Nejat İşler

Nejat İşler — Biography

Nejat İşler was born on 29 February 1972 in Istanbul's Eyüp district, the grandson of a meter-craftsman at the Feshane textile works and the son of a labourer; he has said he took his surname from his grandfather's trade. After failing to enter university he ran tea parties that left him in debt, then sold t-shirts and books on the street in Teşvikiye; watching the play Death of Danton on World Theatre Day pushed him toward acting, and he graduated from Mimar Sinan University's Conservatory in 1995 after enrolling in 1991.

After graduating he co-founded the theatre company Kahramanlar ve Soytarılar Kumpanyası with two friends and wrote three story collections for its plays; he appeared in series such as Gurur, Deli Yürek, Şehnaz Tango, Gülbeyaz and Aliye before making his film debut in 1999 with Eylül Fırtınası. He drew festival attention with Barda and Yumurta, joined the cast of the Palme d'Or-winning Winter Sleep (2014), and became one of Turkish television's most sought-after actors through the Behzat Ç. series, Keşanlı Ali Destanı and İntikam.

He left İntikam in 2013 due to psoriasis, was hospitalised in intensive care with a severe lung infection in January 2014, and was discharged that April. He has since written two more books, was elected president of the Gümüşlükspor football club in 2015, and is set to play Chief Inspector Nevzat in the 2026 Netflix series İstanbul Hatırası.