Zeynep Günay Tan

Zeynep Günay Tan — Biography

Zeynep Günay Tan, professionally known simply as Zeynep Günay, is a Turkish television director born on 7 September 1975 in the Gönen district of Balıkesir. Her interest in cinema and television developed during her high school years; she went on to study theatre in Italy but returned to Turkey before finishing that training, eventually earning a degree in Italian Language and Literature. While still a university student she began working on television sets, first assisting actor-director Kartal Tibet and later serving as assistant director to Ziya Öztan, Ömer Kavur and Çağan Irmak.

She made her directorial debut with the series Güz Yangını in 2005, followed by Eşref Saati in 2007 and ten episodes of Kurtlar Vadisi Pusu in 2009. Her breakthrough came with Öyle Bir Geçer Zaman ki, which she directed for three seasons starting in 2010; the series won Best TV Series at the 38th Golden Butterfly Awards and Best Drama Series at the 2nd Antalya Television Awards, both in 2011. She subsequently directed Kayıp (2013) and Benim Adım Gültepe (2014), helmed the opening episode of Muhteşem Yüzyıl: Kösem (2015), and served as creative director on Arkadaşlar İyidir (2016). Her three-season drama İstanbullu Gelin, which premiered in 2017, earned a nomination in the Telenovela category at the 46th International Emmy Awards in 2018, and in 2021 she joined the directing team of the Netflix series Kulüp (The Club).

In early 2026 she directed Masumiyet Müzesi, a Netflix series adapted from Orhan Pamuk's novel The Museum of Innocence, discussing in interviews around its February premiere how she brought the book's themes of love and loss to the screen.