Photos: Muhsin AKGUN
We meet on a day without a set. 8.30 in the morning. At first, I was hesitant to see if his energy was low and tired during these hours. But he’s a fireball, he can’t stand still. He jumps in front of the lens, hops, does a handstand. He is very kind, as if he thinks of others more than himself. He says he learned from every sentence, every suggestion made in the studio. Then we sit down to chat, take a deep breath and start talking…
◊ This is your first interview…
Yes, and I am very excited. Until the first set day…
◊ Alas! Let’s go calmly then. I hope good luck…
Hopefully, let’s get started…
◊ Your 600 followers approached 400 thousand in two months. You are always on the agenda on social media. Are you cute, handsome, sexy, talented? Why did they love you?
Turkish audience wouldn’t like it if they weren’t all together. If I can play a role anyway, it’s because I have a certain talent. If I win the sympathy of the public, I am cute, if I attract the attention of girls, I am a handsome and charismatic man (laughs).
◊ This summer, we met many players whose names we have just heard. You are one of these names. Do you have a fear of being?
Yes, I’m alive!
◊ What kind of way do you follow to stand out from them?
I believe most in what I do. I defend my character as if it were me, so they can follow me. Also, this project has enabled us to gain a lot of power in terms of followers, fame, but this power is something that can flash like a spark, I am aware of that. That’s why I want to progress by adding on each new chapter. My goal is to be a real actor. That’s why I’m excited.
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◊ There are comments like ‘fresh blood’, ‘the only thing that locks me on the screen’ for you on the internet. And how would you describe your state on the screen?
When I first saw myself on the screen, I said, ‘I wonder if I can do better’. Because there is dissatisfaction. I feel proud of myself when I see that I am progressing by adding something to it. It is also a different experience to get the comments of those who have witnessed my journey rather than looking at it from my own perspective. I started my interest in theater in high school. I’ve always had mentors, I’ve come this far by constantly listening to what they say. Their comments and sayings are a plus for me.
◊ What are your dreams?
I really want to be an artist, no joke. Since I am aware that the people can give me this title, I do my best to win their love. This is work, work, work…
◊ Do you have any tactics in acting?
Trying not to lose the feeling of playing, the energy that I have in me from childhood. If that energy is lost, I get energy from others.
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I’ve had a lot of class conflicts
◊ You play the character of ‘Yang Ali’ in ‘Tozluyaka’. What kind of person is Ali?
He is a strong woman who values his friends very much, is sincere, friendly, very fond of his mother and family, cannot come to injustice, stands against injustice.
rakter Ali is a conscientious person.
◊ A murder is committed at the school and your character and his friends enter the school to solve that murder. Are you one of those who seek justice yourself?
I would try to do justice myself. Likewise, Ali does the same. Every day I go to the set asking myself the question ‘How can they kill my brother’.
◊ We witness bullying among young people in the series. Have you been bullied in your education life?
I was doing theater at school, the attention and focus was on us at that point. For this reason, there were people who wanted my evil, and there were those who abused my sincerity. One day they pulled me to the toilet and tried to beat me. I just stopped. Then I went to the assistant manager. So I left justice to justice… Kaan Mirac leaves justice to justice, but Yang Ali Öztürk dispenses justice himself.
◊ We also witness conflicts between different economic classes in the story. Have you experienced these in your own life?
Yes, I have experienced class conflicts a lot. I studied at TED, it’s a private school. Because my parents attach great importance to education, they made me attend that school despite all the financial difficulties. But my friends were always the children of very wealthy families. Among them, I constantly asked myself the questions ‘How will I make myself exist’, ‘How can I prove myself to these people’. For example, when I was in middle school, I chose to prove myself with football, I continued with theater in high school.
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I played ball in Rize, and the football field is a stage for me.
◊ There is a lot of information about him, but they are all different from each other. Now let’s hear the facts. For example, youHalf-Blood Prince‘ they say, is there a family hybridity?
I’m 20 years old. We are Balkan immigrants, our register is in Thrace. I was born in Bursa Nilüfer. Then we went to Rize, my childhood was spent there. Then we returned to Bursa. But there may be a hybridity from the Balkans.
◊ What do mom and dad do?
My mom and dad are police, civil servants. My late grandparents were also police. I am actually the risk taker child of people who live a guaranteed life.
I also have an 11 year old brother.
◊ Was it a disciplined family?
Yes, my father is a very focused, hardworking man. Since he knows ‘what and how to do’ very well, I used to listen to his advice all the time. I got my listening habit from him. My pure, sincere feelings also came from my mother. Maybe I came here by growing up with my mother’s love and my father’s discipline.
◊ What was the most important thing you learned from your family?
Choosing people… I think I’ve been very well trained to choose all the people I have in my life very carefully. And I believe I made the right choices.
◊ Why didn’t you become a police officer and chose acting?
I have always loved being on stage. We were in Rize when I was 6, I started playing ball in Çaykur Rize.
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“If I can play a role, it’s because I have a certain talent. If I win the public’s sympathy, I’m cute, and if I get girls’ attention, I’m a handsome and charismatic guy.”
