Meltem Yılmazkaya

Meltem Yılmazkaya — Biography

Audiences have known Meltem Yılmazkaya since 2013 for the Mehtap character she plays on Güldür Güldür Show; she combines comedy sketch work with a stage background. Her work runs from the stage to the big screen, from songwriting to directing short films.

She attended theater courses as a child and worked as an entertainer from the age of 13. She took two years of acting training at the Müjdat Gezen Art Center, then studied on a scholarship in the Theatre Department of the Faculty of Fine Arts at Yeditepe University, graduating in 2012. In 2008 she appeared in BKM's children's play Sizinkiler; on screen she began in 2009 with Aile Saadeti (Fitnat) and Benim Annem Bir Melek (Berivan), followed by Şen Yuva (2010), Aşkın Halleri and Aldırma Gönül. Joining the cast of Güldür Güldür Show in 2013 was the turning point. In cinema she appeared in Dedemin Fişi, Kaçma Birader (Habibe), Cici Babam (Fatoş) and Eski Köye Yeni Adet. Later she returned to the theater and to work of her own writing: she wrote and directed the monologue Ağrı in Balat Monolog Müzesi and acted in the musical Sevmekten Öldü Desinler.

She wrote the short film neden(siz) about violence against women and co-directed it with Fatih Kılıç; it won first place at the İstanbul Kısa Filmciler Derneği competition. With the cast of Sevmekten Öldü Desinler she received the Jury Special Award at the 2018 Sadri Alışık Theatre Awards. In 2016 she released the song Kendime Yalanlar, and from 2019 she held volunteer drama workshops with women in eastern and southeastern Turkey under the GAP ÇATOM project. She married in 2023 and became a mother the same year.