Osman Sınav

Osman Sınav — Biography

Osman Sınav was born in the Yeşilova district of Burdur in 1956 and died in Istanbul on 20 March 2025; sources disagree on the exact birth date, so only the year is given here. He graduated in painting from the Istanbul State Academy of Fine Arts in 1975, later studied textile design and then film and television at the same school, and after working as an advertising copywriter set up the production company Sinegraf in 1984 to concentrate on filmmaking.

He reached wide audiences with the 1993 series Süper Baba, then had a major hit with Deli Yürek and its film sequel, built around Kenan İmirzalıoğlu, an actor he discovered; he later directed and produced Ekmek Teknesi and the first 55 episodes of the ratings-breaking Kurtlar Vadisi. Other credits include the films Pars: Kiraz Operasyonu, Uzun Hikaye (2012) and Aşk Kırmızı (2013), and the produced series Sen Anlat Karadeniz (2018) and Yalnız Kurt (2022). Yalancı won him best director at the 1994 Golden Orange festival, and he later took the Golden Butterfly best-director award three times plus a 2017 Golden Orange lifetime honor.

He married Tangül Sınav in 1985 and had three children with her before their 2016 separation; he died of cancer in Istanbul at 68 and was buried at Karacaahmet Cemetery.