◊ Is the football field also a stage?
I think yes; football field, theater stage, in front of the camera… It’s all a stage for me. The desire to be the best in that scene actually carried me this far. I met the theater by chance in high school. Then I said, ‘I will either do sports or art’ and I quit sports. Afterwards, I won the Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University Istanbul State Conservatory Performing Arts Theater Department and came to Istanbul.
◊ Did your mother or father stay there?
Yes, they are still in Bursa.
◊ What happened to school?
Continuing, I’m in first year. But I can’t attend classes. They left me in the classroom (laughs). I’m going into the integrations.
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It all started with a smile
◊ How did it feel to come to Istanbul after Bursa and struggle to exist here?
I grew up with these, in fact, there was a constant greed.
◊ You’re ambitious so…
A lot. Sometimes that greed can backfire badly. At the point where it can backfire badly, it is necessary to control that emotion well. Istanbul was actually a springboard for me. I just remember that when I got on the ferry from Bursa and came here, I set a time frame for myself. I said “I shouldn’t be here after a certain time”. Now I’m actually working on making it happen.
◊ Where do you want to be?
I need to take my job and myself to a higher level. I was in Bursa, I came to Istanbul, a bigger battlefield arena. The question arises for me, ‘If I manage to make myself exist here, why can’t I exist in bigger places, why not global businesses?’
◊ Who discovered you?
My manager, Pınar Televi… At our school, they put new students on the stage every year at the Theater Day. I also played in a Spanish game. My partner there was another player of Pınar Televi. He talked about me and said, “A different face, a different man, would you like to meet?” My manager looked at my photos on Instagram, but it didn’t exist, it just didn’t happen. Then one day he came to our school, he saw me coming down the stairs, I smirked, a message came to meet the next day. It all started with a smile.
The famous Serenay Sarikaya I fell in love with for the first time
◊ What can’t you tolerate in a woman?
Probably because he lied and wasn’t sincere…
◊ What do you pay attention to most on a first date?
Attitude, sincerity, sincerity.
◊ What are the qualities you look for in a woman?
Being sensitive to other people, having a finishing feature, being a really strong female figure…
◊ Something you can’t take your eyes off when you start looking?
There were times when I looked very in love with the trileche. I can eat four servings in a row.
◊ Let’s say you are stranded on an island, you have a chance to take someone with you, who would you take?
I used to copy myself, I don’t trust anyone but myself.
◊ Celebrity you fell in love with first?
Serenay sarıkaya. I would really like to play together.
◊ Do you have wards?
There is. What I say to myself before I do anything
There are things. For example, before I started this interview, I said, ‘You are the person Hakan is looking for and wants to interview, and you will be’. Or before I took the exams at school, I would say, ‘I am the student this school is looking for’. This is how I get myself in shape and it works.
I’m not in love, I can’t be, it’s forbidden!
◊ Are you afraid of fame?
I’m not afraid, and if I was, I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to manage. Fame and fame is only a factor that can lead me to the dreams I want to achieve faster. I don’t mind getting there too fast.
◊ You look naive, smiling, sympathetic; How would you describe yourself?
I am a loving person who focuses on what he does, does not stop dreaming, values his friends, tries to make new friends and keep them in his chain, and wants to move forward with those around him.
◊ Do you have any faults?
There is; It also comes from my thoughts. I think about what happened during the day, I think about the scene I will shoot, I go back to the scene I shot, I think about it. How can I do better, I think about it.
◊ Are you constantly thinking about work?
Yes. I also think about love, but they don’t end well.
◊ Did they hurt you?
It burned… They hurt me.
◊ You always said you chose the right people. Did you get screwed out of love?
Yes, I always ate the stake in love.
◊ Are you in love right now?
I’m not, I can’t be, it’s forbidden!
◊ Is it because of work?
Yes, it should be considered as a professional business life. If I incorporate love into this, my focus may change.
When I was in middle school, I was very romantic, I used to write poems. But they kept telling me ‘short neck’. These were in me.
◊ If you always do this job, will you hang out alone so that your focus will not change for the rest of your life?
There are very beautiful girls, there are also very handsome men, there is someone for everyone after all. But these things are no longer satisfying to me. The subject of love is a matter of feelings for me…
◊ Have you ever been in love?
I have not been, I have not been, I have not been made. I had a girlfriend, but she didn’t evolve into love either. I can’t believe it because I haven’t met anyone who can make me believe in love, so actually I have no confidence. Because on the way to that love, someone always gets in the way, I say ‘OK’ then.
◊ I understand that you are confused about this love… Were you always a popular man?
I was very short in middle school, my height was 1.59. When I got to high school, I grew taller and things changed this time, of course, but I understood the event. I solved it.
◊ What is it?
When I was in middle school, I was very romantic, I would write poems to the girls I liked and buy roses or something. Then, according to the ‘No neck short, no what a sweet boy but short’ treatment, these things stuck with me. Coming to high school, it had the opposite effect.
◊ Do you temper or temper?
I can’t pick up what I want to pick up. If it happens to switch to another channel, it is very difficult.
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