Tahir Bilgiç

Tahir Bilgiç — Biography

Tahir Bilgiç is an Australian comedian, actor and screenwriter of Turkish descent and a familiar name in Australian comedy. The role that brought him to wide audiences was the Lebanese character Habib Halal in the series Pizza and the film Fat Pizza (2003); Habib became one of the most popular and loved characters in Australian television sitcoms.

Born in Istanbul, he settled in Australia and attended Narwee High School in Sydney. He started in stand-up comedy: he performed at the Sydney Comedy Store in 1995 and was voted Comedian of the Year in 1996. He wrote, directed and starred in live shows including Lord of the Kebabs, From Lebanon With Love and Straight Outta Compo. He then expanded into television and film, with Pizza (2000–2007), Fat Pizza, Thank God You're Here and Housos, and he played Habib again in Fat Pizza vs. Housos (2014).

As a writer he co-created and starred in Channel 10's StreetSmart, and he came up with the initial idea for Channel 9's Here Come the Habibs and co-created it. He has appeared in five Australian sitcoms and three feature films, and holds the record for most appearances by a comedian on The NRL Footy Show.