Mehmet Usta

Mehmet Usta — Biography

Mehmet Usta, a Turkish stage, film and television actor, is best known for supporting characters in popular series and films. Şoker in the children's fantasy series Bez Bebek and Ölü in Ekmek Teknesi made his name with a wide audience; he now plays Zayed Fadi in the series Teşkilat and also appeared in the 2025 film Horoz Dövüşü.

His route between stage and screen began with an academic interest in the performing arts: after finishing the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Marmara University he took a master's degree in art sociology at the same university's Institute of Social Sciences, with a thesis titled Modernlik ve Modernleşme Ekseninde Geleneksel Türk Tiyatrosu (traditional Turkish theatre in the context of modernity and modernisation). Working since the early 1990s, he played Şoker in the series Bez Bebek (2007), the Istanbul grocer in Mommo: Kız Kardeşim (2009), Mustafa in Meryem (2013) and Cemal in Bizum Hoca (2014). On television he appeared in Behzat Ç., Leyla ile Mecnun (Kamil), Dedemin Dolabı (Gomodor) and Bir Yusuf Masalı (the cook İkram).

His filmography also includes Kervan 1915, Bırakma Beni, Ölü Ekmeği and Kar Kırmızı. From a family originally from Trabzon, Usta grew up in Istanbul; in his youth he practised Far Eastern martial arts, and literature, philosophy and history remained among his interests.