Zeki Alasya

Zeki Alasya — Biography

The son of a pharmacist family from Şehzadebaşı, Zeki Alasya (18 April 1943 – 8 May 2015, Istanbul) came from a Turkish Cypriot line and was a nephew of Ottoman grand vizier Kâmil Pasha. After graduating from Robert College, he began acting as an amateur at the MTTB theatre in 1959 and turned professional in the 1964-65 season at the Arena Theatre, gaining notice for the play Hababam Sınıfı staged at the Ulvi Uraz Theatre. He teamed up with Metin Akpınar at the Gen-Ar Theatre in 1966, and the following year co-founded the Devekuşu Cabaret Theatre with Haldun Taner and Ahmet Gülhan; theatre historians credit the troupe with developing a distinctly Turkish cabaret style, and it broke up in 1978 when Taner and Gülhan left. From 1973, working largely in productions by director-producer Ertem Eğilmez, he formed the "Zeki-Metin" duo with Akpınar and became one of the faces of Turkish screen comedy, also directing for the first time in 1977. He received the State Artist title in 1998, the Golden Butterfly award in 2007, and Northern Cyprus's Theatre Artist of the Year honor in 2008. From 2008 he reached wide audiences again through the series Akasya Durağı. Hospitalized on 22 April 2015 for liver disease, he died on 8 May at 72, and was buried at Zincirlikuyu Cemetery after a funeral at Levent Mosque.