Born in Istanbul in 1940. She began her career in dance at a young age, taking lessons from Yılmaz Duru and performing folk and modern dance with him at the Taksim Municipal Lounge. She made her screen debut at the age of fourteen with a minor role in Yörük Ali (Esat Özgül, 1954). She stepped into professional acting in 1958 with Altın Kafes / The Golden Cage (Osman F. Seden, 1958), starring alongside Zeki Müren. Her performance drew significant attention, quickly establishing her as one of the most sought-after actresses of the Yeşilçam era. During the early years of her career, she continued her work in dance and folklore; between 1958 and 1961, she lived in the USA for two years with director and producer Yılmaz Duru, staging modernized Turkish folk dance performances in New York and various other cities.

Throughout the 1960s, she starred in numerous films, including Yasak Aşk / Forbidden Love (Halit Refiğ, 1961), Şafak Bekçileri / Sentinels of the Dawn (Halit Refiğ, 1963), Yarın Bizimdir / Tomorrow is Ours (Atıf Yılmaz, 1964), İstanbul’un Kızları / Girls of Istanbul (Halit Refiğ, 1964), Yalnız Değiliz / We Are Not Alone (Ülkü Erakalın, 1964), Haremde Dört Kadın / Four Women in the Harem (Halit Refiğ, 1965), and Ve Silahlara Veda / Farewell to Arms (Remzi Jöntürk, 1966). For her leading role in Şehirdeki Yabancı / Stranger in the City (Halit Refiğ, 1963) —a landmark of Turkish social realism— she was given the Certificate of Honor – Best Actress Award at Moscow International Film Festival.

After taking a hiatus from cinema between 1969 and 1983, she returned to the screen in various TV series, such as Gönül Dostları (1987), Hanımın Çiftliği (1990), Bay Kamber (1994), Bizim Ev (1995), Yılan Hikâyesi (1999), Öyle Bir Geçer Zaman ki (2012), and İlişki Durumu: Karışık (2015). In 2000, her performance in Renkli – Türkçe / Color & Turkish (Ahmet Çadırcı, 1999) earned her the Best Supporting Actress Award at the Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival, where she was also presented with the Lifetime Honorary Award in 2014. With a filmography spanning over ninety productions, she remains one of the most respected, popular, and distinguished figures of Turkish cinema from the Yeşilçam era to the present day.