Kemal Başar

Kemal Başar — Biography

Kemal Başar is known in Turkey chiefly as a theater director, teacher and translator, with acting on television and film as a second line of work. He is recognized for his stage productions abroad and for the lessons and seminars he gives at international festivals. Today he is artistic director of Tiyatro Keyfi, the company he founded. On screen he is best remembered as Ender in the series Eşkıya Dünyaya Hükümdar Olmaz.

He graduated from the theater department of the Mimar Sinan University State Conservatory in 1989 and joined the State Theatres the same year. Within the institution he served as artistic director of the Ankara State Theatre and founded and ran its international affairs office. The plays he directed range from the Ankara, Konya, Sivas, Van, Adana and Antalya state theaters to companies in Istanbul; abroad, Hamlet and Romeo ve Juliet were staged in Romania and Aşk-ı Hürrem in Poland. Kaktüs Çiçeği, 72. Koğuş and Bir Anarşistin Kaza Sonucu Ölümü are also among his productions. When he retired in 2013 he founded Tiyatro Keyfi, whose repertoire includes Cyrano Rock, an adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac, and Rain Man.

His screen work began with Samyeli and went on through Kurtlar Vadisi Pusu, Kod Adı Kaos and the films Sinyora Enrica ile İtalyan Olmak, 72. Koğuş, Göl Zamanı and Cep Herkülü: Naim Süleymanoğlu. He has translated plays into Turkish by writers including Hanoch Levin and Martin Sherman. He is the son of stage and film actor Savaş Başar.