Kenan İmirzalıoğlu

Kenan İmirzalıoğlu — Biography

Kenan İmirzalıoğlu was born on 18 June 1974 in the village of Üçem in Ankara's Balâ district; after finishing secondary and high school in Ankara he moved to Istanbul and graduated from the Mathematics Department at Yıldız Technical University. He began modeling during his university years, and in 1997 won the Best Model of Turkey title followed by Best Model of the World, becoming the first Turkish man to hold the latter title. He turned to acting in 1998, playing Yusuf Miroğlu in Osman Sınav's series Deli Yürek, and reprised that role in the 2001 film Deli Yürek: Bumerang Cehennemi. He went on to appear in Alacakaranlık, Acı Hayat, Yazı Tura, Son Osmanlı Yandım Ali, and Kabadayı opposite Şener Şen. His 2009 series Ezel brought him to a much wider audience; a 2012 contract reported as the highest ever paid to a Turkish television actor put him in Karadayı as Mahir Kara, and he also took leading parts in Ejder Kapanı, Uzun Hikaye and Cingöz Recai. In 2018 he portrayed Mehmed the Conqueror in Mehmed: Bir Cihan Fatihi, and from 2019 to 2024 he hosted the game show Kim Milyoner Olmak İster? Sources report that he was detained in a 2013 narcotics operation and, in 2015, given a ten-month suspended prison sentence for drug use while being acquitted of an organized-crime charge. He married actress Sinem Kobal in 2016, and the couple have two daughters; in 2026 he returned to television with A.B.İ.