Can Togay

Can Togay — Biography

Can Togay was born in Budapest to Turkish parents, Gün Benderli and Necil Togay, political exiles and Turkish Communist Party members; he spent part of his childhood in Leipzig, East Germany. He joined Péter Halász's theatre troupe in 1969, then studied German and English literature at Eötvös Loránd University, comparative linguistics under Jean-Marie Zemb at the Sorbonne Nouvelle in Paris, and film directing under Zoltán Fábri at Budapest's University of Theatre and Film Arts. He began acting in Petőfi '73 (1973), followed by Albay Redl (1985), Malina (1991) and the lead in Mavi Sürgün (1993). His performance in Bir Sonbahar Hikayesi (1994) brought Best Actor prizes from the Ankara International Film Festival, ÇASOD, and the Alexandria International Film Festival. As director, his 1992 film A nyaraló screened in Cannes' Un Certain Regard section. His poems first appeared in the journal Mozgó Világ in 1978, with a debut collection following in 2004. He received the Béla Balázs Award for his contribution to Hungarian culture, and, with sculptor Gyula Pauer, designed the Shoes on the Danube Bank Holocaust memorial. From 2008 to 2014 he headed Berlin's Collegium Hungaricum and served as Hungary's cultural attaché there.