Rıza Kocaoğlu

Rıza Kocaoğlu — Biography

Rıza Kocaoğlu was born on 19 March 1979 in İzmir, to a father of Kurdish descent from the Şêxbizin tribe of Kars and Yerevan and a mother whose family had immigrated from Thessaloniki. His sister, Gözde Kocaoğlu, is also an actress. He graduated from the theatre department of Dokuz Eylül University's Faculty of Fine Arts.

He entered film in 2001 with the lead in Bana Şans Dile, the directing debut of Çağan Irmak, winning Best Actor at the Şile Magic Lantern Film Festival for the role. After parts in Av Mevsimi, Kaybedenler Kulübü and Labirent, he found wide recognition through Ezel and, especially, his role as Ali in Kuzey Güney.

From 2012 to 2015 he played Inspector Yasin, nicknamed “Kibrit,” in Karadayı, then Davut in İçerde (2016-2017) and, from 2017 to 2021, the lead role of Aliço in Çukur. He played Arıza Rıza in Organize İşler: Sazan Sarmalı (2019) and İhsan Pere in Ya İstiklal Ya Ölüm (2020). In 2022 he played Fikret in Netflix's Zeytin Ağacı and Güven Gümüşay in Tuzak; in 2024 he took the roles of Nasuh in Asaf and Nusret in İnci Taneleri.