Cem Yılmaz

Cem Yılmaz is Turkey’s most famous stand-up comedian and one of its biggest box-office stars, known for the sci-fi comedy G.O.R.A., the Organize İşler and Karakomik Filmler franchises and films such as Hokkabaz, Yahşi Batı and Av Mevsimi. He was born on 23 April 1973 in Istanbul.

Early life

Yılmaz’s family is from Gürün, Sivas, on his father’s side, with his mother’s family originally from Thessaloniki. He studied tourism and hotel management at Boğaziçi University.

Comedy career

In the early 1990s he worked as a cartoonist for the satirical magazine LeMan and staged his first stand-up shows at the LeMan Cultural Centre. His performances at the Beşiktaş Cultural Centre made him a household name, and his stand-up specials remain among the most watched in Turkey.

Film

He made his film debut in 1998 with Her Şey Çok Güzel Olacak (Everything’s Gonna Be Great). His biggest success came with G.O.R.A. (2004), a big-budget space comedy he wrote and starred in, followed by its sequel A.R.O.G., Hokkabaz (The Magician), the western parody Yahşi Batı and the crime drama Av Mevsimi. He is also part of the Vizontele and Organize İşler universes and has worked as a voice actor.

Internationally he has appeared in Russell Crowe’s The Water Diviner and Ferzan Özpetek’s Magnifica presenza. He has won three Sadri Alışık awards and a Yeşilçam award.

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