Damla Sönmez Turkish Actress Born 1987 in Istanbul

Early life

Damla Sönmez was born in Istanbul on 3 May 1987, and her full given name is Tilya Damla. She is an only child. Theatre and cinema were her main interests from an early age, and she joined theatre studios while still very young. During her school years she took part in stage productions and appeared in television commercials.

After finishing at the French-language St. Joseph High School in Istanbul, she went to Paris to study theatre at the Université de la Sorbonne Nouvelle. She stayed there for a year before winning a scholarship that took her back to Istanbul, to the theatre department of Yeditepe University. Alongside this she spent time at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, where she studied violin for two years and piano for one. Later training included a contemporary acting workshop at the London Dramatic School of Art and work with a coach at the Black Nexxus Academy in New York.

Career

Sönmez began on the stage and in supporting television parts. She appeared in the series Emret Komutanım, Gece Gündüz and Türkan before her role as a bride with memory loss in Şubat marked a change in how she was cast. Her first leading television part came with Bir Aşk Hikayesi, an adaptation of I'm Sorry, I Love You, in which she played Ceylan opposite Seçkin Özdemir. In 2014 she played Gülru in Güllerin Savaşı. She joined the third season of Çukur in 2019 as Efsun Kent, and she sang several classic Turkish arabesque songs for the role. In 2021 she was cast as Dilruba in Aziz, alongside Murat Yıldırım.

Her screen record begins with the 2012 film A Long Story. Her 2009 performance in Bornova Bornova earned her the best supporting actress prize at the 46th Golden Orange Film Festival, and the film brought further awards, including one from the Sadri Alışık Awards. She later took the best actress prize at the Milano International Film Festival for Deniz Seviyesi (Sea Level), and in 2015 she served as Young President at the Flying Broom women's film festival.

Her international profile rests mainly on two films. Sibel (2018) is about a young woman in a village where people communicate by a whistled language, and it travelled to many festivals; the part brought her a Sadri Alışık Best Actress Award. Ayla: The Daughter of War (2017) was chosen as Turkey's entry for the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 90th Academy Awards. She also worked with Ali Atay on the art-house film Sen Aydınlatırsın Geceyi, which was shown at the Toronto International Film Festival.

On streaming platforms she took the main role in an episode of the anthology series 7 Yüz in 2017. In 2020 she played Ana in the Netflix docudrama Rise of Empires: Ottoman, and in 2021 she appeared in the second season of the BluTV series Saygı as a public prosecutor named Arya Şahin. Her listed credits also include the series Maviye Sürgün, Aşk ve Gurur and, most recently, Kötü Kan in 2024. In total, her credits cover four films and five television series between 2012 and 2024. She also works as a voiceover artist.

Recognition

Sönmez's awards come mostly from Turkish film events. The Golden Orange Film Festival gave her a supporting actress award for Bornova Bornova, and the Sadri Alışık Awards honoured her more than once, including for Sibel. Abroad, she won best actress at the Milano International Film Festival for Deniz Seviyesi. Her Instagram following stood at about 1.9 million in October 2026.