# Haluk Bilginer

Nihat Haluk Bilginer (Turkish pronunciation:; born 5 June 1954) is a Turkish actor. For his role in Şahsiyet (2018), Bilginer won the Best Actor award at the 47th International Emmy Awards. His movie Kış Uykusu won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. In addition to his acting career in Turkey, he has also worked in the United Kingdom and remains best known for his role as Mehmet Osman in the television soap opera EastEnders during the 1980s. He has also starred in Hollywood movies as a character actor, including Halloween (2018). He often plays villains and unsympathetic characters.

## Life and career

Bilginer was born in İzmir, Turkey. He graduated from the Ankara State Conservatory in 1977 before going to England where he graduated from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. He landed his first role in the long running UK soap opera EastEnders.

### EastEnders (1985–1989)

Bilginer made his first appearance in EastEnders as Mehmet Osman on-screen in June 1985, four months after the show originally aired. His arrival coincides with a cot death storyline of Sue and Ali's baby, Hassan. Mehmet appears as a recurring character from 1985 to 1987, setting up a cab firm named Ozcabs from inside Ali's café; however, he becomes a regular in 1988, when both he and his wife Guizin (Ishia Bennison) are made partners in Ali's café, which is renamed Café Osman.
Described as "the Terrible Turk", Haluk Bilginer was one of the more popular male cast members on EastEnders during the 1980s, and he reportedly received sackfuls of fan mail, "despite playing a villain and a womanising snake". Hilary Kingsley has said that what made the character so popular was Bilginer's Omar Sharif-style good looks and charm. Following the departure of Holland and Smith, Mehmet was eventually written out of the serial in May 1989, in a storyline that signified the disbandment of the Osman family. On-screen, Mehmet returns to his native Cyprus after a fight with Guizin regarding her suspicions about Mehmet's fabricated affair with Sue. The Osman family were among many characters to leave the serial that year. Writer Colin Brake has commented, "the pace of comings and going was fast and furious during 1989, as the programme tried to find a new direction." Bilginer went into musical theatre after leaving EastEnders starring in Ken Hill's popular musical adaptation of the Guy de Maupassant novel The Wicked World of Bel-Ami at the Theatre Royal Stratford East, working with Fiona Hendley, Toni Palmer, Peter Straker and Colin Atkins.

### After EastEnders

During the course of the show, he came to Turkey to star in the 1987 mini series Gecenin Öteki Yüzü based from novel and mini history series Ateşten Günler based from novel, where he met his eventual first wife Zuhal Olcay, famous Turkish actress and singer. After dividing his time in London and Istanbul for six years, he left the show to stay in Turkey permanently and married Olcay in 1992.
He guest starred in an episode of Young Indiana Jones as İsmet İnönü, and went on to star in the Yavuz Özkan film "İki Kadın". He then starred in various movies including İstanbul Kanatlarımın Altında and the famous Usta Beni Öldürsene. After critical acclaim for these roles, he earned his first award as a supporting actor in Masumiyet. He played in series "Gülşen Abi". After deciding he wants to pursue career on stage, he founded "Tiyatro Stüdyosu" (Theatre Studio) with his wife Zuhal Olcay and Ahmet Levendoğlu in 1990. After starring in various plays for six years, he had to return to screen in 1996 because of a fire that destroyed the theater. He and his wife starred in television and movies to raise money to found another theater.

### Eyvah Babam and Tatlı Hayat

During this era, he starred in Eyvah Kızım Büyüdü, starting his second era in television. After years of work, he and his wife managed to start a second theater, called "Oyun Atölyesi" (Play Workshop).
In 2001, His most famous role however came after he started his second theater. He landed a role in Tatlı Hayat, a remake of The Jeffersons. He played the role of İhsan Yıldırım, an angry and foul-mouthed, yet lovable dry cleaner. He was accompanied by legendary actress Türkan Şoray who has starred in the most feature films for a female actress worldwide with 222 films to her name in the Guinness Book of Records, Asuman Dabak playing the witty cleaner, Neco playing the Greek neighbor (The enmity between Greeks and Turks were put instead of the Black-White one in the original) and Çolpan İlhan playing Neco's wife. He and the show's breakthrough character İrfan (played by Celal Kadri Kınoğlu) are regarded as the best characters in Turkish TV history. He divorced Zuhal Olcay in 2004 and began a relationship with Aşkın Nur Yengi, a famous Turkish singer. They married in 2006 and had a daughter.
After Tatlı Hayat, he starred in films Neredesin Firuze, "Hırsız Var", "Hacivat Karagöz Neden Öldürüldü?", "7 Kocalı Hürmüz" and "Güneşin Oğlu". His most recent role in film Polis however, is his most critically acclaimed role after Tatlı Hayat. His portrayal of the troubled police legend Musa Rami has gained critical acclaim from both critics and viewers, who thought the movie was too experimental. Bilginer, however, has said that he will work in all of Onur Ünlü's (screenwriter and director of Polis) movies, even as an extra if required.
Bilginer played the role of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in an İş Bank commercial, which first aired on 10 November 2007 during the 69th commemorations of Atatürk's death.
He played in rom-com series "Sevgili Dünürüm" alongside Nevra Serezli, Sumru Yavrucuk, Engin Altan Düzyatan, Rojda Demirer, Didem Balçın, Cengiz Bozkurt.
Bilginer co-starred in the 2009 American thriller The International as Ahmet Sunay, a Turkish high-tech missile guidance system dealer. He was accompanied by Clive Owen and Naomi Watts in this movie.

