Melisa Sözen

Melisa Sözen — Biography

Melisa Sözen is a Turkish film, television and stage actress who became internationally known in 2014 for playing Nihal in Nuri Bilge Ceylan's Palme d'Or-winning Kış Uykusu (Winter Sleep); she speaks English and French and has worked in French productions as well. A graduate of the theatre department at Pera Fine Arts High School, she began acting professionally at fifteen, reached wide audiences as Feriha in Çemberimde Gül Oya, and went on to appear in Bir Bulut Olsam, Muhteşem Yüzyıl and, alongside her then-husband Alican Yücesoy, two contrasting roles in Şubat.

She has served as a jury member at festivals including Guanajuato, Istanbul, Sarajevo and Cannes Series, and in 2015 won both a theatre and a film critics' award in the same year, for Kalp Düğümü and Winter Sleep. After appearing in the third season of the French series Le Bureau des Légendes she spent time living in Paris, taking her first French film lead in Damien veut changer le monde (2019). Following the series Alef opposite Kenan İmirzalıoğlu, she headlined the Netflix adaptation Biz Kimden Kaçıyorduk Anne (2023) and Fer (2025), and her film Roya screened at the 2026 Berlin Film Festival.

In February 2025 she gave a statement to Istanbul police over the costume her character wore in Le Bureau des Légendes; she was not detained, denied any deliberate reference was intended, and noted the series had not aired in Turkey. She is in a relationship with musician Harun Tekin, having earlier divorced actor Alican Yücesoy in 2014.