Neslihan Atagül

Neslihan Atagül — Biography

Neslihan Atagül became one of the faces of Turkish drama abroad as Nihan Sezin in Kara Sevda, a series shown in more than 110 countries that in 2017 became the first Turkish series to win an International Emmy. In 2026 she returns to screens after a three-year break with Ay Yapım's Kaderin Cilvesi.

She began with commercials, and her first real step came in 2006: she played Deniz in Yaprak Dökümü and won the Altın Koza prize for promising young actress for the film İlk Aşk. While studying theatre at Yeditepe University she appeared in Canım Babam, Kalbim Seni Seçti and Hayat Devam Ediyor. The turning point was Zehra in Yeşim Ustaoğlu's film Araf, which won her best actress at the Tokyo International Film Festival. Fatih Harbiye (2013) was her first leading TV role and Kara Sevda (2015-2017) her international breakthrough; Dip took her to a streaming platform.

She then played Nare in Sefirin Kızı but left the series for health reasons, followed by Macide in Gecenin Ucunda and Dilara in Aaahh Belinda, and in 2020 she started the online magazine Hadsiz. She married Kadir Doğulu, whom she met on the set of Fatih Harbiye, in 2016; the couple had a son in 2025.