Ali Meriç

Ali Meriç — Biography

Ali Meriç was born on 3 April 1959 in Alaşehir, Manisa, and is an actor, director and writer. He completed his primary and secondary schooling in Alaşehir and high school at İzmir Atatürk High School, then graduated from the Theatre Department of the Faculty of Languages, History and Geography at Ankara University. In 1977 he left a short newspaper job and began working in theatre at the Ankara Children's Theatre; in 1983 he joined the Ankara Sanat Tiyatrosu. From 1984 he wrote children's programmes for TRT, in which he also acted, and in 1985 he wrote the series Bizim Yuvamız. He served at the State Theatres in Ankara and Bursa and has worked as an actor and director at the Antalya State Theatre since 1995.

His humorous pieces and stories appeared in many newspapers and magazines. Also known as Hayali Ali Meriç, he took a keen interest in traditional Turkish theatre, writing and performing Karagöz plays and serving as committee secretary of the first National Bursa Karagöz Festival in 1993. Among the plays he wrote are Gozort, Akide Şekeri and Bir Varmış İki de Varmış. In 2002 he received the Theatre Critics' Association award for Best Actor for the title role in Aslan Asker Şvayk.

On screen he played a school principal in the 2016 film Albüm, appeared in the cast of the 2022 film Black Night, and took a role in the television series Kanto'dan Tango.