Ercan Özçelik

Ercan Özçelik — Biography

German state theatres have been a stage for Ercan Özçelik for about thirty years, and the German actor of Turkish descent also has a long list of international film and television productions to his name. He is seen mostly in comedies and dramas with a streak of black humour. He describes his acting approach as a blend of Lee Strasberg's "method" and Dominique De Fazio's "poetic theatre".

His career began on stage: in the mid-1980s he played at the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe's Die Insel venue in plays such as Die Physiker, followed by Arturo Ui at the Bremer Schauspielhaus, Geheime Freunde at Berlin's Schillertheater and Katzelmacher at the Nationaltheater Mannheim. In the 1990s he moved into German television with productions such as Motzki and Reise in die Nacht, and played a neurologist and surgeon in RTL's OP ruft Dr. Bruckner. In ARD's Tatort he played Bülent Îsi in the 2002 episode Schlaraffenland.

His international breakthrough came with Hal Hartley's Fay Grim (2006), in which he played a detective and worked with Jeff Goldblum and Parker Posey. He also appeared in Kiss me Kismet (2006) and Gangs (2009), playing a character's father in the latter. He took a lead role in The Disappearance, directed by Roger Deutsch and Gabor Holtai. On stage he also directed the production Im Rausch der Tiefe together with Peter Bleckwehl.