Baki Davrak

Baki Davrak — Biography

Baki Davrak, born in 1971 in Bad Säckingen in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, is a stage and screen actor holding both German and Turkish citizenship. He trained in Hannover and Berlin theatres and has kept working on stage throughout a busy screen career.

He broke through playing Murat, the gay son of a Turkish family in Germany, in Kutluğ Ataman's Lola and Billy the Kid, and around the same time appeared in Thomas Arslan's Dealer. After a spell away from film -- reportedly spent as a park caretaker -- Fatih Akın brought him back with the lead in The Edge of Heaven, playing Nejat Aksu, a German-teaching professor of Turkish descent; the film's haul of international prizes, including the screenplay award at the Cannes Film Festival in 2007, gave him wide recognition.

His later films include Do Not Forget Me Istanbul, Our Grand Despair and Crimean. He took small parts in German series such as Wolffs Revier, Eva Blond and Tatort, and voiced lead detective Nadir Taraki in a WDR radio drama from 2008 to 2009. Turkish viewers know him as the Greek commander Vasili in Vatanım Sensin and as Ogeday Erdenet in Çukur, and he also appeared in Rise of Empires: Ottoman; he also writes poetry, his delayed first collection appearing in 2007.