Özge Yağız

The training behind the scenes

Özge Yağız did not spend her adolescence in drama schools or dream of treading the boards at a conservatory. She graduated in Communication Sciences from Başkent University, and her first professional steps pointed toward the field of dietetics. But advertising agencies' interest in her look changed the course of her career before she turned twenty.

In 2018, she landed a supporting role in the series Adını Sen Koy. It was a brief stint in which she played Zeliha, and there she learned that the camera demanded a restraint she possessed naturally. She picked up the craft on the fly, among spotlights and high-voltage cables.

Turkish television rarely forgives rookie mistakes.

In 2019, the project that defined her public image for years came along. The daily series Yemin put her at the center of a dense plot in which she played Reyhan, a woman trapped in a marriage by promise. The production drew massive ratings in more than thirty countries, and her face became a regular fixture in entertainment magazines across Eastern Europe and Latin America.

The risks of professional independence

Despite the massive success of the series, she decided to leave the project in 2020 at the end of the second season. Many industry analysts called it career suicide, since audiences of daily series tend to be extremely loyal and punish the departure of lead characters. But she was looking for shorter formats with better production quality.

The risk was high.

In 2020, she joined the cast of Sol Yanım to play Serra. The series did not meet audience expectations and ended abruptly after twelve episodes. It was her first serious setback in the industry and forced her to rethink how she selected scripts in a market that produces more than fifty scripted shows a year.

Then came the chance to work with the veterans. In 2022, she landed the role of Büşra Saruhan in the series Baba. Sharing the set with Haluk Bilginer gave her a crash course in technique that definitively moved her away from the stock acting mannerisms of afternoon soap operas.

Maturing on the film set

In 2023, she took on the role of Feraye in Safir. Filming moved to the landscapes of Cappadocia, and the physical demands of outdoor shoots during winter tested her endurance. The plot centered on a complex love triangle that called for a much darker dramatic range than her previous work.

Meanwhile, international markets kept asking for her presence in comedies and light dramas. So in 2021, she joined İçimizden Biri, playing Havva, a young woman in a multicultural relationship who clashed with traditional family values. The series barely lasted six episodes due to fierce competition on Tuesday nights.

The Turkish industry rewards persistence over pure talent.

In 2024, she appeared in the film Beyaz Eşya directed by Hakan Türkşen. The project was conceived as a comedy of errors, far removed from the grand ambitions of prime-time television dramas. The film was shot entirely on location in Istanbul with a tight budget by the standards of global streaming platforms.

The distribution contract for this latter film was closed for a figure close to two million Turkish lira for exploitation in secondary digital markets.