Fatma Karanfil

Fatma Karanfil — Biography

Fatma Karanfil was born on February 3, 1952 in Eskişehir and trained on scholarship in theatre at the Language and Culture Center under teachers including Muhsin Ertuğrul, Haldun Taner and Ayla-Beklan Algan. She entered cinema in 1968 by placing third in a Ses magazine talent contest, was named "Artist of the Year" by the İzmir Journalists Association that same year, received the same honour from the Ankara Journalists Association in 1972, and won Best Supporting Actress at the 9th Golden Orange Film Festival for Üvey Ana.

Known for Yeşilçam films such as Fosforlu Cevriyem and Adını Anmayacağım, she married Ali Kocatepe in 1975 and later separated from him; as sex films flooded the industry, she stepped away and studied textiles in London between 1976 and 1980, remarrying in 1984. After overcoming breast cancer, she returned to the stage in 2001, reached a new generation of viewers as Şayeste in Aşk-ı Memnu, and appeared in the films Selam and Bizi Hatırla. Following a period of cancer treatment in Florya, she died in Istanbul on June 4, 2024 at age 72, and was buried at Feriköy Cemetery after funeral prayers at Barbaros Hayrettin Paşa Mosque.