Gürgen Öz

Gürgen Öz — Biography

Gürgen Öz was born on 10 May 1978 in Zonguldak, where his engineer father and history-teacher mother, who had met as students in Istanbul, had settled for his father's work. After TED Zonguldak College he returned to Istanbul and enrolled in art history and archaeology at Istanbul University, but secretly sat the entrance exam for Mimar Sinan University's State Conservatory, drawn to the acting he had loved since childhood; there he studied under teachers including Zeliha Berksoy and Müşfik Kenter, and a student play he wrote, Alman Satrancı, was made into a short film. After graduating in 2001 he began a master's in directing there, spent two years as a teaching assistant, and staged Brecht's Threepenny Opera with Berksoy as the department's production, before dropping his thesis when work with Okan Bayülgen grew too demanding. He took a lead role in Teneke at Bakırköy Municipality Theatre. From 2005 to 2007 he became known for improvised characters alongside Murat Akkoyunlu on Bayülgen's show Makina. In 2008 he made the documentary Neden Böyle on unplanned urbanization, and in 2013 published his first book, Nevrotik. He went on to play Yiğit in Romantik Komedi, Tolga in Zaman Makinesi 1973, and Levent Yazman in Bay Yanlış.