Renan Demirkan

Renan Demirkan — Biography

Renan Demirkan (born 12 June 1955 in Ankara) is a Turkish-German actress and author. Her family settled in Hannover when she was seven, and after leaving school she trained for the stage, turning professional in 1979 with the boulevard comedy Sextett.

Much of the following decade was spent in Germany's subsidised theatres, in productions that included Trommeln in der Nacht, Kellermanns Prozess, Romeo and Juliet, King Lear, Uncle Vanya and Ghetto. Screen work followed from 1982, and her appearance opposite Götz George in Zahn um Zahn brought her far wider recognition. She played Inga in the film Super (1984) and Azade Çelik in the series Reporter (1989).

Alongside acting she has built a second career as a writer. Her honours include the Goldene Kamera in 1989, the Adolf Grimme Award in 1990 and an INTHEGA theatre prize in 2002, and in 1998 President Roman Herzog presented her with the Federal Cross of Merit. In 2016 she launched a civic appeal called checkpoint:demokratie, and a non-profit venture she founded the year after offers a free three-week programme, supported by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, to women with cancer who are in financial hardship.