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She was born in 1902 in Istanbul to Hidayet and his wife Methiye. She had a sister Behiye and a brother Salâh
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Afife was studying at the Girls Industry School in Istanbul; however, she wanted to be an actress. In the Ottoman Empire, Muslim Turkish women were not allowed to play on stage by a decree of the Ministry of the Interior. Only non-Muslim women of Greek, Armenian, or Jewish minorities were eligible for being cast. -
Afife debuted on stage in 1920, acting as "Emel" in the theatre play "Yamalar" written by Hüseyin Suat. The role had become vacant as the Armenian Eliza Binemeciyan had gone abroad. She took the stage name Jale for this play, and was called from then on as Afife Jale. Performing at "Apollon Theatre" in Kadıköy, Afife Jale became the first ever Muslim Turkish stage actress in the country. She had to be hidden at least twice by her non-Muslim co-actors during police raids in the middle of the play -
In 1923, Mustafa Kemal, the founder of the newly proclaimed Republic, lifted the Ottoman-era ban on stage acting by Muslim women. This led to the end of Afife's fears. She joined the theatre again, and toured in Anatolia. However, her drug addiction caused the worsening of her health that ultimately led to her retirement from the theatre.
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In 1928, she met Selahattin Pınar a tambur virtuoso, at a Turkish classical music concert she attended. The couple married in 1929, and moved to an apartment in Fatih district of Istanbul. The marriage life did not go well, and the couple divorced in 1935 when Afife's morphine addiction affected their marriage negatively. Selahattin Pınar composed a number of musical pieces, which later became classical, referring to his relationship with her wife during their marriage. -
Concerned about her substance dependence, Jale's friends from the conservatory took her to the Bakırköy Psychiatric Hospital for therapy. She spent her last years in the hospital, where she died on July 24, 1941.[3] Her burial place was forgotten.