Ayse Toprak was born in Turkey. She studied at the Tisch School of the Arts' Department of Film and Television in New York from 1998 on and received her Bachelor's degree in 2002. From 2004 on she studied Media at The New School, also in New York, graduating in 2007 with a Master's degree. Toprak then moved to London, where she worked as a producer with the Arab news station Al Jazeera (2007-2011). In parallel, from 2009 through 2011, she worked in Doha, Qatar, where she was involved in the foundation and opening of the Doha Film Institute as well as of the Doha Tribeca Film Festival.

In 2011, Toprak moved back to Istanbul. Working for Al Jazeera, she realized several TV documentaries focusing on social and political issues, among them "Don't Tell Us Fairytales" (2013) about a Turkish-Kurdish women 's actors group, "The Fashion Issue" (2013) about a Turkish fashion magazine for conservative, religious Muslima, as well as "Another Spring in Iraq" (2014) focusing on the economic and social relationships between Turkey and Iraqi Kurdistan.

It has always been Toprak's expressed goal to use her films to start a dialogue about marginalized national and international topics. In this spirit she also shot her first documentary feature film "Mr. Gay Syria" (DE/FR/TR 2017) about two Syrians, who want to become the first Arabs to participate in the 'Mr. Gay World' pageant in Malta. The film was screened at several international festivals and won Best Documentary at the Chicago International Film Festival and at the International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival in Milan, respectively. At the Sarajevo Film Festival, Toprak received the Human Rights Award. "Mr. Gay Syria" was released in German cinemas in September 2018.