Onur Saylak

Onur Saylak — Biography

Onur Saylak is one of the few Turkish figures to have built a reputation, and collected awards, as both an actor and a director. Television audiences know him as Tevfik in Vatanım Sensin; as a director he made his name with the film Daha and the series Şahsiyet. He also teaches film and drama at Kadir Has University.

He spent his childhood in Kuşadası. He left physics at METU for public administration at Ankara University, began acting in the university theatre society and finally entered Bilkent's theatre department. He appeared on stage with the Ankara State Theatres and Bilkent Theatre and in 2003 hosted the TRT 2 youth programme Hadi Gidelim. Series such as Hisar Buselik, Yabancı Damat and Kod Adı Kaos followed; his film debut came in 2008 as Yusuf in Sonbahar, which won Best Film at the Golden Boll festival. He took the lead in Denizden Gelen, and Mavi Dalga won Best Screenplay and Best Editing at Antalya.

From 2015, through his company b.i.t arts, he moved into directing: the short Orman, Daha adapted from a Hakan Günday novel (Yılmaz Güney Award and audience award at Adana), Şahsiyet, Uysallar and Boğa Boğa. As an actor he played Ferman in Kuzgun and Egemen in Babil, and appeared in Deha and Gaddar. He married Tuba Büyüküstün in 2011; they had twin daughters and divorced in 2017. He has a son with his wife, a talent manager, whom he married in 2020. In February 2023 he announced that he had joined the Workers' Party of Turkey.