Seyithan Özdemir

Seyithan Özdemir — Biography

Seyithan Özdemir is an actor best known for playing Minik in the Show TV series İçerde (2016), a part in which his height of 2.05 meters made him impossible to miss. While the show was on the air he became one of the most talked-about names on social media, yet he says he has little taste for the attention fame brings and has made it a principle to stay "only a little famous."

He grew up in a farming family as one of the younger of eight children and finished primary school. After settling in Istanbul he worked as a close-protection bodyguard for performers and businesspeople at nightclubs and concerts. His first screen appearance was a single episode of the series Zengin Kız Fakir Oğlan (2013). The real turning point came when director Tolga Karaçelik, looking for a tall, dark-featured man, contacted his employer: the two were introduced, came to terms, and Özdemir took the role of a character called "Kürt" in Karaçelik's film Sarmaşık, shot in 2014. He recalls arguing with the director again and again because the part had not a single line; the nerves of his first television job gave way to calm on set, but acting without speaking made the work harder.

In the years that followed he appeared in various films and series, among them the horror films Baskın: Karabasan and Hannas: Karanlıkta Saklanan. Wide recognition came with İçerde, led by Çağatay Ulusoy, Aras Bulut İynemli, Bensu Soral and Çetin Tekindor. He says people come up to him for photos and tell him how much they like him, but being recognized keeps him from moving around freely.