Derya Alabora

Derya Alabora — Biography

Derya Alabora, born Derya Harupçu, was born in Istanbul on 19 August 1959, the only child of an opera-singer mother and a primary-school-teacher father. She graduated from the theatre department of Mimar Sinan University's state conservatory in 1982, spent a year at the Bursa State Theatre, and then moved into independent theatre, working with Ali Poyrazoğlu before co-founding a company with Özdemir Çiftçioğlu and performing with 5th Street Theatre and DOT.

She made her screen debut in 1987's Bir Kırık Bebek, appeared through the 1990s in films such as Dönersen Islık Çal and Yengeç Sepeti, and had her breakout role as Uğur in Zeki Demirkubuz's Masumiyet (1997), which brought her best-actress honors from Antalya, Adana and the SİYAD critics' association. She went on to appear in Salkım Hanımın Taneleri, Pandora's Box and Âdem'in Trenleri, and worked internationally in Feo Aladağ's When We Leave and Anton Corbijn's A Most Wanted Man. She reached a wide television audience as Aysel in Şaşıfelek Çıkmazı, and more recently appeared in Yalı Çapkını and Aşkın Dünkü Çocukları. Married since 1983 to actor-director Uğur Yücel, she said in 2024 that the couple were living apart while remaining legally married.