Early career in fashion

Tuğba Özay took her first steps into the world of fashion in a non-professional manner, having been selected in 1994 for a fashion show by the designer Ayla Eryüksel. Özay was soon remarked and shortly afterwards she started her professional career in fashion with a show by the Turkish clothing brand Vakko. In the same year, she also appeared on the TV series "Sonradan Görmeler" (The Upstarts) broadcast on TRT, the national public broadcaster of Turkey.

In 1995, she was elected "Miss Model of Turkey", and then became the first runner-up to the Miss Model of the World in the final contest. She was also chosen in the contest as the contestant who had the best body. She pursued her modelling career in Paris for seven months in 1996 but later chose to concentrate on a more Turkey-oriented career. Following her return to Turkey, she made a contract with the panties brand Müjde Parizien and became the "Parizien Leg Girl" for three years.

TV series

In 1997 and 1998, Tuğba Özay starred in the TV series Hemşerim (My Countryman) and Aynalı Tahir. At the end of 1999 she was noticed by the Turkish film director Türker İnanoğlu and through his advice and suggestions, she played important roles in such TV series as Zehirli Çiçek (Poisoned Flower), Yapayalnız (All Alone), Bizim Otel (Our Hotel) and Çiçek Taksi in the following years. Pursuing her modelling career at the same time as starring in TV series, she soon became one of the wealthiest in her profession in Turkey. She also received numerous awards as a model. It was around this time that her biography and lifestyle was covered by a team from BBC Television for a programme in the cycle of This World series in which she was the representative from Turkey, alongside prominent political figures from other Islamic countries.

Another landmark of her television career came when she took part in the Turkish version of the gameshow The Wheel of Fortune assisting the presenter Mehmet Ali Erbil. She also presented two other entertainment shows of her own.

She resumed theater acting, somewhat neglected since her school years, in the 2000s. She had a part in Dün Gece Ormanda Çok Komik Birşey Oldu (Something funny happened in the woods yesternight) under the theater director Ferhan Şensoy and the play was a success. She pursued her theatre career with the play Tanıştırayım, Burası Türkiye (Let Me Introduce You to Turkey), a cabaret for which she had chosen the title herself and in which she also sang a song. The play was performed by the private group Abdullah Şahin Nokta Theatre and it was also well received by the audiences.

2007 ordeals

At the peak of her career in 2007, complicated series of events led to her being sentenced to imprisonment. She spent five and a half months in Istanbul's Paşakapısı Prison for Women and Juveniles. She was productive even in prison, where she kept a regular diary, on the basis of which she published her prison souvenirs in novelized form, titled "Bedel" (The Pay Off), soon after her release in June 2008. The book was a bestseller in Turkey.

Fitness video

Another step in Özay's career was the release of a fitness video called "Fitness with Tuğba Özay" which sold around 30,000 copies. After a while she published a catalogue named "Best of Tuğba Özay" to mark her tenth anniversary in her modelling career. With the catalogue's revenues, Tuğba Özay financed the reconstruction of a school in the town of Çubuk near Ankara which was destroyed by a 2004 hurricane disaster. For this action she was honoured and awarded by Turkey's Minister of National Education of the time.

Saddam's Soldiers

Her first feature movie, Saddam's Soldiers (Saddam'ın Askerleri'), in which she plays the leading role was released in 2009. Back in 2003, Özay had already made the headlines in relation to Iraq when she became the first international artist to have succeeded in obtaining a permission for shooting a video clip in one of the palaces of the country's ex-dictator.^[2]

In the first month of the same year she was back on television, representing Turkey in a documentary prepared by SF (Schweizer Fernsehen), the Swiss television network. She has also been invited to Israel to play a role in television ads and for interviews.

Music album

Her first album, called Harmony, was released in February 2010 after one year in preparations and contains sixteen songs, fourteen of which she wrote. The two other songs were written by her father İlhan Özay.

Marriage

She married Italian businessman Ludovic Fattizzo on 12 May 2009 in Milan. They divorced in 2019.

Also in 2009, she made a notable appearance on the catwalk as the head model during a night organized by Prince Albert of Monaco featuring works by the South African clothes designer Terrence Bray, in an event which was widely covered by the press.^[3][4]

Political views

Tuğba Özay is a member of CHP, from Turkey's center-left political spectrum, and declares her left leaning opinions openly, as well as her strong views on hot topics in Turkey's political agenda such as the headscarf controversy and secularism.^[5]

Conviction

In 2004, Özay was sentenced to three months in prison for insulting police officers at the full body scanner in Adnan Menderes Airport, Izmir as she was returning form a presentation abroad. The court converted the imprisonment into a fine of ₺1,481.^[6]

In 2007, Özay was detained for five and half months during a trial with 51 suspects accused of forming an armed criminal organization for financial profit. She was released from detention on January 24, 2008. The trial concluded on December 7, 2012. The court convicted her of criminal threatening and sentenced her to one year and eight months in prison. She was acquitted of a hierarchical membership in the criminal organization or lending any assistance.^[6]