Melek Baykal

Melek Baykal — Biography

Melek Baykal (born 7 August 1954 in Istanbul) is a Turkish actress and television presenter, known chiefly for her stage and series work. Raised between Istanbul and Ankara because of her father's civil service career, she graduated from the Ankara State Conservatory in 1975. She first stepped onto the stage at seventeen, drawing praise for portraying an eighty-five-year-old woman in her debut play, and she spent many years with the Ankara State Theatre, appearing in numerous productions including King Lear and Yerma.

Her television fame came with the long-running Ankara-shot daily series Ferhunde Hanımlar, in which she played Nermin for well over a thousand episodes; the offers that followed led her to settle in Istanbul. She went on to play Pembe in Cennet Mahallesi, a spin-off of the popular Gırgıriye comedies, Nurhayat in Hayat Bağları, and Melahat in Akasya Durağı, the follow-up to Çiçek Taksi. She made her cinema debut in Kaçma Birader (2016), hosted her own daytime program Melek on Star TV from 2012 to 2015, and in 2020 produced YouTube content alongside Sahrap Soysal, continuing to take on screen roles in later years.