Serel Yereli

Serel Yereli — Biography

Born Buse Serel Yereli, the actress was born on 19 April 1995 in the Göztepe district of Izmir, the only child of her family. Because her father, the former national handball player Serdal Yereli, held an executive post in the handball federation, she spent her childhood in several different countries. Her father died suddenly of a heart attack in 2011, when she was only 16. Her early interests were not confined to the stage: as a kindergarten pupil she won an award from TÜBİTAK's children's science festival for a project called “Serel's Spaceship”.

She began training in musical theatre in London during her middle-school years and played leading roles in Grease, Mamma Mia and Burlesque. She went on to study in the theatre department of Yeditepe University and took further acting classes at Craft Atölye and with the actress Bahar Kerimoğlu. She speaks English, French, Italian and Spanish.

She first appeared before a national audience in 2012 on O Ses Türkiye, singing Shakira's “Whenever, Wherever” and going out in the first round. Her professional acting debut came as Alara in Bodrum Masalı, directed by Mehmet Ada Öztekin, which premiered on Kanal D on 18 August 2016.