Ayda Aksel

Ayda Aksel — Biography

Ayda Aksel was born on 31 October 1962 in Istanbul. She developed an early interest in ballet, studying ballet and cello at a conservatory during primary school, and later graduated from the Theatre Department of Mimar Sinan University. She spent nearly thirty years as a member of the Istanbul State Theatre company, also performed for a period at the Sadri Alışık Theatre, taught acting in a production called "Diyalog," and voiced numerous television commercials.

Her stage career began in 1980 with The Trojan War Will Not Take Place; her performance in Kaçıklık Diploması (1998) won her best actress honors at both the Orhan Arıburnu Awards and the Ankara Film Festival, and she later received Afife awards for Ölümüne Suçlu and Omuzumdaki Melek. On screen she first became known through the 1983 series Üç İstanbul, portrayed Halide Edip Adıvar in Cumhuriyet (1998), and reached wide audiences with Mandıra Filozofu (2014) and the role of Azize Aslanbey in Hercai (2019). She played Fazilet Saruhanlı in Baba (2022) and Mediha Paşazade in Kıskanmak (2025), the same year she took the stage in Çağan Irmak's first play, Palamut Zamanı. Her father died in 2024.