Luran Ahmeti

Luran Ahmeti — Biography

Luran Ahmeti was born on 31 July 1974 in Skopje to an ethnic Albanian family; his father was a literary figure and anti-communist, and Ahmeti later said he had faced discrimination as a child. He studied at Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje before turning to drama, then spent more than two decades performing with the Albanian Theatre in his home city, becoming a notable figure of Albanian-language theatre in the Balkans.

Having grown up around Turkish-speaking towns in Macedonia, he spoke fluent Turkish, which let him move into Turkish television as Dimitri in Elveda Rumeli; he also appeared in Kurtlar Vadisi Pusu and Muhteşem Yüzyıl: Kösem, and played the Ottoman statesman Divane Hüsrev Pasha in the 2013 series Muhteşem Yüzyıl. On screen he appeared in Limonata, Takip: İstanbul and Güzel Günler Göreceğiz, and was known for a small role in the Hollywood film Taken 2 (2012).

He settled in Istanbul after arriving to film Elveda Rumeli, married an Albanian woman from Tirana, and the couple had a daughter, Arba.

He died in his native Skopje on 25 March 2021, at 46, after contracting COVID-19, prompting tributes from the arts communities of both North Macedonia and Turkey.