Kemal Başar

Kemal Başar — Biography

Born in Ankara, Kemal Başar is the son of stage and film actor Savaş Başar. He graduated from the Theatre Department of Mimar Sinan University's State Conservatory in 1989, the same year he joined Turkish State Theatres, where he served as artistic director of Ankara State Theatre and founded and ran the institution's international relations office. After retiring in 2013 he founded the Tiyatro Keyfi ensemble, where he remains artistic director.

Staging works such as Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet and Cactus Flower, particularly in Romania and Poland, and giving lectures and seminars abroad, he became a curator for international theatre festivals; he has also translated plays into Turkish, including Hanoch Levin's Requiem and Martin Sherman's Messiah. On screen he appeared in the series Kurtlar Vadisi Pusu and Samyeli and the film Cep Herkülü: Naim Süleymanoğlu, and is best known for playing Ender in Eşkıya Dünyaya Hükümdar Olmaz (2015-2018). In the 2020s he took smaller roles in productions such as Mucize Doktor, Leyla ile Mecnun, Ben Bu Cihana Sığmazam and Kuruluş Osman, and voiced a character in the animated series Sihirli Annem.