Ilkin Tufekci

 I have never met anyone who has any sort of involvement in Telenovelas before other than someone being a viewer. However I was completely enlightened when our class spoke to Ilkin Tufekci. I could feel the passion while she spoke to our class and I then realized why she was well-known in the telenovelas industry. I really didn't understand why someone would want to be an actor for a telenovela. On first thought, it sounds glamorous to be a telenovela actor. You are famous for one and are well paid. Those two things alone make it very appealing. However, the more I learned in our class, the less I liked the idea of being a telenovela actor. The hours are brutal. Long hours on set of redundant work, repeating the same scene over and over again until the director feels it fully encapsulates all he hoped it would. You are basically living in an alter-reality more than you are present in the actual world. You wouldn't be able to be with your friends and family since for months at a time you are consumed with working for the production of a show. Ikin however changed my perspective completely. She truly embodied what it meant to be an actor and displayed the emotion that moves many on set. While she might be acting much of the time with heighten emotion, she made not be acting since she fully displayed that same level of emotion in our zoom. While the hours are still long and being away from your friends and family is still hard, Ikin showed that being an actor is truly a beloved passion for many. It was a joy chatting with Ikin and a pleasure learning about the positives of working in the telenovela industry.