İlayda Elif Elhih

İlayda Elif Elhih — Biography

İlayda Elif Elhih is a young film and television actress who made her name when her first film, Sardunya (Geranium), won her the Best Actress award at the 40th International Istanbul Film Festival. Her role as Defne in that film was the turning point of her career. She has since also appeared on television, and has been active since 2020.

Drawn to acting since high school, Elhih studied theatre at Pera Fine Arts High School and graduated from Kadir Has University in 2018. In a podcast interview she said that already in her school years she knew what she wanted from acting and had her family's support. Sardunya director Çağıl Bocut met her while observing conservatory classes in search of the character Defne; Elhih then auditioned and joined the project in 2016. She had no driving licence before the film and got one for the role, and she also contributed to the script; Bocut has said she consulted Elhih often because the protagonist is close to her age.

She could not attend the award ceremony and learned of the prize through the film's producer, Çağıl Bocut. On television she appeared in the series Çukur, and in February 2024 she guest-starred in Yargı as Dilan. In an interview she said she wants to work on projects that do not take the audience's intelligence lightly.