Tarik Akan's real name is Tarik Üregül and he was born in Istanbul in
1949 and grew up in the other parts of Turkey because of his father's
job. His father was a colonel. Before he started his acting career he
worked as a lifeguard on the beaches, rented boats to people... He also
went on going to the university (Yildiz Teknik) at nights studying
mechanical engineering.
He entered a contest of a famous magazine called "Voice(Ses)" back then
to earn some money and he won the contest as a first runner up... He
acted in his first film in 1970, at the age of 21... He left the
university and joined the journalism faculty. He learnt film grammar
from the famous Turkish film director 'Ertem Eilmez'. In 1974 the
famous Turkish theatre director and writer 'Vasif Öngören' was his
teacher. Back in the 70s, he took the young handsome lad roles in
romantic comedies. Then going parallel with his age; he took roles in
political strong dramas and he made it today. He has acted in 110 films
and he took place in many unforgettable movies in the Turkish film
history, won lots of awards from various festivals including Cannes,
Berlin.
He directed several productions such as documentaries and serials for
TV. He's been considered as the most handsome actor in Turkey also one
of the best... He's been an educator for 11 years now and he wrote his
first book "Anne Kafamda Bit Var" (biographical) in 2002. He's still
going on with his acting career and keep enchanting his fans.
