In 2011, a young actress from Kassel who barely spoke Turkish walked onto the set of Turkey’s most expensive period drama to play the most famous woman in Ottoman history. Within months Meryem Uzerli’s Hürrem Sultan was being watched from the Balkans to the Arab world, and the role made her one of the best-known faces in Turkish television.
Fifteen years later, the story has come full circle. On 20 October 2026 Uzerli and Halit Ergenç, her Sultan Süleyman in Muhteşem Yüzyıl, walked the red carpet together in Egypt for the world premiere of İmroz’da Bahar, a quiet island romance that reunites the pair on screen for the first time since she left the series. This profile follows her path from a German Waldorf school to Hürrem, the burnout that ended that chapter, and the slower, chosen career she has built since.
Who Is Meryem Uzerli?
Meryem Uzerli is a German-Turkish actress best known for playing Hürrem Sultan, the wife of Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent, in the Turkish historical drama Muhteşem Yüzyıl (The Magnificent Century). The role won her a Golden Butterfly Award and international fame across the many countries where the series aired. She has since worked in Turkish television and film, including the streaming series RU (2024) and the 2026 film İmroz’da Bahar with Halit Ergenç.
How Old Is Meryem Uzerli?
Meryem Uzerli is 44 years old. Most sources, including her long-standing biographies, give her date of birth as 12 August 1982 in Kassel, Germany, although a few Turkish profiles list 1983.
Early Life and Background
Uzerli grew up in Kassel, the youngest of four children. Her father, Hüseyin Uzerli, is Turkish and her mother, Ursula, is German, which gives her both nationalities. She attended a Waldorf school in Kassel and trained at the Schauspiel Studio Frese acting school in Hamburg. Her early work was in German television and film, including the 2010 films Journey of No Return and Jetzt aber Ballett.
Career
Hürrem Sultan and Muhteşem Yüzyıl (2011 to 2013)
Producers cast Uzerli as Hürrem, the enslaved woman who rose to become Süleyman’s wife and one of the most powerful figures of the Ottoman court. Muhteşem Yüzyıl premiered in January 2011 and became a huge hit in Turkey and abroad. Her performance won her a Golden Butterfly Award and a number of other Turkish acting prizes in 2011 and 2012.
Why did Meryem Uzerli leave Muhteşem Yüzyıl?
Uzerli left the series during its third season in 2013, citing exhaustion and burnout from the show’s demanding filming schedule. She returned to Germany to rest, and the role of Hürrem was taken over by Vahide Perçin for the rest of the run.
Work after Hürrem (2016 to 2024)
She returned to Turkish television in 2016 with a Star TV drama opposite Murat Yıldırım, and played the lead in Eylem Kaftan’s film Kovan (The Hive), later released on Netflix as Keeping the Bees. In 2024 she starred in RU, an eight-episode series on the streaming platform GAIN about a 38-year-old woman, Reyan, who falls for an 18-year-old in an Aegean seaside town. The same year she played Rozali in NOW’s period comedy Şakir Paşa Ailesi: Mucizeler ve Skandallar and appeared in the film Güzel Bir Rüya.
What Is Meryem Uzerli Doing Now? İmroz’da Bahar
Meryem Uzerli’s current project is İmroz’da Bahar (Spring in Imbros), a romantic drama written and directed by Özcan Alper. She plays Sonya opposite Halit Ergenç as Arif, a 52-year-old writer who has been struggling to write; both characters carry heavy losses from their past and meet on the island of Gökçeada, historically called İmroz, where the film was shot.
The poster was released on 2 October 2026, and the film had its world premiere in Egypt on 20 October, with both stars attending. Turkish media report that it will be released in more than 50 countries and that it will stream on Prime Video, but a release date for Turkey had not been announced as of early November. The title itself drew some debate in Turkey over its use of the island’s historical name, İmroz, rather than Gökçeada.
Is Meryem Uzerli Married? Her Daughters
No. Meryem Uzerli has never married. She has two daughters: Lara Jemima, born on 10 February 2014 from her relationship with businessman Can Ateş, and Lily, born on 8 January 2021. She keeps her daughters largely out of the public eye.
Belloria’s View
Few actors would choose to walk away from the role of a lifetime at its peak, and in 2013 Uzerli’s exit was treated in the Turkish press as a mystery or a career mistake. With hindsight it looks like an early, honest example of an actor putting her health ahead of a hit. Her choices since have been small and personal rather than commercial, and the reunion with Ergenç works precisely because it does not try to recreate the palace: two middle-aged characters, an island and a second chance. It is the right kind of return for an actress who never wanted to be defined by one crown.
Social Media Stats
| X (Twitter) | IMDb | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| @meryemuzerli | Not publicly verified | Not publicly verified | IMDb |
| Official account | No official page found | No official account found | IMDb profile |
Social media figures are approximate and may change.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Meryem Uzerli Turkish or German?
She is both. She was born and raised in Germany to a Turkish father and a German mother, and holds German and Turkish citizenship.
Who played Hürrem after Meryem Uzerli?
Vahide Perçin took over the role of Hürrem Sultan for the later part of Muhteşem Yüzyıl.
Where was İmroz’da Bahar filmed?
It was filmed on Gökçeada, the Turkish island in the province of Çanakkale whose historical name is İmroz.
Who directed İmroz’da Bahar?
Turkish filmmaker Özcan Alper wrote and directed the film.
Where can I watch RU starring Meryem Uzerli?
RU premiered on the Turkish streaming platform GAIN on 24 May 2024.
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