Özgür Karadeniz

Özgür Karadeniz — Biography

Özgür Karadeniz is an actor born in Artvin, Turkey, whose entire career has been built in Germany. His work moves between stage and screen: at one end are his years in the Frankfurt ensemble, at the other his role in İlker Çatak's Das Lehrerzimmer (The Teachers' Lounge). Most recently he appeared in Çatak's 2026 film Sarı Zarflar, and alongside acting he teaches at a drama school in Hamburg.

He grew up in Kiel and trained as an actor at the Folkwang University in Essen from 1999 to 2002. After performing at Schauspielhaus Bochum and Theater an der Ruhr, he was a permanent member of the Schauspiel Frankfurt ensemble from 2002 to 2009, playing many classical and modern roles and working in dramaturgy at the same time. In the 2004/2005 season he took the lead in George Tabori's Weismann und Rotgesicht. In November 2008 Türke sucht das Superdeutschland – eine musikalische Reise durch Karadeniztan, built on an idea and concept by Karadeniz and Florian Fiedler, premiered in Frankfurt; it was staged in Munich in 2011 and later in Hannover, Basel, Berlin, Bonn, Cologne and Zurich.

On screen he has appeared since 2005 in productions such as Kobra Takibi, Tatort and Großstadtrevier. He played a forensic technician in the Tatort episode Borowski und die Rückkehr des stillen Gastes, Uncle Hüseyin in Die Opfer – Vergesst mich nicht, Tuberk in Smuggling Hendrix and a Turkish tenant in Brother and Sister. His filmography also includes The Lies of the Victors, Famous Five 4, Taxi and Gipsy Queen.