### After Ezel

He joined in second season of hit series Ezel. With Ezel's co-star Cansu Dere, he starred in the series Şahsiyet, playing a retired court clerk who is diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. The later role won him an International Emmy Award for Best Actor. He worked again with same director & screenwriter duo Onur Saylak & Hakan Günday in Netflix series "Uysallar".
Bilginer played an actor who acts woman in series Hayatımın Rolü adaptation of Mrs. Doubtfire. He plays Aydın in Kış Uykusu, which won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 2014. With Ali Atay, he works including series "Masum", "Şeref Bey" for many times. He appeared in Netflix series "Sıcak Kafa" based from sci-fi novel.
In 2016, he appeared in "Ben-Hur". In 2018, Bilginer played Dr. Ranbir Sartain, the new psychiatrist of Michael Myers, in the slasher sequel Halloween. In 2020, he played the lead villain Dr. Grief in the first season of the hit Prime Video series Alex Rider, based on the bestselling novels by Anthony Horowitz. In 2023, Bilginer starred as Barbara Nadel's fictional Istanbul detective Çetin İkmen in the Paramount+ series The Turkish Detective.

## Personal life

In 1987, Bilginer traveled to İstanbul to film the TV series Gecenin Öteki Yüzü (The Other Side of the Night), where he met actress/singer Zuhal Olcay; they married in 1992 and divorced in 2004. He married singer Aşkın Nur Yengi in 2006 and has a daughter from this marriage; they divorced in 2012.

## International Filmography
### Films

| Year | Title | Role | class="unsortable" |
| 1986 | Half Moon Street | First Arab | British-American production |
| 1987 | Ishtar | Guerrilla leader | American production |
| 1987 | Lionheart | Merchant | Hungarian-American production |
| 1997 | Sawdust Tales | Aaron | |
| 1999 | Harem Suare | | |
| 2001 | Buffalo Soldiers | The Turk | American production |
| 2003 | Hittites | King III. Hattuþili | Türkiye production docudrama film |
| 2004 | She's Gone | Inspector Yilmaz | British production |
| 2009 | The Watercolor | | Türkiye production |
| 2009 | The International | Ahmet Sunay | American-German production |
| 2011 | W.E. | Mohamed Al-Fayed | British-American production |
| 2012 | The Reluctant Fundamentalist | Nazmi Kemal | American-Indian-Qatari production |
| 2014 | Rosewater | Baba Akbar | American production |
| 2016 | Ben-Hur | Simonides | American production |
| 2017 | Forget About Nick | Nick | German production |
| 2017 | The Ottoman Lieutenant | Halil Bey | Turkish-American production |
| 2017 | Trendy | Hasan | |
| 2017 | Shelter | Ahmet | |
| 2018 | Halloween | Dr. Ranbir Sartain | American production |
| 2024 | Maria | Aristotle Onassis | American-Italian-German production |

### Series

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1984 | The Glory Boys | Arab Driver | British production |
| 1985–89 | EastEnders | Mehmet Osman | British production |
| 1985 | The Murder of a Moderate Man | Sasan | |
| 1985 | Bergerac | Ahmet | Episode: "Avenge O Lord", British production |
| 1991 | Memories of Midnight | Dino Mattusi | TV mini series |
| 1992 | Jackanory | Storyteller | |
| 1993 | The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles | Colonel Ismet Bey | Episode "Palestine, October 1917", American production |
| 1999 | The Bill | Guest Star/Olly | Episode "The Three Sergeants", British production |
| 2004 | Spooks | Emre Celenk | Episode "Persephone", British production |
| 2016 | New Blood | John Malik | 2 episodes, British production |
| 2020 | Alex Rider | Dr Greif | Main role, British production |
| 2024 | The Veil | Mr Demir | |
| 2024 | The Turkish Detective | Çetin İkmen | Leading role, Turkish-British co-production |

