16.03.2018
Text: Melikşah Altuntaş
Illustration: Saydan Akşit
Farah Zeynep Abdullah became a popular name with television series Öyle Bir Geçer Zaman Ki, and her following acting work with important directors since made her one of the young stars of Turkish cinema and television. Aside from being one of the jury members of this year’s Akbank Short Film Festival, Abdullah will also give a talk session on her acting experiences.
Approaching her 30’s, young and talented actress Farah Zeynep Abdullah has started her career in her early 20s, taking important roles in five films as well as many roles in television series, making her a household name of both screens.
Making her star shine as Aylin from Öyle Bir Geçer Zaman Ki series, Abdullah became a television phenomenon in no time and continued to play the same character for several seasons, sharing the lead with names such as Ayça Bingöl, Erkan Petekkaya, Aras Bulut İynemli and Mete Horozoğlu.
Actor, writer and director Yılmaz Erdoğan’s technical marvel The Butterfly’s Dream, an important example of Turkish mainstream cinema, was Abdullah’s debut on the silver screen. Her emotional performance brought her the Best Supporting Actress award from Turkish Cinema Writers Association, SİYAD.
2014 saw Abdullah’s successful performances on both television and cinema, with her return to television in Kurt, Seyit and Şura series, in which she shared the lead with Kıvanç Tatlıtuğ, her co-star from The Butterfly’s Dream. Abdullah’s performance in the lead role of scenarist-director Kerem Deren’s twisty romantic drama Bi Küçük Eylül Meselesi, played an important part in the film’s considerable box-office success. Same year also saw Abdullah sharing the lead with Mehmet Günsür, Kerem Bürsin and Hümeyra in eccentric director Çağan Irmak’s period film Whisper If I Forget.
In all of the cinema films and television series of Abdullah’s career, there are only two that were not period productions. In almost of all of her roles, Abdullah gave life to a woman from another decade or even another century. This tradition continued in 2015 with Yılmaz Erdoğan’s Sour Apples. Abdullah’s nuanced portrayal of Muazzez made her one of the brightest stars in Erdoğan’s partly autobiographic film.
In 2016, Farah Zeynep Abdullah returned back once more to television with another period series, Muhteşem Yüzyıl: Kösem, and this time the setting was an Ottoman palace. In Cem Yılmaz’s humorous film filled with brilliant ideas and past references, Arif V216, which already became one of the top box office hits of 2018, Abdullah was on the silver screen again, this time as Turkish pop-star Ajda Pekkan. Abdullah portrayed another similar music star in Çağan Irmak’s Whisper If I Forget, in which she also sang for the soundtrack with her own voice. Her musical talent was displayed in full glory in Arif V216’s soundtrack as well.
Farah Zeynep Abdullah’s latest role was back on television, in Çağan Irmak’s Gülizar series as the lead. During this year’s Akbank Short Film Festival, Abdullah will be sharing her experiences about working with various important directors and writers as well as the tens of characters she portrayed in a short time, in a talk session scheduled.