Taner Birsel

Taner Birsel — Biography

Taner Birsel was born in 1959 in the Akhisar district of Manisa; he studied journalism and public relations from 1976 to 1980, then trained as an actor at Mimar Sinan University's State Conservatory Theatre Department from 1981 to 1985. Part of the Istanbul State Theatre company since 1985, he has appeared in nearly forty stage productions, among them King Lear, Hamlet, Cyrano de Bergerac, Danton's Death and Yedi Kocalı Hürmüz. He entered film in 1990 with Osman Sınav's Yalancı Şafak and has worked with directors including Reha Erdem, Derviş Zaim, Yeşim Ustaoğlu and Nuri Bilge Ceylan. His role in Zeki Demirkubuz's The Confession helped the film reach Cannes' Un Certain Regard section in 2002, the same year he was named Best Actor at both the Istanbul Film Festival and the Turkish Film Critics Association awards, a title he had already won in 1999 for Kaç Para Kaç. He took the Sadri Alışık Best Actor prize in 2009 for his part in Tolga Örnek's Cars of the Revolution, and has also been named Best Actor at the Avni Dilligil Theatre Awards and the National Theatre Meeting. Known too for his roles in Kuzu, The Butterfly's Dream and Ayla, he continued his screen career with the 2024 film Karanlık Gece.