Born in Istanbul, Azra Deniz Okyay started photography at the age of 12, and became an assistant at 14 of the photographer Dora Gunel. After finishing high school in Lycee Francais Pierre Loti of Istanbul, she moved to Paris to study Cinema at Sorbonne Nouvelle University where she had her Bachelor's and Master's. She worked in Michel Gondry's Partizan Production company. She returned to Turkey in 2010 and became the first female director at Depo, an advertising production company in Istanbul. She made various shorts and music videos. Her works on Video-Arts were selected in international exhibitions and galleries.