Tarık Akan

Tarık Akan — Biography

Born in Istanbul on 13 December 1949, the third child of a military family, Tarık Akan grew up in Erzurum and Kayseri before the family settled in Bakırköy; he worked as a beach lifeguard and street vendor while studying mechanical engineering at Yıldız Technical University, later training in journalism. He won a Ses magazine acting contest in 1970, made his screen debut in 1971, and quickly became one of Yeşilçam's most sought-after leading men, reaching a wide audience as Damat Ferit in Hababam Sınıfı (1974). Influenced by Yılmaz Güney, he turned to socially and politically engaged cinema in the late 1970s; Sürü (1979) won the Golden Leopard at Locarno, and Yol (1982) took the Palme d'Or at Cannes and earned him a Best Actor nomination. Following the 1980 coup, he was tried on political grounds facing a twelve-year sentence and spent two and a half months in solitary confinement, an experience he recounted in his book Anne Kafamda Bit Var. He married Yasemin Erkut in 1986, had a son, Barış Zeki, and twins Yaşar Özgür and Özlem, before the couple divorced in 1989. Winner of seven Golden Orange Best Actor awards over his career, Akan also ran the Taş Mektep school in Bakırköy and later headed the Nesin and Nazım Hikmet foundations. He died of lung cancer in Istanbul on 16 September 2016; his funeral was attended by former president Ahmet Necdet Sezer among thousands of mourners.