Leya Kırsan

Leya Kırşan is a Turkish actress who began her career as a child performer and has grown into one of the more recognisable young faces in Turkish historical drama. Born on May 23, 2008, in Istanbul, Turkey, she made her acting debut in 2015 at the age of seven and has steadily accumulated a body of work across some of Turkey’s most-watched productions.

Early life and education

Kırşan was born in Istanbul and began acting professionally while still in primary school, launching her career with a role in the drama series Hayat Yolunda (2014–2015) where she played the young version of the character Hazal — depicting the childhood of a woman navigating love and hardship. She appeared next in Maral: En Güzel Hikayem (2015), playing a supporting character who brings loyalty and compassion to the central romance. She gained further experience in the Ottoman-era drama Payitaht Abdülhamid (2017–2018), where she played a supporting role in the royal court intrigues surrounding Sultan Abdülhamid II. She appeared as a guest character in Yasak Elma (2019), a long-running drama of ambition and desire, before earning her highest-profile role to date: Fatma Hatun in Kuruluş Osman, the daughter of Osman Bey. She joined the production in its fifth season and has continued into the sixth, with the character’s loyalty and resilience providing some of the drama’s most emotionally resonant moments. Still in high school at the time of writing, she has already built a career that most adult performers would envy.

Awards and recognition

Leya Kırşan has not received formal award citations to date, which is entirely consistent with her young age. Her casting as Fatma Hatun across two seasons of Kuruluş Osman — one of Turkish television’s most demanding historical productions — represents an exceptional achievement for an actress still in secondary school.