İsmet Ay

İsmet Ay — Biography

İsmet Ay was a stage and film actor who built a career of more than fifty years on the stage of the Istanbul City Theatres and reached a wide public as Sermet in the series Süper Baba. He died in 2004 and lies buried in Şile, where a stage bearing his name opened in 2024.

After graduating from the theatre department of the Istanbul Municipal Conservatory he joined the City Theatres in 1948, worked there for thirty-two years and retired in 1980. On stage he appeared in Goldoni's The Liar, Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, Aristophanes' The Birds and Molière's Tartuffe. For The Cherry Orchard he won best actor at the Avni Dilligil Theatre Awards in 1987, and in 1988 the Ministry of Culture's best actor award. His screen work reaches back to the 1950s, and later he appeared in films such as Talihli Amele, Asılacak Kadın, Afife Jale, Seni Seviyorum Rosa, İz and Kara Kentin Çocukları. For Seni Seviyorum Rosa he was named best supporting actor at the Ankara International Film Festival in 1992.

After retiring he kept appearing as a guest artist in the theatres of Tolga Aşkıner and Ali Poyrazoğlu. He was close friends with Zeki Müren and Ferdi Özbeğen, and he acted in the series Cennet Mahallesi even while in poor health.