Bio

Efsun recently earned her Actor's Equity membership playing the lead of Malalai in William Mastrosimone's "The Afghan Women" at The Garage Theatre Group, Bergen County New Jersey's only professional theater company. The role earned her high praise from Peter Filichia in the New Jersey Star-Ledger, and more importantly, raised money for International Orphan Care, an organization dedicated to providing education, healthcare and vocational training for the orphans of Afghanistan, which has been ravished by 23 years of war.

Prior to her work on stage for "The Afghan Women", Efsun starred in Turkey's box office hit film, "Asmalı Konak: Hayat", which became one of the three highest-grossing films in Turkish history and went on to win the prestigious BOGEY Award for an especially strong per-screen average when it opened in Europe. The movie, just released on DVD, is a follow-up to the ground-breaking TV series, "Asmalı Konak", in which Efsun made her television debut as a series regular in the role of Ayşe Melek.

Her screen work in Turkey has been complimented by several film roles in the U.S. including a lead in "Flowers & Kisses" and a supporting role in "The Living", which were shorts produced by two graduates of the New York Film Academy. She also appeared in "Ground Curtain", an independent film sponsored by the Austrian Ministry of Culture dealing with the September 11th tragedy, first screened at the Tribeca Grand in New York.

But Efsun's roots are planted firmly in the theater, having started her professional career on the stages of New York. Highlights of her stage work prior to "The Afghan Women" include the title character in Carlo Gozzi's "Turandot" at La MaMa, E.T.C., Kitty Duval in "The Time of Your Life" at the Impact Theatre, and both "Two Serious Ladies" (Pacifica) and "Dream'in New York" (Defne) at the Horace Mann. Other stage experience includes the 24 Hour Plays at the Last Theater Company and several M.F.A. productions at the Schapiro Theatre including "Jack or the Submission" (Roberta), "Medea" (Medea), "The Bus Stop" (Cherie), "Hamlet" (Ophelia), "Uncle Vanya" (Yelena), "The Children's Hour" (Martha), and a gender-bending stint in the role of Edmund in Shakespeare's "King Lear".

Efsun received her M.F.A. in Acting from Columbia University, where she earned the Presidential Scholarship and had the privilege to study under Obie Award winners Andrei Serban and Anne Bogart, and Kristin Linklater, author of the classic text, "Freeing the Natural Voice". While there, she also trained in two extended workshops under the tutelage of Slava Dolgachev, a director from the famed Moscow Art Theater. Before Columbia, she earned a B.A. in International Studies at George Mason University to provide a backup for the famously profitable field of acting, but kept her focus on acting while there and was awarded a Distinguished Theater Minor.

Efsun currently lives in New York City with her husband of six years, Jon Sweet, who is often credited in her playbills as "The Best Hubby Ever".