Biography
Name: Derya Pınar Ak
Date of Birth: August 7, 2003
Place of Birth: Istanbul, Turkey
Height: 5’4″ (1.62 m)
Marital Status: Single
Instagram: @deryapinarak
Early Life
Derya Pınar Ak was born on August 7, 2003, in Istanbul, where she grew up and finished high school. She has said in interviews that she’d eventually like to study sociology alongside acting, and she has described her family as small and close-knit, with everyone supporting each other’s goals.
Ak started thinking about acting around age 12, after watching Turkish dramas at home and deciding she wanted to try it herself. Rather than wait to be discovered, she began emailing casting agencies directly. Modeling work came first: she appeared in an ad campaign for Beşiktaş, one of Turkey’s biggest soccer clubs, in 2015, and in a 2018 campaign for Yeşilay, a Turkish nonprofit that campaigns against smoking and other addictions, both well before her first acting role. She’s represented today by Icon Talent Management in Istanbul, and outside of work she has mentioned an interest in travel, swimming, and theater.
Career
Ak’s first on-camera role came in 2019, in Cadı Üçlemesi 13+ (“Witch Trilogy 13+”), a dialogue-free short film directed by Ceylan Özgün Özçelik about a teenage girl confronting a nightmare. The short, part of a trilogy addressing violence against women and girls, premiered at the Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival in Spain before it screened in Turkey.
Between 2020 and 2022, she took on a run of television roles: İnci Sefer in the Exxen crime drama Hükümsüz (“The Void”), Nisa Tekçe in the family drama Uzak Şehrin Masalı, Ela in Annemizi Saklarken (“Hiding Our Mom”), and Çiğdem in Sevmek Zamanı (“Time to Love”). In 2022, she also had a supporting part in Kar ve Ayı (“Snow and the Bear”), director Selcen Ergun’s mystery drama about a young nurse in a snowbound village. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, and its lead, Merve Dizdar, won Best Actress at Turkey’s Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival. Around the same time, Ak joined the digital series Prens (“The Prince”) as Princess Hasharia, a comedic role she has continued across several seasons.
Her profile grew further in 2023 with Adım Farah, released internationally as My Name Is Farah, a crime drama adapted from the same Argentine series that inspired the American show The Cleaning Lady. Led by Demet Özdemir and Engin Akyürek, the series cast Ak as Gönül Koşaner across its two seasons; it’s now streaming on Netflix and Prime Video in the U.S. The following year, she played Şelale Yıldırım in the Star TV drama Yan Oda, though the show was canceled after just four episodes due to low ratings.
Also in 2024, Ak took the lead in 3391 Kilometre (“3391 Kilometres”), a romance based on Beyza Alkoç’s bestselling novel about two young people who fall for each other across a long distance. Playing İzmir opposite co-star Ahmet Haktan Zavlak, she landed one of her most popular roles yet; the film was a box-office hit in Turkey before moving to Prime Video. The pair reprised their roles in that year’s sequel, 0000 Kilometre, which picks up the story after the couple finally closes the distance between them.
In March 2026, Ak took her first lead role in a major network drama, playing Meryem Tunalı opposite Çağlar Ertuğrul in Star TV’s Çirkin, whose title translates to “Ugly” — the unkind nickname her character has carried since childhood. The series follows Meryem as she reconnects with a former love and confronts secrets from her past; it drew strong ratings from its first episodes and has been renewed for a second season expected later in 2026. Alongside her television and film work, Ak has also modeled for the clothing brand Mavi and lent her voice to a character in Feride, one of Turkey’s first animated series made for adult viewers.
Personal Life
Ak is not married and has no children. She keeps her personal life largely private and hasn’t spoken publicly about her romantic relationships. She’s more open on Instagram, where she shares set photos alongside everyday moments with an audience of more than two million followers.
Interesting Facts
- She began pursuing acting at just 12, emailing casting agencies herself instead of waiting to be discovered.
- Long before her first TV or film role, she modeled in national ad campaigns for brands including Beşiktaş and Yeşilay.
- She’s a Leo, born on August 7, 2003.
- Fans often ask whether her freckles are real; she’s confirmed on social media that they are.
- Outside of acting, she has said she hopes to study sociology.
Photo Gallery
