Oya Okar

Oya Okar — Biography

Oya Okar is an actress known for playing Selin Demirci in Arka Sokaklar, and she has also appeared on the state-theatre stage and teaches at a university. After playing the same character in the crime series for roughly ten years, she left the show in 2026 and moved to Star TV's new series Başkalarının Hayatı.

After studying music at a fine-arts high school, she graduated from the theater department of the Istanbul University State Conservatory and went on to a master's degree and a doctorate at the same university. Her first on-screen role came in 2005 as Gülçin in Şöhret, and she played Gülümsün in Doktorlar. In the following years she appeared in series such as Ümit Milli, Dağlar Delisi, Sınıf and Kanal D's Düğün Şarkıcısı (alongside Hatice Aslan and Erkan Can). She co-starred with Burak Hakkı in TRT 1's Mavi Kelebekler, a series about the Bosnian War, and then came İstanbul Çocukları, Böyle Bitmesin, Ben Onu Çok Sevdim, Zeytin Tepesi (as Oya Tolunay) and Eve Dönüş. In cinema she played Pandora in Saruhan (2016).

She joined Arka Sokaklar in 2015, took a break from it and returned in 2024. At the Istanbul State Theatre she appeared in İmparatorluk Kuranlar ("Empire Builders", 2010) and Sessizlik ("Silence", 2012). Since 2024 she has been an academic in the Drama and Acting department of the Faculty of Fine Arts at Istanbul Aydın University.