for Günaydin newspaper and served as editor of Hülya, a monthly magazine. She plays tennis recreationally and won the TED 2001 tennis tournament. Avsar has also been a television personality, serving as a coach and judge on The Voice during its first two seasons from 2011 to 2013.
Since 2009, Avsar has been a judge on Turkey's Got Talent (Yetenek Sizsiniz Türkiye). She held the position of editor-in-chief for Hülya magazine for eight years. She is also the founder of the Turkish luxury brand "by H," which is distinct from the similarly named New York-based clothing store.
Hülya Avsar was born in Edremit, Balikesir, to a Kurdish father from Ardahan with mixed Assyrian, Jewish, Persian, Armenian, and Turkic heritage, and a mother from Edremit. During the Ottoman Empire's decline, part of her maternal family, of Turkish descent, immigrated from Crete, Greece, while another part belongs to the Yörük, a Turkic ethnic subgroup. On a television show, she revealed that her father's Kurdish name is Ello and her Kurdish birth name is Malakan. In 2015, Avsar confirmed in her own TV program that her father was Kurdish and her Kurdish name is Malakan. In 1979, she married Mehmet Tecirli, an engineering student, but they divorced shortly after. She married Kaya Çilingiroglu in 1997; they divorced in 2005 and have one daughter named Zehra. Between 2007 and 2010, she dated former European Golden Shoe winner Tanju Çolak and businessman Sadettin Saran.
