Gülse Birsel was born on 11 March 1971 in Istanbul as the third child of Gültekin and Semiha Şener. Her great grandmother is of Circassian descent from Varto.[2] Her father was a lawyer, while her mother was a housewife.[3] Her name was chosen from the first syllables of the names of her mother and father.[4] Her elder brother Bozkurt is fifteen years her senior, while her elder sister Dilek is thirteen years older than her.[4][5][6] Her older brother is an ophthalmologist and a former national volleyball player.[7][8] She finished her secondary education at Beyoğlu Anadolu High School.[9] She was thinking of acting as a profession until the end of high school.[4][10] However, with the wish of her family, she first studied at Boğaziçi University, Department of Economics.[4][9] Between 1994 and 1996, she completed her MFA at Columbia University.[4][9]
Career
During her second year attending university, Gülse Birsel started working for Aktüel magazine.[4][9] Upon her return to Turkey in 1996, she started working at ATV, writing the foreign news bulletins for three months. A year later she was appointed editor-in-chief of Esquire Turkey magazine.[3] From December 1997 to 2003, she was editor-in-chief of Harper's Bazaar Turkey.[3] She worked as a columnist in Sabah newspaper from 2002 to 2012.[3][9] During this period, she also worked as general coordinator in FHM, Gezi, Harper's Bazaar and House Beautiful.[11] In March 6, 2002, she made her television debut on ATV's g.a.g..[3][12] In March 2003, she published the scenario for g.a.g. together with the articles she had previously written in a book titled Gayet Ciddiyim.[3] Until February 11, 2004, she served as the presenter and writer of g.a.g..[9]
In March 2003, together with Levent Özdilek, she played in a leading role in ATV's series Eyvah! Eski Kocam, but the show was canceled after the second episode.[3][11][13] In February 2004, she started working as both an actress and scenarist for ATV's series Avrupa Yakası.[3] She shared the leading role with Gazanfer Özcan, Hümeyra and Ata Demirer.[14] In May 2004, her second book Hâlâ Ciddiyim was published.[15] She made her cinematic debut in 2005, with the movie Hırsız Var!.[9][16] Her third book, Yolculuk Nereye Hemşerim?, was released in August 2005.[15] In April 2008, she carried the 2008 Summer Olympics torch in Istanbul.[17][18] In 2009, she appeared in her first cinematic role in the movie 7 Kocalı Hürmüz.[9]
Avrupa Yakası ended in June 2009.[9] Birsel's fourth book Velev ki Ciddiyim! was released in December 2009,[19] followed by her fifth book Yazlık in June 2011.[20][21] In January 2012, she began working as an actress and scenarist on Kanal D's series Yalan Dünya, which lasted for four seasons.[9] She shared the leading role with Altan Erkekli, Füsun Demirel and Olgun Şimşek. In Mart 2013, she started working as a columnist for Hürriyet.[9] In 2015, she became one of the judges on TV8's contest Komedi Türkiye.[22][23] Her sixth book, Memleketi Ben Kurtaracağım! was released in November 2015.[24]
Her first feature film, Aile Arasında, in which she served as both scenarist and actress was released in December 2017.[25] In February 2018, she started working as a scenarist and lead actress on Star TV's comedy series Jet Sosyete.[26] In October 2019, Birsel announced her resignation from her post as a columnist for Hürriyet newspaper.[27]
Birsel wrote and starred in Yılbaşı, which released on Disney+ in December 2022.[28]
Personal life
In August 1999, Gülse Birsel married columnist and TV programmer Murat Birsel in Cannes, France. The two met through Ayşe Arman.[3][12] Birsel, who has said that she is not suitable for motherhood, has no children.[5] Birsel and her husband live in Nişantaşı.[5] In August 2014, her mother Semiha Şener passed away.[6]