## Turkish Filmography
### Web Series

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2017 | Masum | Cevdet | Leading role |
| 2018 | Şahsiyet | Agâh Beyoglu | Winner – Best Performance by an Actor at the 47th International Emmy Awards |
| 2021 | Şeref Bey | Şeref | Leading role |
| 2022 | Uysallar | Berhudar | Leading role |
| 2022 | Sıcak Kafa | Haluk | Leading role |

### TV Series

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1987 | Gecenin Öteki Yüzü | Ali | mini series |
| 1987 | Ateşten Günler | Ahmet Rıfkı | mini series |
| 1991 | Safiye'dir Kızın Adı | | |
| 1992 | Borsa | Reha Çalık | |
| 1993 | Son Söz Sevginin | Tahsin | |
| 1994-1996 | Gülşen Abi | Abidin Özbidin | |
| 1997 | Medeni Haller | | |
| 1998-2000 | Eyvah Babam | Sedat | |
| 2000-2001 | Eyvah Kızım Büyüdü | Sedat | Sequel series |
| 2001 | Cesur Kuşku | | |
| 2001 | Karanlıkta Koşanlar | Ali | mini series |
| 2001 | Dadı | Himself/Guest | a remake of The Nanny |
| 2001-2004 | Tatlı Hayat | Ihsan Yıldırım | a remake of The Jeffersons |
| 2002 | Ti Show | Robot Memduh | |
| 2004–2005 | Sayın Bakanım | Samim Bayraktar | a remake of British TV series Yes Minister |
| 2005 | Yine de Aşığım | Ali | |
| 2007-2008 | Sevgili Dünürüm | Ahmet | |
| 2008 | Nerede Kalmıştık | Ateş | |
| 2009 | Sıkı Dostlar | Hikmet | a remake of The Odd Couple |
| 2010 | Cuma'ya Kalsa | Cuma | |
| 2010 | Üvey İkizler | | |
| 2010–2011 | Ezel | Kenan Birkan | |
| 2011 | İstanbul'un Altınları | Reşat Altın | |
| 2012 | Acayip Hikayeler | Sinan | |
| 2012 | Hayatımın Rolü | Müşfik/Nanny | a remake of Mrs. Doubtfire |
| 2014 | Kaçak | Ustura Faysal | |
| 2017 | Kara Yazı | Oğuz | |
| 2022 | Baba | Emin Saruhanlı | Leading role |

### Films

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1990 | Ölürayak | Ömer | |
| 1991 | Kara Sevdalı Bulut | Atila | |
| 1992 | İki Kadın | Metin | |
| 1996 | İstanbul Kanatlarımın Altında | Evliya Celebi | |
| 1996 | 80.Adım | Savcı | |
| 1997 | Nihavend Mucize | Erol | |
| 1997 | Masumiyet | Bekir | Best Supporting Actor – won Golden Orange at International Antalya Film Festival Won Jean Carment Award at Angers European First Film Festival |
| 1999 | Güle Güle | | |
| 2000 | Fasulye | The imaginary old man | |
| 2001 | Filler ve Çimenler | | |
| 2004 | Neredesin Firuze | Hayri | |
| 2005 | Hırsız Var | | |
| 2006 | Kısık Ateşte 15 Dakika | Muhtar | |
| 2006 | Polis | Musa Rami |
| 2006 | Hacivat Karagöz Neden Öldürüldü? | | |
| 2008 | Devrim Arabaları | | |
| 2008 | Güneşin Oğlu | | |
| 2009 | 7 Kocalı Hürmüz | Cebrail | |
| 2010 | New York'ta Beş Minare | Hacı | |
| 2012 | Çanakkale Çocukları | Kasım | |
| 2014 | Kış Uykusu | Aydın | Best Actor – won FIPRESCI Prize at Palm Springs International Film Festival the film won the Palme d'Or and the FIPRESCI Prize |
| 2017 | Geceyarısı, Türkiye Zamanı | The President | |
| 2017 | Kırık Kalpler Bankası | Yusuf Yağmur | |
| 2017 | Cingöz Recai: Bir Efsanenin Dönüşü | Mehmet Rıza | |
| 2019 | Nuh Tepesi | İbrahim | |
| 2020 | 9 Kere Leyla | Adem | |
| 2021 | Azizler | Erbil | |

## Awards

* 47th International Emmy Awards, (2019)