Nihat Nikerel

Nihat Nikerel — Biography

Nihat Nikerel was born on 5 February 1950 in Çorum; after his father's death he moved to Istanbul at a young age, worked a series of jobs, and then spent 1972 to 1976 traveling the world. On his return he entered the film industry in 1985 by scripting a story of his own, and he both studied and later taught as a lecturer in the Journalism department of Istanbul Aydın University's communications faculty. He won audiences over in 1998 playing the fatherly police chief Cehennem Cevdet in the series Sıcak Saatler, then achieved lasting fame as the former tough guy Seyfo Dayı in Kurtlar Vadisi, which began airing on Show TV in 2003. His film credits include Bir Irmağa Yolculuk (1988), Şaban Askerde (1993), Manisa Tarzanı (1994) and Büyük Yolculuk (2004), and he also wrote a book, Eksik Pazartesi. He died of a heart attack in his sleep at his home in Beşiktaş on 26 September 2009, discovered by his son; following prayers at Levent Mosque he was buried at Zincirlikuyu Cemetery.