Sibel Kekilli

At 43 years old, Sibel Kekilli has this physical status:

Sibel Kekilli (born 16 June 1980) is a German actress.

Since appearing in the 2004 film Head-On, she attracted a lot of attention.

For her appearances in Head-On and When We Leave (2010), she received two Lolas, one of Germany's most coveted film awards.

She became well-known for her role as Shae in HBO's Game of Thrones, beginning in 2011.

Early life

Kekilli was born and raised in Heilbronn, to a Turkish family. Her parents immigrated from Turkey in 1977 and were described by Kekilli as having a rather positive and open attitude. She began school with high marks at age 16, and she moved to become a licensed public administration specialist in the local city administration.

She continued to work as an administrative assistant for two more years at Heilbronn city hall, before moving to Essen, where she spent time as a bouncer, cleaner, waitress, nightclub manager, and pornographic film actress.

Personal life

Kekilli is a German writer who lives in Hamburg.

Since citizenship in Germany is primarily established by Jus sanguinis rather than Jus soli, she obtained Turkish rather than German citizenship and had to apply to the Turkish government for a marriage permit (for a planned marriage that ultimately did not take place).

In 2017, she blocked her Instagram account from being accessed in Turkey, claiming that users from the region had sent a slew of insult and threat messages. The senders were described as "greatoted, hypocrites, and full of hate," Kekilli said.

Kekilli supports Terre des Femmes in its fight against violence against women.

"I have experienced for myself that both physical and psychological assault are normal in a Muslim family," she said at an anti-domestic violence protest run by the Turkish newspaper Hürriyet in Berlin in December 2006. Sadly, violence is embedded in Islam's cultural heritage. The Turkish consul general left the room in response.

Kekilli gave a speech on harassment against women at the President of Germany's residence in Schloss Bellevue, in March 2015. The address attracted a lot of notice and applause in Germany for its emphatic message. The Friedrich Naumann Foundation named Kekilli "Author of Freedom" for the address in May 2015.

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Career

Kekilli appeared in a number of pornographic films from 2001–2002, including Josef Baumberger and Harry S. Morgan. Dilara was her stage name.

When she was shopping in Cologne in 2002, she was noticed by a casting director who had invited her to audition for a role in a film. She dominated the run in Head-On (German: Gegen die Wand) over a field of 350 candidates. The film was released in 2004 and was a huge success, winning multiple awards at film festivals. Filming in Turkey was strenuous for Kekilli personally, and she underwent an appendectomy.

Bild, a German tabloid newspaper, published Kekilli's earlier pornographic work a few months after it was announced. This sparked a public spectacle, and Kekilli's parents' call out of all contact with her has been stumbling. For her role in Head-On, she received the 2004 Bambi award for "best shooting actor." "Dreckige Hetzkampagne" ("dirty smear campaign") and "Mediengewaltigung" ("media rape") during her televised acceptance address. The Deutsche Press Council later reprimanded Bild-Zeitung for the way in which it covered the news.

Kekilli appeared in the Turkish coup d'état film Homecoming (Eve Dönüş) (2006), portraying the wife of a man who was illegally arrested and tortured. At the 2006 Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival, the actress received the Best Actress award. In the 2006 film The Last Train (German: Der letzte Zug), she appeared as a Jewish woman on the way to the Auschwitz concentration camp (German: Die Letzte Zug). When We Leave (Die Fremde), she portrayed Umay, a young Turkish woman who leaves Istanbul to return to her family in Berlin in 2009. In 2010, she was named the Lola for Best Actress for her role. In 2010, Kekilli appeared in HBO's Game of Thrones, an extension of George R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire novels.

Sarah Brandt, a year after debuting in a supporting role in the long-running crime series Tatort, became a permanent cast member as new investigator Sarah Brandt, assisting chief investigator Klaus Borowski. She expressed concern for her lack of being a character of foreign descent because she believes she has been typecast in the past. After 14 feature-length episodes, she left the Tatort franchise in 2017, citing a desire for change.

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Awards

• 2004 Lola for Best Actress in Head-On
• 2004 Bambi for Best "Shooting Star" in Head-On
• 2006 Golden Orange Prize for Best Actress in Home Coming
• 2010 Lola for Best Actress in When We Leave
• 2010 Tribeca Prize for Best Actress in When We Leave