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The Most Famous

ACTORS from Turkey

This page contains a list of the greatest Turkish Actors. The pantheon dataset contains 9,996 Actors, 79 of which were born in Turkey. This makes Turkey the birth place of the 16th most number of Actors behind Sweden and China.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Turkish Actors of all time. This list of famous Turkish Actors is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Turkish Actors.

1. Nebahat Çehre (1944 - )

With an HPI of 63.40, Nebahat Çehre is the most famous Turkish Actor. Her biography has been translated into 26 different languages on wikipedia.

Hilal Nebahat Çehre (Turkish pronunciation: [nebaˌhat tʃehˈɾe]; born 15 March 1944) is a Turkish actress, model, singer and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss Turkey 1960. She is best known for her protagonist roles as Firdevs Yöreoğlu on the Kanal D drama series Aşk-ı Memnu (2008–10) and as Hafsa Sultan on the series Muhteşem Yüzyıl (2011–12). As the Miss Turkey, Çehre represented Turkey in the Miss World 1960 pageant held in London, United Kingdom. She also represented Turkey in the Miss Universe 1965 beauty pageant which took place on 24 July 1965 at the Miami Beach Auditorium in Miami Beach, Florida, United States.

2. Türkan Şoray (1945 - )

With an HPI of 59.10, Türkan Şoray is the 2nd most famous Turkish Actor. Her biography has been translated into 27 different languages.

Türkan Şoray (Adyghe: Щорае Туркан; born 28 June 1945) is a Turkish actress, writer and film director. She is known as "Sultan" of the Cinema of Turkey. She started her career in 1960, and won her first award as the most successful actress at the 1st Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival for the movie Acı Hayat. Having appeared in more than 222 films, Şoray has starred in the most feature films for a female actress worldwide. On 12 March 2010, Şoray was chosen as a UNICEF goodwill ambassador in Turkey, about which she said: "I think there is nothing that cannot be done with love. If we combine power with love, we can overcome many problems". Together with Hülya Koçyiğit, Filiz Akın and Fatma Girik, she is an icon for a golden age in Turkish cinematography and is regarded as one of the four most important actresses in Turkish cinema. Out of these actresses, Şoray is the only one who also pursued a career in film directing, and directed the movies Dönüş (1972), Azap (1973), Bodrum Hâkimi (1976), Yılanı Öldürseler (1981), and Uzaklarda Arama (2015). With Kadir İnanır, she played in Kara Gözlüm, Unutulan Kadın, Dönüş, Gazi Kadın: Nene Hatun, Devlerin Aşkı, Bodrum Hakimi, Deprem, Dila Hanım, Cevriyem, Selvi Boylum Al Yazmalım, Aşk ve Nefret, Gönderilmemiş Mektuplar.

3. Cüneyt Arkın (1937 - 2022)

With an HPI of 58.72, Cüneyt Arkın is the 3rd most famous Turkish Actor. His biography has been translated into 25 different languages.

Fahrettin Cüreklibatır (7 September 1937 – 28 June 2022), better known by his stage name Cüneyt Arkın, was a Turkish film actor, director and producer. Having starred in somewhere around 300 movies and TV series, he is widely considered one of the most prominent Turkish actors of all time. Arkın's films have ranged from well-received dramas to mockbusters throughout his career spanning four decades. With Fatma Girik, he played in Sevişmek Yasak, Kolsuz Kahraman, Köroğlu, Vatan ve Namık Kemal, Büyük Yemin, Satın Alınan Koca, Murat ile Nazlı, Gönülden yaralılar, Önce Vatan, Gelincik. Early in his career, Arkın became known for starring in historical dramas taking place during the first centuries of the Ottoman Empire and Anatolian Seljuks, such as Malkoçoğlu Cem Sultan and Battal Gazi. While gaining success with such action-based films, he also took part in political films in the late 1970s, the most famous of those being The Adam Trilogy directed by Remzi Aydın Jöntürk. Arkın and Jöntürk continued their collaboration on many other films. Cüneyt Arkın and Fatma Girik are one of the most famous partnerships of Yeşilçam Turkish cinema. In the 1980s, Arkın became known abroad for the film Dünyayı Kurtaran Adam (The Man Who Saves The World, also known as Turkish Star Wars), a low-budget science fantasy martial arts film, tentatively famous for featuring bootlegged scenes from Star Wars. Today, the B movie has a cult following.

4. Halit Ergenç (1970 - )

With an HPI of 58.34, Halit Ergenç is the 4th most famous Turkish Actor. His biography has been translated into 39 different languages.

Halit Ahmet Ergenç (Turkish pronunciation: [haˈlit æɾˈɟentʃ]; born 30 April 1970) is a Turkish actor known for his role as Sultan Suleiman I in Muhteşem Yüzyıl, Onur Aksal in Binbir Gece and Cevdet in Vatanim Sensin.

5. Tchéky Karyo (1953 - )

With an HPI of 57.52, Tchéky Karyo is the 5th most famous Turkish Actor. His biography has been translated into 30 different languages.

Tchéky Karyo (French: [tʃeki kɑʁjo]; born 4 October 1953) is a French actor and musician of Turkish origin. Beginning his career as an actor on stage in classical and contemporary works, he began to work as a character actor in films in the 1980s. He has acted in numerous films by Hollywood and French directors, including Luc Besson. He was nominated for a César Award for Most Promising Actor for his performance in the 1982 film La Balance. His film credits include La Femme Nikita, Vincent and Me, Nostradamus, Crying Freeman, Bad Boys, GoldenEye, The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc, The Patriot and Kiss of the Dragon. His television roles include Dr. Willy Rozenbaum in the HBO film And the Band Played On, Georges Méliès in the HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon, and French detective Julien Baptiste in the BBC crime drama The Missing, and its spin-off series Baptiste (2019-2021).

6. Kemal Sunal (1944 - 2000)

With an HPI of 57.13, Kemal Sunal is the 6th most famous Turkish Actor. Her biography has been translated into 19 different languages.

Ali Kemal Sunal (11 November 1944 – 3 July 2000) was a Turkish actor and comedian. With Hababam Sınıfı, Kapıcılar Kralı and Davaro, Sunal gained large popularity amongst Turkish cinema goers and was famed for his character "Şaban", a role he frequently played.

7. Fatma Girik (1942 - 2022)

With an HPI of 56.63, Fatma Girik is the 7th most famous Turkish Actor. Her biography has been translated into 20 different languages.

Fatma Girik (12 December 1943 – 24 January 2022) was a Turkish actress and politician. Together with Hülya Koçyiğit, Filiz Akın and Türkan Şoray, she was an icon for the golden age in Turkish cinematography and is regarded as one of the four most important actresses in Turkish cinema.

Pantheon has 79 people classified as actors born between 1884 and 1994. Of these 79, 65 (82.28%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living actors include Nebahat Çehre, Türkan Şoray, and Halit Ergenç. The most famous deceased actors include Cüneyt Arkın, Kemal Sunal, and Fatma Girik. As of April 2022, 19 new actors have been added to Pantheon including Vahram Papazian, Kerem Bürsin, and Hülya Koçyiğit.