Esra Bilgiç

Esra Bilgiç was born on 14 October 1992 in Ankara, the elder of two children. At age 8 she performed in children's plays at courses run by the Mamak Municipality, and at 10 she began playing the violin. In 2011 she was admitted on a half scholarship to the International Relations department of Bilkent University, and she also studied Archaeology at Hacettepe University and law at Marmara University. She trained as an actress in London, where she took six months of courses. She began her acting career in 2014 with the role of Halime Hatun in the TRT 1 series "Diriliş: Ertuğrul" (Resurrection: Ertuğrul), in which she appeared until 2018 (116 episodes) alongside Engin Altan Düzyatan — the role that brought her worldwide fame. She also appeared in the series "Bir Umut Yeter" (2018, as Derya Akar), "Ramo" (2020–2021, as Sibel Yıldırım, 40 episodes), and "Kanunsuz Topraklar" (2021–2022, lead role of Gülfem Paşazade alongside Uğur Güneş), and in the film "Adanış: Kutsal Kavga" (2022, as Cemre). In 2023–2024 she played Madame Corinne in "Atatürk 1881 - 1919" and its sequel, and in 2024 Nevra in the series "The Doors of Time" (20 episodes). In 2022 she appeared in a Victoria's Secret commercial for the "Love Cloud" collection. Besides acting, she works in fashion design. In 2015 she began dating footballer Gökhan Töre; the couple married on 21 October 2017, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and First Lady Emine Erdoğan attending the wedding. The marriage ended in divorce on 17 June 2019.