Tarık Akan
(1949-2016)

Tarık Akan was born as Tarık Tahsin Üregül in Istanbul in 1949. He brought up in different cities in Turkey because of his father’s occupation. Before he started his acting career, he worked as a life guard at beaches and worked at boat renting places. Akan entered the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Yıldız Technical University. He won a first place in a contest of Ses magazine. He left the university and studied acting under the famous film director Ertem Eğilmez in the College of Journalism, where he graduated. Akan made his film debut in 1970 in the film “Vefasız”. He acted in more than 110 films: in 1970s he acted in numerous romantic comedies such as "Mavi Boncuk," "Sev Kardeşim," and "Gece Kuşu Zehra." Akan then performed in political films including "Nehir," "Maden," "Sürü," "Yol" and "Kanal." Akan received numerous awards and prizes from various international film festivals such as Golden Orange Film Festival, Golden Boll Film Festival and Golden Butterfly Awards. He won an honorable mention prize at the 35th Berlin International Film Festival for his role in "Pehlivan." Akan directed several documentaries and TV series. In 2002 he published his first book entitled Anne Kafamda Bit Var. In his later years, Akan made a contribution to education and culture. He served as chairman in the Nesin Foundation (2005) as well as in the Nazım Hikmet Cultural and Arts Foundation. Tarık Akan passed away in Istanbul in 2016.

Reference: tr.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, intersinema.com, sinematurk.com