Melisa Sözen (born 6 July 1985) is a Turkish actress.

Biography

Starting her professional career at the very early age of 15, she studied in theatre department of Pera Fine Arts High School. Sözen starred in many Turkish TV hits including ''Çemberimde Gül Oya'', ''Bıçak Sırtı'', ''Bir Bulut Olsam'', ''

Muhteşem Yüzyıl ''Muhteşem Yüzyıl'' (, ) is a Turkish historical drama series. Written by Meral Okay and Yılmaz Şahin, it is based on the life of Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, the longest-reigning Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, and his wife Hür ...

'', ''Kırmızı Oda'' and ''Şubat''. She played two different roles in the surreal series ''Şubat'' alongside her ex-husband

Alican Yücesoy Alican Yücesoy (born 22 October 1982) is a Turkish actor, screenwriter and director. He is best known for films and theatre plays. In his television career, he is best known for the surreal series Şubat, drama series "Kördüğüm", İntikam, ...

. After working with Turkey's most prominent directors in movies like ''

Av Mevsimi ''Hunting Season'' () is a 2010 Turkish drama film, written and directed by Yavuz Turgul, which stars Şener Şen and Cem Yılmaz as two policemen who team up with a rookie to investigate a murder case. The film, which went on nationwide general r ...

'', ''Bir Varmış Bir Yokmuş'' and ''Cenneti Beklerken''. Sözen attracted international attention with her phenomenal acting in Nuri Bilge Ceylan's Palme d'Or winning '' Kış Uykusu'' in 2014. Sözen frequently was invited as a jury member to many international film festivals includin
Guanajuato International Film Festival
(Mexico, 2015),

International Istanbul Film Festival The Istanbul Film Festival () is the first and oldest international film festival in Turkey, organised by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts. It is held every year in April in movie theaters in Istanbul, Turkey. As mentioned in its re ...

(Turkey, 2016),

Sarajevo Film Festival The Sarajevo Film Festival is the premier and largest film festival in Southeast Europe, and is one of the largest film festivals in Europe. It was founded in Sarajevo in 1995 during the siege of Sarajevo in the Bosnian War, and brings internatio ...

(Bosnia Herzegovina, 2017) an
Cannes Series
(France, 2018). Following her role in the 3rd Season of

Éric Rochant Éric Rochant (born 24 February 1961) is a French film director and screenwriter. He is an alumnus of the Institut des hautes études cinématographiques (IDHEC), from the generation of Arnaud Desplechin and Noémie Lvovsky. Rochant is of Jewish ...

's influential series ''

Le bureau des légendes ''The Bureau'' (original title: ') is a French espionage thriller television series created and co-written by Éric Rochant and produced by TOP – The Oligarchs Productions and Canal+, which revolves around the lives of agents of the DGSE (Ge ...

'' in 2017, Sözen moved to Paris for a while and worked on her French. Her first leading role in a French movie came in 2019 with ''Damien veut changer le monde''. With

Kenan İmirzalıoğlu Kenan İmirzalıoğlu (born 18 June 1974) is a Turkish actor and former model. İmirzalıoğlu appeared in the action films '' Son Osmanlı Yandım Ali'' (The Last Ottoman: Knockout Ali) and '' Kabadayı'' (For Love and Honor). He returned to ...

, she played in Blutv's detective series

Alef Aleph (or alef or alif, transliterated ʾ) is the first letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician ''ʾālep'' 𐤀, Hebrew ''ʾālef'' , Aramaic ''ʾālap'' 𐡀, Syriac ''ʾālap̄'' ܐ, Arabic ''ʾalif'' , and North Arabian 𐪑 ...

about history of theology. Sözen appeared in Netflix series '' Biz Kimden Kaçıyorduk Anne?'', the adaptation of the Perihan Mağden's novel. She had leading role in an episode of mini series 7 Yüz with ensemble cast. Achieving an extraordinary level of critical success in her homeland by winning both Theater Critics Association's and Film Critics Association's awards for the actress in a leading role in 2015 with her performances in play ''Kalp Düğümü (The Knot of the Heart)'' . In 2025, Sözen was questioned by Istanbul police on suspicion of "promoting terrorist propaganda", following her role in ''Le Bureau des Légendes'', in which her character wore an outfit similar to that of the

YPG The People's Defense Units (YPG), also called People's Protection Units, is a libertarian socialist US-backed Kurdish militant group in Syria and the primary component of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The YPG mostly consists of K ...

, designated as a terrorist organisation in Turkey. Sözen, who was not detained, denied that the costume was a deliberate reference to the group and observed that the programme had not been broadcast in Turkey.

Personal life

As of 2014, she is in a relationship with

Harun Tekin Sami Harun Tekin (born 28 June 1977) is a Turkish singer, musician, and poet. He is one of the founding members and the vocalist of the Turkish rock band Mor ve Ötesi. Biography In 1988, while being a student at German High School in Istan ...

who is one of the founding members and the vocalist of the Turkish rock band Mor ve Ötesi.

Filmography

Web series

TV series

Films

Short Film

Dubbing

References

External links

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Melisa Sözen ~ SinemaTürk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sozen, Melisa 1985 births Living people 20th-century Turkish actresses 21st-century Turkish actresses Actresses from Istanbul Turkish film actresses Turkish television actresses Turkish stage actresses