Sümer Tilmaç

Sümer Tilmaç — Biography

Born Sıtkı Kazım Sümer Tilmaç on 15 July 1948 in Malatya to a Cretan-origin civil-servant father and a mother whose family had emigrated from Turkmenistan, he was raised in Antalya. He began performing at the Arena Theatre in 1964, graduated from the Istanbul Municipal Conservatory in 1968, and trained under veteran actors including Münir Özkul and Gazanfer Özcan, going on to appear in more than 210 films and nearly sixty stage plays over his career.

He became widely known on television for playing Nihat in the series Süper Baba, and was also recognised for character roles in films such as Kahpe Bizans, Hemşo, Gönül Yarası, Maskeli Beşler İntikam Peşinde, Osmanlı Cumhuriyeti and Korkusuz. He won the Sadri Alışık Award for Best Supporting Actor in 2002 for a film role, and in 2005 wrote, directed and starred in a film of his own; he also received the Golden Orange Honorary Award.

Alongside his acting career he ran a farm named after his wife in Serik, Antalya, and for a time operated a restaurant serving Antalya cuisine in Istanbul. He died of a heart attack at a wedding on 12 June 2015, at the age of 66, and was buried in Istanbul's Karacaahmet Cemetery following funeral prayers in Üsküdar.