Hakan Çimenser

Hakan Çimenser — Biography

Hakan Çimenser is a theatre man who has worked within the State Theatres as an actor, director and administrator. The weight of his career lies on the stage: he directed plays in Diyarbakır, Ankara and Istanbul and served as chief director of the State Theatres from 2017 to 2020. His film and television roles sit alongside that work rather than at its centre.

He graduated from the theatre department of Hacettepe University State Conservatory in 1990 and was appointed that year as an artist at the Diyarbakır State Theatre. There he appeared in plays such as Macbeth, Fareler ve İnsanlar and Kanlı Düğün, and from 1994 to 1996 he ran the theatre. In 1996 he moved to the Ankara State Theatre, acting in 3. Richard and Serseri Gönül, and from 1997 to 2003 he lectured at the Ankara State Conservatory. Over time directing came to the fore: he staged Ölüm ve Kız, Köpek Kadın Erkek, Martı, Beğendiğiniz Gibi, Dolores Claiborne and Kış Masalı, among many others, at various State Theatre venues.

For İmparatorluk Kuranlar, staged at the Istanbul State Theatre, he was named Most Successful Director at the 14th Afife Theatre Awards in 2010. In 2017 he was appointed director of the Istanbul State Theatre, the year he both directed and acted in Giydirici. On screen he has been seen in Aşk Tesadüfleri Sever (2011), Hayatboyu (2013), Kiraz Mevsimi, Çekmeceler (2015) and Bizim Hikaye.