Şemsi İnkaya

Şemsi İnkaya — Biography

Şemsi İnkaya is a theatre and film actor whose long career runs from character parts in Yeşilçam comedies to stern father figures on television. Wide audiences remember him above all as the ruthless Halil Güneşli in the series Üvey Baba.

He studied at a commerce high school and then at a conservatory, and first appeared on stage as an amateur with the Istanbul University Students' Union Youth Theatre; his first play was Pabuçcu Ahmet. He trained in the theatres of figures such as Avni Dilligil and Ulvi Uraz. In the 1970s and 1980s he became known mostly for supporting roles in comedy films: Gırgıriye and Görgüsüzler were among his best-loved, and Kıskıvrak, Adile Teyze and Zehir Hafiye also belong to that period. From the 1990s he moved towards dramatic roles, and after leaving Üvey Baba he played Pamir in Efsane, Turkey's first vampire series.

In later years he played İlhami in Sinekli Bakkal and İsmet İnönü in Ben Onu Çok Sevdim, and appeared in Kurtlar Vadisi Pusu and Kertenkele, and in the films Vali and Darbe. He is a member and the audit committee chair of the Theatre Actors' Association (To-Der). In 2017 he received a Lifetime Honour Award at the International Adana Film Festival. He was married to and later divorced from the actress Ayten Erman, and has a son.