Necati Şaşmaz

Necati Şaşmaz — Biography

Necati Şaşmaz is an actor, screenwriter, producer and businessman best known for playing Polat Alemdar in the Kurtlar Vadisi (Valley of the Wolves) franchise. The role stuck so firmly that, by his own account, people in Istanbul call him "Polat" rather than by name. Today he is active in construction and tourism investments.

He came to acting by something close to chance. He trained in tourism, went to Canada and the United States, and lived in America for six years. On a family visit to Turkey in 2001 his return flight was turned back by the September 11 attacks, and at his family's urging he decided to stay. He opened an insurance agency in Ankara; through his brother Raci Şaşmaz he met the director Osman Sınav, who offered him the lead, and after a month's thought he accepted. Kurtlar Vadisi began in 2003 and was followed by Kurtlar Vadisi Irak, Terör, Pusu, Filistin and Vatan. He also contributed to the writing and production of parts of the series.

Away from the screen he founded the news site Yazete in 2009 and collected poems inspired by Sufism in a book called Akş. During the Gezi Park events he was among the artists received by the government. He married Nagehan Kaşıkçı in December 2012; a contested divorce case opened in 2019 concluded in 2021.