Dizi Planet
Şemsi İnkaya

Şemsi İnkaya

Actor · 87 years old

Profile

Age87 years old
Birth dateApril 13, 1939
BirthplaceIstanbul
ProfessionActor
Zodiac signAries

Worked most often with

Filmography / Projects

Şemsi İnkaya — Biography

Şemsi İnkaya is a theatre and film actor whose long career runs from character parts in Yeşilçam comedies to stern father figures on television. Wide audiences remember him above all as the ruthless Halil Güneşli in the series Üvey Baba.

He studied at a commerce high school and then at a conservatory, and first appeared on stage as an amateur with the Istanbul University Students' Union Youth Theatre; his first play was Pabuçcu Ahmet. He trained in the theatres of figures such as Avni Dilligil and Ulvi Uraz. In the 1970s and 1980s he became known mostly for supporting roles in comedy films: Gırgıriye and Görgüsüzler were among his best-loved, and Kıskıvrak, Adile Teyze and Zehir Hafiye also belong to that period. From the 1990s he moved towards dramatic roles, and after leaving Üvey Baba he played Pamir in Efsane, Turkey's first vampire series.

In later years he played İlhami in Sinekli Bakkal and İsmet İnönü in Ben Onu Çok Sevdim, and appeared in Kurtlar Vadisi Pusu and Kertenkele, and in the films Vali and Darbe. He is a member and the audit committee chair of the Theatre Actors' Association (To-Der). In 2017 he received a Lifetime Honour Award at the International Adana Film Festival. He was married to and later divorced from the actress Ayten Erman, and has a son.

Reactions

You can pick up to 3 reactions.

Their work through different eyes

Yeşilçam Nostalgic A viewer raised on the classics, looking for warm storytelling and strong acting.

Şemsi İnkaya's place in Yeşilçam is that of the ensemble player who stands beside the stars: Terzi Cemal in Zübük, Kapıcı Ali in Adile Teyze, one of the supporting turns in Gırgıriyede Büyük Seçim. In my view these three films are a reminder that a comedy stands not on big names alone but on the supporting players who keep neighbourhood and village types alive. Anyone who loves the crowded casts of the old comedies will find İnkaya most easily here.

History & Society Lens Asks about the period, the social background and what the work reflects.

Şemsi İnkaya's roles can be read like a ladder of social rungs. The doorman Ali in Adile Teyze (1982) is the apartment block's lower-rung type; the ruthless Halil Güneşli in Üvey Baba is the stern father of the family drama; İsmet İnönü in Ben Onu Çok Sevdim is a name from the top of the state. In my view this range tells of a screen generation that moved from the neighbourhood comedy of the 1980s to the family drama and the history series of the 2000s.

These are not reader reviews: they are short editorial takes on this person's screen work, written from different viewer perspectives with AI assistance. Reader comments are below.

Comments