Mümtaz Sevinç

Mümtaz Sevinç — Biography

Mümtaz Sevinç was born on 1 February 1953 in Elazığ and was drawn to theatre from childhood. While studying physics engineering at Hacettepe University, he met the theatre figure Vasıf Öngören at the Ankara Birlik Theatre, an encounter that settled his commitment to the stage. He began dubbing in 1972, voicing Michael Landon's Joe Cartwright in Bonanza, and over the years lent his voice to stars including Alain Delon, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Paul Newman, Anthony Hopkins and Michael Douglas, as well as numerous documentaries. After a spell with the Nisa Serezli-Tolga Aşkıner Theatre, he joined the Ankara State Theatre in 1978, moved to Istanbul in 1994 to join its State Theatre company, and was named Best Actor at the 1999 İsmet Küntay Theatre Awards for his role in Nâzım Hikmet's Ferhad ile Şirin. His first television series, Şehnaz Tango, made him a TV star, and he went on to appear in shows such as Eltiler and Sihirli Annem through the 1990s. In 2000 he founded his own Istanbul theatre, Düşün Sahnesi. On 24 January 2006 he was stabbed to death at age 52 in his Istanbul home by his live-in partner, Banu Daldır; she was sentenced to 18 years in prison, later reduced to 15.