Banu Alkan

Banu Alkan — Biography

Known in Turkish cinema by the nickname “Afrodit,” Banu Alkan was born Liz Remka Rebronja to a family of Croatian descent in Dubrovnik in 1958. Her family settled in the Edremit district of Balıkesir in 1966 and later moved to the Kartal district of Istanbul, where she left Kartal Maltepe High School in the second year of secondary school. She entered modeling as a teenager through LCC courses, trained at Vakko, and went on to appear in television commercials. She made her screen debut in the 1976 film Taksi Şoförü, and the following year gained recognition playing Melike in Akrep Yuvası. From the late 1970s through the end of the 1980s she was one of Yeşilçam's most sought-after leading actresses, with roles in films such as Ben de Özledim helping make her one of the era's pop-culture figures. After nearly thirty film roles, she stayed out of the public eye following her last cinema film in 1989 before returning to attention with an album in 1998. She appeared in television series in 2001 and 2005, returned to screens as herself on the reality show Dünya Güzellerim in 2017, and continued in its 2024-2025 follow-up. She has also continued stage performances, and between 2014 and 2016 received several honorary awards marking Yeşilçam's 100th anniversary.