Hakan Boyav

Hakan Boyav — Biography

Hakan Boyav is best known to television audiences as Mahmud Pasha in Payitaht Abdülhamid, yet his core profession is the state theater. He has worked on stage as both actor and director, and cartooning is a second strand of his career. He remains a permanent artist of the Ankara State Theatre while continuing screen work.

Theater came first. After graduating from the Dokuz Eylül University Faculty of Fine Arts in 1987 he joined the founding company of the Diyarbakır State Theatre in 1988, worked in Antalya from 1993 to 2003, and in Ankara afterwards. His screen career opened in the early 2000s with Asmalı Konak, followed by Arapsaçı, Seher Vakti, Hırsız Polis, Fırtına, Duvar and Dağlar Delisi. In cinema he appeared in Barda, Vali, Ejder Kapanı and Behzat Ç. Seni Kalbime Gömdüm, and in series such as Kalpsiz Adam (as Seyfi) and Hanımın Çiftliği (as the barber Reşit) he made his mark in character roles. Payitaht Abdülhamid and Kış Güneşi arrived in 2017, and later he appeared in Maraşlı, Teşkilat, Balkan Ninnisi and Dokuz Oğuz.

During his university years he worked as an illustrator and humor writer for a local newspaper, and in cartooning he won the Abdi İpekçi Peace and Friendship Award in 1988 and the Yunus Nadi Cartoon Award in 1989. He is openly a supporter of Ankaragücü.