Rasim Öztekin

Rasim Öztekin — Biography

Rasim Öztekin (14 January 1959 – 8 March 2021) was a Turkish stage, film and television actor as well as a voice artist. Born in Istanbul, he graduated from Galatasaray High School and then from Istanbul University's School of Press and Broadcasting. He first performed in amateur productions with the İstanbul Akademik Sanatçılar Topluluğu and the Kadıköy Public Education Centre, then turned professional in Ferhan Şensoy's Ortaoyuncular company. In 2016 he received the kavuk of Kel Hasan Efendi, a symbolic honour of traditional Turkish theatre, which he passed on to Şevket Çoruh in 2020.

In the early 1990s he hosted television variety shows, wrote scripts for the state broadcaster TRT, and spent a period as a newspaper columnist for Akşam. He appeared in more than forty films, known for roles such as Bob Marley Faruk in G.O.R.A, Muzo in Pardon, İsmail in the Düğün Dernek comedies and Cavit in Mandıra Filozofu, while on television he was especially beloved as Fehmi in the long-running series Seksenler. Diagnosed with heart failure in 2004, he died of a heart attack at 62 in 2021. His daughter is actress Pelin Öztekin of the BKM Mutfak troupe, and a memorial forest was planted in his name in Muğla after his death.