Haluk Bilginer

Haluk Bilginer — Biography

Nihat Haluk Bilginer was born on 5 June 1954 in İzmir. Drawn to the stage in high school, he won his first award at an inter-school theatre competition before training at the Ankara State Conservatory. In 1977 he moved to London to study at LAMDA and spent over a decade acting on British stages and television, becoming widely known as Mehmet Osman in the soap opera EastEnders during the 1980s.

He returned to Turkey for the 1987 film Gecenin Öteki Yüzü, later co-founding Tiyatro Stüdyosu and, with Zuhal Olcay, the Oyun Atölyesi theatre company. He gave acclaimed performances in films such as İstanbul Kanatlarımın Altında, Masumiyet, Filler ve Çimen and Polis, while his turn as Kenan Birkan in the series Ezel made him a major television presence.

Kış Uykusu, in which he starred, won the Palme d'Or at Cannes, and his portrayal of Agâh Beyoğlu in Şahsiyet earned him the International Emmy for Best Actor in 2019. He has also appeared as a character actor in international productions including The International, Ben-Hur, Halloween and Maria, and frequently plays villains and unsympathetic figures, as well as doing voice work for animated features.