Onur Saylak

Onur Saylak — Biography

Born in Ankara on May 12, 1977, Onur Saylak started university in the Physics department at METU, moved on to study public administration at Ankara University, and finished with a degree from Bilkent University's Theatre department; during those years he took stage roles at the Ankara State Theatres and Bilkent Theatre, and in 2003 hosted a youth program on TRT 2.

He appeared in series including Yabancı Damat, Asi, Nefes: Vatan Sağolsun, Gönülçelen, Ağır Roman, Hayat Ağacı and Hatırla Gönül, and moved into film in 2008 playing Yusuf in Sonbahar, which won Best Film at the Golden Boll festival that year; his role in Mavi Dalga (2013) brought Best Screenplay and Best Editing honors at Antalya. He reached a wide audience in 2016 as Tevfik in Vatanım Sensin, and went on to appear in Kuzgun, Babil, Deha and Gaddar. Through his own company, b.i.t arts, he directed the short film Orman in 2015, then took the director's chair for Daha, Şahsiyet, Uysallar and Boğa Boğa; Daha won the Yılmaz Güney award at the Adana Film Festival in 2017. He also teaches film and drama at Kadir Has University.

After a short first marriage to screenwriter Filiz Alpgezmen, Saylak married actress Tuba Büyüküstün in 2011; the couple had twin daughters, Maya and Toprak, and divorced in 2017. He married manager Gözde Yılmaz in 2020, and the couple had a son, Deniz Ali, the same year. In 2023 his father, Fahri Saylak, died, and that same year he announced he had joined the Turkish Workers' Party.