Benian Dönmez

Benian Dönmez — Biography

Benian Dönmez is an actress who worked for many years in the state theater before reaching wide audiences on television. On screen she is best remembered as Mübeccel in Eşkıya Dünyaya Hükümdar Olmaz and as Nezahat in Üç Kız Kardeş. Living in Istanbul since retiring from the Ankara State Theatre, she appears as Nergis in Halef: Köklerin Çağrısı (2025) and as Şengül in Delikanlı (2026).

She trained in the Theatre Department of Ankara University's Faculty of Languages, History and Geography. She began on stage: in the mid-1990s she appeared at the Diyarbakır State Theatre in plays such as Kanlı Düğün, Çıtırköy and Pazartesi-Perşembe, and she also worked at the İzmit Metropolitan Municipality City Theatre. During her years at the Ankara State Theatre, Bahçemdeki Ayı, Mavi Köpek, İki Kişilik Hırgür and Tek Kişilik Şehir were staged. She first appeared before the camera in 2005 in Ne Seninle Ne Sensiz. In the mid-2010s she played Gül Teyze in Kara Bela, Fadik in Kardeşim Benim and Hatice Aslan in Aslan Ailem, and with Afili Aşk (2019), Sol Yanım (2020) and Üç Kız Kardeş (2022) she became a steady presence on screen, with Üç Kız Kardeş running until 2024.

Her stage work also earned recognition: she received the Sanat Kurumu Commendable Actress award in 2003 for Bahçemdeki Ayı and the Best Actor of the Year prize at the Baykal Saran Theatre Awards in 2007 for İki Kişilik Hırgür.