Birol Ünel

Birol Ünel — Biography

Raised in Germany, the Turkish-German actor Birol Ünel left a name that remains tied to Cahit Tomruk in Fatih Akın's Duvara Karşı (Head-On). The self-destructive character earned him the German Film Award and a European Film Award nomination. He worked across German and Turkish cinema, television and theater, and died in Berlin in 2020 at the age of 59.

He started on stage: at the Tacheles in Berlin he played the lead in Caligula and also directed it, and later appeared in a staging of Die Nibelungen. He reached the screen in 1987 with Der Passagier; Akın's In July brought him wider attention, and Head-On made him internationally known. Afterwards he shared the lead with Asia Argento in Tony Gatlif's Transylvania, worked with Akın again on Soul Kitchen, and took part in Turkish productions such as Hırsız Var! and Before Snowfall. King of Thieves, Looking for Eimish and Sleepless Night are also in his filmography. His last television part was Teoman in ATV's series Eşkıya Dünyaya Hükümdar Olmaz.

Born in Silifke, he moved with his family in 1968 to Brinkum near Bremen and studied at the music and theater academy in Hanover. In 2015 the German press reported that, short of money and struggling with alcohol, he had spent a period sleeping rough; he was being treated for cancer before his death.