Bedia Ener

Bedia Ener — Biography

Bedia Ener, born Bedia Ener Öztep on June 15, 1954, in Istanbul, was a Turkish actress and voice artist active in theatre, film, and television. She began her stage career in 1968 at the Bakırköy People's House, joined the Istanbul City Theatres in 1970, and performed with troupes such as Haldun Dormen, Gazanfer Özcan, and Yeditepe Oyuncuları.

From the age of 17 she also worked as a voice actress and, for a long stretch, was better known by her voice than her face, dubbing performers such as Whoopi Goldberg, Bette Midler, Jacqueline Bisset, Glenn Close, and Helen Mirren into Turkish. On screen she typically played warm mothers, gentle women, or likeable neighbours, and reached wide recognition for her role as Neyyir Hanım in the television series Yaprak Dökümü, broadcast between 2006 and 2010. Over a 36-year career she appeared in numerous film and television productions, including Cenaze İşleri, Güzel Günler Göreceğiz, and Sinyora Enrica ile İtalyan Olmak.

Ener died in Istanbul on January 13, 2025; her funeral was attended by her husband of 30 years, Çetin Öztep, and many figures from the Turkish entertainment world.