Birce Akalay

Birce Akalay — Biography

Birce Akalay is a Turkish actress who broke through as Havva in Yer Gök Aşk, reached audiences across Europe and the Americas with Siyah Beyaz Aşk, and widened her international profile through the Netflix series Kuş Uçuşu and Mezarlık. Her career moves between stage, screen and presenting, and it currently continues with her role as Önem in Netflix's Mezarlık.

Her route ran through sport and pageantry. She studied theatre at Pera Fine Arts High School and graduated from the Haliç University Conservatory, placed third at Miss Turkey in 2004, represented her country at Miss Europe, and presented sports programmes until 2007. She started acting that year with Kader and Senin Uğruna and made her film debut in Son Ders: Aşk ve Üniversite. Yer Gök Aşk kept her on screen for three years from 2010, followed by Ben Onu Çok Sevdim, Küçük Ağa and Evli ve Öfkeli. In 2017 she played Aslı Çınar opposite İbrahim Çelikkol in Siyah Beyaz Aşk; she took the lead in Babil in 2020 and joined Son Yaz in 2021. In 2022 she played Önem in Mezarlık and Lale Kıran in Kuş Uçuşu, reuniting with Çelikkol.

On stage she appeared in the musical Yedi Kocalı Hürmüz (2017 to 2019) and played Zilha in Keşanlı Ali Destanı in 2020. She has lectured at Haliç University and was chief judge on the singing contest Benimle Söyle.