Biyograficim
Melisa Sözen

Melisa Sözen

Actor · 41 years old

The Mother in the series Biz Kimden Kaçıyorduk Anne

Profile

Age41
Birth dateJuly 6, 1985
BirthplaceIstanbul
ProfessionActor
Zodiac signCancer
Eye colorBrown
EducationPera Fine Arts High School, Theatre Department

In the rankings

Worked most often with

Filmography / Projects

Melisa Sözen — Biography

In 2014 Melisa Sözen became internationally known for playing Nihal in Nuri Bilge Ceylan's Palme d'Or-winning Kış Uykusu (Winter Sleep); the Turkish film, television and stage actress speaks English and French and has worked in French productions as well. A graduate of the theater department at Pera Fine Arts High School, she began acting professionally at fifteen, reached wide audiences as Feriha in Çemberimde Gül Oya, and went on to appear in Bir Bulut Olsam, Muhteşem Yüzyıl and, alongside her then-husband Alican Yücesoy, two contrasting roles in Şubat.

She has served as a jury member at festivals including Guanajuato, Istanbul, Sarajevo and Cannes Series, and in 2015 won both a theater and a film critics' award in the same year, for Kalp Düğümü and Winter Sleep. After appearing in the third season of the French series Le Bureau des Légendes she spent time living in Paris, taking her first French film lead in Damien veut changer le monde (2019). Following the series Alef opposite Kenan İmirzalıoğlu, she headlined the Netflix adaptation Biz Kimden Kaçıyorduk Anne (2023) and Fer (2025), and her film Roya screened at the 2026 Berlin Film Festival.

She was previously married to actor Alican Yücesoy; they divorced in 2014.

Photos

Melisa Sözen Melisa Sözen Melisa Sözen

Reactions

You can pick up to 3 reactions.

Their work through different eyes

Cinephile Looks at script, editing and directing choices; keeps a distance from formula films.

Kış Uykusu is the film that made Melisa Sözen known abroad. Asiye in Av Mevsimi enters the story mostly through İdris's lingering attachment to his ex-wife; in my view that is less a space to show what Sözen can do than a memory part inside the world of Yavuz Turgul's male detectives.

Series Binger A series devotee tracking character arcs, cast chemistry and season pacing.

Güneydoğudan Öyküler and Biz Kimden Kaçıyorduk Anne are the two series where Melisa Sözen carries the show from the center. In the first she led the cast but the series was taken off the air after eleven episodes; in the second she plays the unnamed mother and the series reached the top of Netflix's non-English chart. From wide ensembles like Çemberimde Gül Oya and its Feriha to central parts, I think the move paid off better in the second.

These are not reader reviews: they are short editorial takes on this person's screen work, written from different viewer perspectives with AI assistance. Reader comments are below.

Comments