Aylin Tezel is a German actress and dancer. Her father is a Turkish medical doctor practicing in Bielefeld, Germany. Her mother is a German nurse. She is a middle child, having an older sister and a younger brother. She is most known for her main role in the film "Almanya - Welcome to Germany" which premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2011 and for her main role in the film "Am Himmel der Tag" for which she received the Best Actress Award at the Torino Film Festival in 2012.
Life and career
Aylin Tezel was born in Bünde and grew up in the Bielefeld district of Sennestadt. There she studied dance from the age of six and graduated from the Hans Ehrenberg private evangelical school. She studied acting at the Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts in Berlin. After her film debut in the arthouse feature "Unschuld" she played a central role in Oliver Kienle’s award- winning film "Closer Than Blood". The actress was especially noted for her role in Yasemin Şamdereli’s film "Almanya - Welcome to Germany", which premiered at the 61st Berlin International Film Festival and won the Deutscher Filmpreis in 2011. The film was a big hit in German cinemas and had cinema releases in many countries. During Christmas 2011, Tezel was seen as Cinderella in Uwe Janson’s TV film "Aschenputtel" and soon afterwards in one of the main roles as a young cop in Germany’s most popular cop series Tatort. Irish director Shimmy Marcus gave her the main part in his short film "Rhinos" which premiered at the CFC Worldwide Short Film Festival in Toronto, Canada and was nominated for an Award at the Irish Film & Television Awards in 2013. In 2012 there were cinema releases of her films "3 Zimmer/Küche/Bad" and "Breaking Horizons". Pola Beck’s "Breaking Horizons" won the Award for Best Film in German-language feature film competition at the 8thZurich Film Festival and Aylin Tezel received the Best Actress Award at the 30th Torino Film Festival. Aylin Tezel filmed Marco Kreuzpaintner’s feature "Coming In" which was released by Warner Bros. in October 2014, playing female lead Heidi who falls for a gay star- hairdresser. She played female lead Sabine in Irish Robert Manson’s forthcoming debut feature film "Lost in the Living". In the feature "Macho Man", the film version of a German bestseller she plays the female lead alongside German actorChristian Ulmen and Danish actor Dar Salim. The film was released on October 29, 2015 by Universum Film. Tezel took voice lessons from the late voice coach Julia Wilson-Dickson in London to improve her opportunities for English language roles. In 2017 Aylin Tezel had a recurring role in the Canadian CBC Television spy thriller television series X Company. She played the Jewish Polish Resistance Fighter Zosia in 6 episodes of the 3rd season alongside Warren Brown and Évelyne Brochu and spoke English with a Polish Accent for the part. Most recently Aylin filmed the thriller 7500 alongside Joseph Gordon-Levitt. She also wrote and directed the short film Phoenix starring Irish Actors Killian Scott, Bríd Brennan and German Actress Leonie Benesch.
