Hazal Kaya

Hazal Kaya — Biography

Born on 28 February 1995 in Gaziantep, Hazal Kaya has built a career as an actress in Turkey. She finished secondary school at Istanbul's Italian High School before enrolling in the Stage and Performing Arts Management program at Istanbul Bilgi University. She first appeared on screen as a guest performer in the 2006 series Acemi Cadı, then joined the cast of Genco in 2007. She reached wide recognition playing Nihal Ziyagil in the 2008 series Aşk-ı Memnu, which ran through 2010 and was a modern retelling of a classic novel by the writer Halit Ziya Uşaklıgil. Her performance as Feriha, in the 2011-2012 hit Adını Feriha Koydum, one of the country's most-watched series at the time, brought her the Best Actress prize at the second Crystal Mouse Media Awards. She then took on Filiz Elibol in the 2017-2019 drama Bizim Hikaye, an adaptation of the British show Shameless, a role that won her Best Actress honors at the Latina Turkish Awards. In 2022 she took the dual role of Esra and Peride in the Netflix time-travel drama Midnight at the Pera Palace. Counted among the country's highest-earning screen actresses, Kaya was also the sole Turkish name to receive a Lebanon Award in 2015.