Umut Aral

Umut Aral — Biography

Umut Aral is a director who moved from TV commercials to directing Netflix's first Turkish-language original series and then taking Turkish productions onto international charts. Deha (The Good & the Bad), which he directed, won the International Emmy for Best Telenovela in 2025, and he is credited with that success as its director.

He began in the theatre: six years with the Galatasaray High School theatre group, then, while studying management at Boğaziçi University, lead roles and direction with the Boğaziçi University Players. His first short, otuzdört, followed in 1999 and won several national prizes, and Çarpışma (2006) was in the official selection at Locarno. From 2002 he directed well over a hundred commercials. In drama the turning point was Netflix's The Protector in 2018, on which he worked as a lead director across four seasons. The same year he made İyi Oyun (Good Game: The Beginning), the first licensed esports feature. He then worked on the final season of Aşk 101, on Yakamoz S-245 and on Biz Kimden Kaçıyorduk Anne? (2023), based on Perihan Mağden's novel, which reached number one among non-English series worldwide on Netflix.

In 2024 he directed and produced the Amazon Prime documentary Arda Turan: Yüzleşme and began Deha for Show TV. He chairs the board of the Mithat Alam Education Foundation, which gives scholarships to film students, and he teaches workshops.