Türkan Soray

Türkan Şoray—yeah, the S-cedilla is a whole thing—pretty much ruled the golden age of Turkish cinema. Born to a railway guy and a stay-at-home mom, she just kind of stumbled into acting at 15. She tagged along with her neighbor Emel Yıldız (who, fun fact, people called Panther Emel because she was big on animal rights) to a movie set. Wild twist: director Türker İnanoğlu spotted Türkan and suddenly, the lead role, which was supposed to go to Emel, went to Türkan instead in the film Köyde Bir Kız Sevdim back in 1960. Awkward for Emel, but hey, that’s showbiz. After that, Türkan just took off—she was everywhere in the ‘60s, stealing scenes and hearts, mostly because, well, she was drop-dead gorgeous and actually talented. But not every film was a hit; some flopped, especially when scripts started getting a bit samey. She got so popular that producers basically bent over backward for her, leading to what everyone called “The Rules of Türkan Şoray.” No nudity, no exhausting hours, penalties for breaking rules—you name it. No one really argued, since her movies made bank. She picked up a ton of awards, both local and international, and eventually the Turkish government even labeled her an “Artist of State.” In the ‘90s, she jumped into TV, starring in big hits like İkinci Bahar and Tatlı Hayat, and more recently, she’s been hosting a biographical cinema show on NTV. UNESCO made her a goodwill ambassador in 2010. On the personal front, she had a long-term thing with Rüçhan Adlı (never married, though), then married Cihan Ünal for a hot second in the ‘80s, and they share a daughter, Yağmur.