Ragıp Savaş

Ragıp Savaş — Biography

Theatre management sits alongside acting for Ragıp Savaş, a Turkish actor with a stage background who is remembered on television above all as Dündar Bey in Kuruluş Osman. He is now General Artistic Director of Bakırköy Municipal Theatres, which marked its 35th year in 2026 and closed the season with record audiences.

As a young man he played amateur volleyball in İzmit and turned professional by transferring to Eczacıbaşı SK in 1983. He then moved to the stage, studied theatre at the Mimar Sinan University State Conservatory, and on graduating with honours in 1990 joined the founding company of Bakırköy Municipal Theatres. His first play was Aziz Nesin's Demokrasi Gemisi. In the same season he took the lead as Petrof in Nâzım Hikmet's İvan İvanoviç Var Mıydı Yok Muydu?, which won five awards at the Istanbul Theatre Festival. He played Creon in Antigone under director Robert Sturua. From 1998 to 2002 he was deputy general artistic director and a board member, and in 2004 he was named acting general artistic director of the Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality City Theatre.

He entered cinema with Neredesin Firuze and has acted in series including Kurtlar Vadisi Pusu, Kuruluş Osman and Ben Bu Cihana Sığmazam. The theatre he leads also drew attention with Anne Kafamda Bit Var, inspired by the life of Tarık Akan.