Menderes Samancılar

Menderes Samancılar — Biography

Menderes Samancılar (born May 1, 1954, in Adana) is a Turkish film and television actor of Kurdish origin. In 1974 he won a fotonovela contest organized by a newspaper and went on to star in more than twenty fotonovelas within two years; he entered cinema in 1975 with Yılmaz Duru's film İnce Memed Vuruldu.

He appeared in films such as Kanal (1978), Bereketli Topraklar Üzerinde (1980), Bekçi (1985), Sis (1988), Sarı Mercedes (1992), Mavi Sürgün (1993) and Zıkkımın Kökü (1993). He won Best Actor at the 1989 Antalya Film Festival for Sis and at the 1993 Adana Altın Koza Film Festival for Zıkkımın Kökü, and in 1997 he acted in Herşeyden Sonra by the French director Claude Lelouch.

From the 2000s on, he appeared in the series Asmalı Konak (2002), Sıla and Asi, and in films including Güneşi Gördüm (2009), Gözetleme Kulesi (2012), Babamın Kanatları (2016) and Güvercin (2019). In 2026 he received, together with Tilbe Saran, an Honorary Award at the 63rd International Antalya Altın Portakal Film Festival.