Melisa Sözen was born on July 6, 1985 in Istanbul. Starting her professional career at the very early age of 15, Sözen starred in many Turkish TV hits including “Çemberimde Gül Oya”, “Bıçak Sırtı”, “Bir Bulut Olsam”, “The Magnificient Century” and “Şubat”. After working with Turkey’s most prominent directors in movies like “Av Mevsimi”, “Bir Varmış Bir Yokmuş”, “Cenneti Beklerken” Melisa attracted international attention with her phenomenal acting in Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s Palme D’or winning “Winter Sleep” in 2014. Following her role in the 3. season of Eric Rochant's influential series “Le Bureau des Legendes” in 2017, Melisa moved to Paris for a while and worked on her French. Her first leading role in a French movie came in 2019 with “Damien veut changer le monde”.
Achieving an extra-ordinary level of critical success in her homeland by winning both Theater Critics Association’s and Film Critics Association’s awards for the actress in a leading role in 2015 with her performances in “The Knot of the Heart” and “Winter Sleep”, Sözen frequently was invited as a jury member to many international film festivals including Guanajuato International Film Festival (Mexico, 2015), Istanbul International Film Festival (Turkey, 2016), Sarajevo Film Festival (Bosnia Herzegovina, 2017) and Cannes Series (France, 2018). The actress is fluent in English and French.
