The Yeşilçam period of Turkish cinema basically relied on heartbreaking plots and the clash between good and evil, the latter being played by the leading actor and/or the leading actress. For that reason, the period is also called "the star cinema." Thus, there was an overwhelming need for new faces in Yeşilçam in the early 1960s. In certain circumstances, producers would even try teenagers without any background as leading actors or actresses. Hülya Koçyiğit was one of those teenager stars, and fortunately she also had background. She had been familiar with the stage since she was five years old. Nevertheless, it was still peculiar that a 16, the teenage girl acted as the leading actress in "Susuz Yaz" (Dry Summer), 1963, one of the best pictures ever in Turkish cinema. However, this was not a peculiarity at all for Yeşilçam cinema in those years. Hülya Koçyiğit's famous peers began their filmmaking careers at similar ages. Filiz Akın, born in 1943, was 19 when she acted in her first film while Türkan Şoray, born in 1945, was 15 and Fatma Girik, born in 1942, was just 12. Hülya Koçyiğit acted in more than 200 films, and she was the leading actress in most of them. Early lifeHülya Koçyiğit was born on Dec. 12, 1947 in Istanbul. Her family members had emigrated from Bulgaria to Istanbul. Her father Sedat was 22 and her mother Melek was just 16 at the time she was born. The young couple had three daughters, Hülya, Feryal and Nilüfer. Hülya was a cheerful girl. She used to sing and dance all the time. She was also clever and energetic. She once recalled those days saying, "I suppose that I was born to love and be loved by people. Being loved, appreciated, praised, watched and applauded by people is so stimulating for me that I can work forever to get appreciation from more people." She attended elementary school when she was five. The music teacher at school warned Hülya's mother about her talent for music. So her mother took Hülya to auditions of the ballet department of Ankara State Conservatory. After a few minutes audition Hülya was accepted to the conservatory. That meant she would attend a boarding school in Ankara and leave her home in Istanbul. After two years' boarding school education in Ankara and ballet training at the Ankara State Conservatory, Hülya's father prevented her from going to Ankara after the summer vacation. So she attended the Atatürk Girls' School in Istanbul in third grade instead. Fortunately, she would enter the Istanbul City Theaters after a while. Now she was too busy. She was attending school besides the theater and ballet training. Muhsin Ertuğrul, the founder of the Istanbul City Theaters, heard of Hülya Koçyiğit's talent,and he invited Hülya and her family for a conversation. He strongly advised them to send Hülya to Ankara to complete her education at the Ankara State Conservatory. So she again went to Ankara while her sisters stayed and played at the Istanbul City Theaters. Jumping on the film sceneNilüfer, one of Hülya's sisters, was acting in some movies in Istanbul. In the summer of 1963 Hülya wanted to visit her sister as she was working on a new film directed by the great director Metin Erksan. Koçyiğit and Erksan met at the film set. Erksan was to make a new movie called "Susuz Yaz" (Dry Summer), and he was looking for a young leading actress. He liked Hülya and offered the role to her. Hülya Koçyiğit's film-making career started at once, but she did not hesitate before giving her everything to the job. "Susuz Yaz" was a triumph, receiving even the Best Picture awards in Berlin and Mexico, and now everybody knew the 16-year-old star. She acted in two films in 1963. But the next year she would be in 15 films, which means more than one film a month. In a year, Koçyiğit became a celebrity. She would act mutually with such legendary leading actors of Turkish cinema as Ayhan Işık, Sadri Alışık, Fikret Hakan, Cüneyt Arkın and Ediz Hun among others. I suppose that the role she played in "Susuz Yaz" has determined Koçyiğit's entire career. She played the vulnerable, innocent, pure, good and resistant young woman in that film. Unlike her peers, Koçyiğit's style as an actress was theatrical and she gave her role a puritan and sentimental air, which became a distinctive sign of her art. "A new star is born"The press showed great interest in Koçyiğit's life and work. Though she jumped into the film-making business in a minute, she never refused attention of any kind. However, she neither showed any itch for praise. People liked her and she liked people. She always gave what she was asked and she never asked for more than what she had already deserved. Koçyiğit can be said to have been born popular. Newspapers introduced Koçyiğit to the people under such headlines as, "A new star is born." She was working hard to make this real. She acted in 16 films in 1965. From 1963 to 1968, she had been in more than 50 films already. She was in melodramas, situation comedies, romantic comedies and adaptations from modern Turkish fiction. She made a series of films a few times including the "Kezban," "Sezercik" and "Gülşah" series. In 1968 Koçyiğit married Selim Soydan, then a football star playing for Fenerbahçe Sports Club. The couple had a daughter, Gülşah Soydan, who acted in some movies together with her mother. Koçyiğit's impossible working rhythm continued for about a decade. In 1973 and 1974 she worked with Ömer Lütfi Akad, one of the intellectual directors of Turkish cinema, for Akad's "Gelin," "Düğün," "Diyet" (Bride, Wedding, Blood Money) trilogy. These three films are among the best pictures of auteur cinema. Akad tried to picture the drama in the fast and ruthless social transition in Turkey in the 1970s. All three films have two elements in common - the director and leading actress. Though other actors and actresses were different in the different films of the trilogy, Koçyiğit was in all of them. Drama queen becomes politicalAkad's trilogy seems to have affected Koçyiğit's approach to cinema deeply. She did not return to romantic films after that. In the second half of the 1970s and the first half of the 1980s she worked with Şerif Gören, and she acted in four films directed by him. She acted alongside such prominent leading actors of the 1970s and 1980s as Kadir İnanır, Tarık Akan, Hakan Balamir and Talat Bulut.The 1980s and 1990s were dull times for the cinema in Turkey. Koçyiğit was making less films as years passed by. She was in 11 films during the 1980s, and just made one film during the 1990s. Koçyiğit won more than a dozen cinema awards in Turkey and abroad.Koçyiğit was given the title of State Artist in 1991. She was the founding chairman of the Association of Cinema Artists (SO-DER). She entered politics and ran in the parliamentary elections in 1987 as an İzmir deputy candidate, but she did not win. She has been a member of the Wisemen Council that was initiated for the Kurdish reconciliation process for peace in the southeastern region of Turkey.