Serra Yılmaz

Serra Yılmaz — Biography

Serra Yılmaz, born Serra Tuğrul in Istanbul on 13 September 1954, is the only child of Semih Tuğrul and Mualla Hanım. Her schooling ran through two French-language lycées in Istanbul and a psychology degree at the University of Caen; back in Turkey, theatre lessons from Robert Abirached, once a theatre official at France's culture ministry, led her into the Dostlar Theatre company from 1977 to 1979 and afterward into dramaturgy and acting work at the Istanbul City Theatres. It was there she met Levent Yılmaz, whom she married in 1977 and divorced a decade later; their daughter Ayşe was born in 1979. Fluent simultaneous interpreting between French and Italian became a parallel career, one that put her at the podium for Pope Benedict XVI's 2006 visit to Turkey and Pope Francis's in 2014. Her screen reputation rests largely on a long partnership with director Ferzan Özpetek that began with Harem Suare, whose role earned her a supporting-actress prize at the 1999 Antalya festival; a 2017 Italian award named her its "Queen of Comedy," and in 2018 she moved behind the camera to direct Cebimdeki Yabancı. Treated for breast cancer in 1991, a diagnosis she has discussed openly, she has also stated that she does not believe in God. Her Italian-language memoir, published in early 2026, went on to become a national bestseller there.