İlhan Şen

İlhan Şen — Biography

İlhan Şen is a Turkish actor and former model born on December 19, 1987 in the city of Shumen, Bulgaria. Holding both Bulgarian and Turkish citizenship because of the country of his birth, Şen began his career on the runway before reaching a wide audience through television series.

Şen completed his education in the Department of Civil Engineering at Yıldız Technical University, and it was during these years that he turned to modeling. In 2008 he reached the finals of Turkey's top model competition and was chosen Best Swimwear Model; a year later, in 2009, he won the title of Turkey's Best Model. He then represented Turkey at the world's top model competition held in his native Bulgaria and was chosen Europe's Best Model. After modeling for a while, he trained in acting and moved in front of the camera.

He took the first major step in his acting career with the character Mete, whom he played in the series Şahin Tepesi (2018), broadcast on ATV; the cast of the series included names such as Zerrin Tekindor, Ebru Özkan, Murat Aygen, Aybüke Pusat, Boran Kuzum, Mustafa Mert Koç, and Leyla Tanlar. He appeared in Ramo in 2020, and in 2021 he brought the character Erol Eren to life in the production Seni Çok Bekledim.

The work that made Şen best known, however, was Aşk Mantık İntikam, also broadcast in 2021. Directed by Murat Öztürk and Koray Kerimoğlu, he played the character Ozan Korfalı in the series; appearing alongside Burcu Özberk, Melisa Döngel, Burak Yörük, Sebahat Kumaş, and Günay Karacaoğlu, the production was remembered as one of the most talked-about series of the summer of 2021. In subsequent years he played Kağan Kerimoğlu in Sevmek Zamanı (2022) and Ateş Gülsoy in Safir (2023).

Şen returned to screens with the character Serhat Yelduran in the 2025 series Halef: Köklerin Çağrısı, appearing in this project alongside Aybüke Pusat, Biran Damla Yılmaz, Mazlum Çimen, Benian Dönmez, Seda Akman, İlayda Çevik, and Ayşegül Cengiz Akman; he had previously worked with Biran Damla Yılmaz on the same series. Around the same time, the actor withdrew from the project Kalbimin Rotası Karadeniz, with which his name had been associated.